The Character of Criseyde in Troilus and Criseyde
Criseyde is a woman that is easily manipulated by male characters throughout Troilus and Criseyde. Despite being taken advantage of often, she takes advantage of each fall, making it into joy.
The first important passage is when Pandarus first approaches Criseyde on behalf of Troilus. At the beginning on Pandarus' pleading, Criseyde is reluctant to accept Troilus. She has her doubts about the entire affair as any sane girl would. She exclaims that Pandarus is placing a double standard on her by saying she should get to know Troilus knowing his intentions are to love her. "Alas, I would certainly have trusted that if I-through my bad luck-had fallen in love with either Troilus or Achilles, Hector or any other man alive, you wouldn't have had any mercy on me, or restraint, but would have always been reproaching me" (31). If she had been the one in love with Troilus, he would not have been obligated to think twice about her. But as she thinks of the lives of her uncle and Troilus, she decides to give him a chance. ...
Fast forwarding in the epic to the time when Odysseus meets Circe on her island, he was given advice by the god Hermes to take a special potion called Moly to prevent Circe’s magic from affecting him. When she was unable to bewitch him under her magic, he jumped her and threatened to kill her with his blade. Circe instantly submits to Odysseus and offers him sex along with advice for his voyage. After spending a year on her island Odysseus and his crew leave but before doing so, Circe warns him about the dangers of the Sirens and their alluring songs, the dangers of Scylla and her 6 heads and Charybdis the giant
Throughout the tale, Telemachus continually grows into the role of a confident, clever and wise young man, striving to live up to his reputation as Odysseus’ son and Prince of Ithaca. His mother, and Odysseus’ wife, Penelope, is a symbol of marital fidelity, having waited for her husband’s return for twenty long years and refusing to succumb to the Suitors demands that she marry one of them, and instead employing trickery and subterfuge to evade their pressing stipulations. In stark contrast, the Suitors are very static characters, neither growing nor changing in character development throughout the tale. Both Telemachus and Penelope are dynamic characters because their characters grow, develop and change. Through the reading of this epic poem of Odysseus’ ten-year journey, we also gain a keen insight into ancient Greek society, and the social expectations one might encounter. The Greeks were very hospitable and very welcoming, even to foreign outsiders. There is also a great presence of both aristocracy and patriarchy in action appearing in this tale, both key aspects of ancient Greek
...icaa. Although Odysseus’ sex with Circe and Calypso may seem troubling they show just how loyal Odysseus really is. With each new women on Odysseus’ journey, he reacted differently. He starts out loyal, but eventually falls into temptation, not wanting to at first sleep with Circe, but later willingly sleeping with her. With Calypso, at the beginning, he had feelings for her, but later grew to miss Penelope, and just slept with her to not be lonely. And lastly with Nausicaa, he didn’t even show affection. Odysseus’ loyalty and love are portrayed by his interactions with these three women. His different actions for each, corresponding with his loyalty to Penelope, with each new encounter strengthening his loyalty and love, ensuring his loyalty with Penelope. Even after the end of The Odyssey, Odysseus’ adventures helping him find his true self.
Nettie was wanted by Mister because she was beautiful, her father wanted to get rid of Celie because she was the ugly, spoiled one. Celie believes she is ugly until Shug forces her to face her beauty, her smile, and her strength but still the Mister wanted to get rid of her. The reason Shug can get away is through her voice, her talent, and her attractiveness. But in The Odyssey some women are known for the deeds of their sons or husbands, and never for a heroic deed of their own, their personalities, what they do themselves. The only accomplishment women could achieve was being beautiful. Penelope, Odysseus ' queen, is paid attention to only because of her position. Because she has a kingdom, she has suitors crowding around her day and night. Being a woman, Penelope has no control over what the suitors do and cannot get rid of them. The suitors want her wealth and her kingdom. They do not respect her enough to stop feeding on Odysseus ' wealth; they feel she owes them something because she won 't marry one of them. One of the suitors, tells Telemachus "...but you should know the suitors are not to blame- it is your own incomparably cunning mother "(Homer 21). Even Telemachus doesn 't respect his mother as he should. When the song of a minstrel makes her sad and Penelope requests him to stop playing, Telemachus interrupts and
At the start of the book the pigs have ideas of equality and fairness. As at the start of the book Old Major describes his vision of a perfect future without man. He teaches them a song called, ‘Beasts of England’ this helps create the satire of nationalism as the animals sing the song but they don’t truly know the meaning of it. By singing it many times it starts up a revolution and the animals no longer being the rule of Mr Jones. Techniques of imagery are used to show the brightness of the near future, ‘the...
Odysseus is a leader who is smart, strong and stubborn. He uses those traits to get through some bad situations and conflicts. Calypso tries to trick Odysseus to stay with her. He must turn her offer down without offending her or getting her angry. “Can I be less desirable that she is? Less interesting? Less beautiful? Can mortals compare with goddesses in grace and form? “My Lady Goddess, there is no cause for anger my quiet Penelope - how well I know would seem a shade compared to your majesty, death and old age while unknown to you, well she must die. Yet it is true everyday I long for home, long for the sight of home (916).
a different image controlled the animals now. The new pig had new ideas and made the animals feed into what he was dreaming. The new leader made the other pigs believe in something that way not legal in the laws that they lived by before.
Calypso offers Odysseus a passive, peaceful life, “less eventful,” is how she describes it. She is offering a relationship where she will supply all that he needs. What then happens to the warrior hero who loves to share of his adventures as seen with the Phaeaceans ? A life with Calypso would have ultimately crushed the spirit of the man he had been. By sharp contrast, Penelope supported her husband in his efforts to help his friend, Menelaus in the Trojan War.
accuses Creon of plotting with Tiresias to hatch a plan to overthrow him. & nbsp;   ; I don't think that fate is inescapable. If it was, then why would blind prophet Tiresias tells Laius, Jocasta, and Oedipus their future, if not to. let them change. I believe they were all involved in their own 'fate'.
a real cause. Being the oldest on this farm, I can tell you that the
At the outset of Oedipus Rex no female characters are present; the reader sees a king who comes to the door full of curiosity: “Explain your mood and purport. Is it dread /Of ill that moves you or a boon ye crave?” When the priest has responded that the people are despairing from the effects of the plague, the king shows sympathy for his subjects: “Ye sicken all, well wot I, yet my pain, /How great soever yours, outtops it all.” Thomas Van Nortwick in Oedipus: The Meaning of a Masculine Life : “We see already the supreme self-confidence and ease of command in Oedipus. . . . exudes a godlike mastery in the eyes of his subjects. . . .”(21-22); such “godlike mastery” will be his undoing. The critic Ehrenberg warns that it “may lead to ‘hubris’” (74-75). Throughout the drama Sophocles draws out an ongoing contrast between the “godlike mastery” of the king and the softer, more balanced and selfless characteristics of Jocasta, his wife. She is a foil to Oedipus. Shortly thereafter Creon, Jocasta’s brother, is returning from the Delphic oracle with the fateful words of the god’s command: “...
Telemachus explains, “Mother wanted no suitors, but like a pack/ they came- sons of the best men here among them“ (II, 53-55). He means no disrespect to the fathers of these men as he refers to their sons as a pack such as that of dogs, but he is explaining that Penelope did not even want these men in her home to begin with, but they came anyway, destroying everything. By saying this in particular instead of just what the suitors are doing he was hopefully sparking a need to protect her from the misbehaviors of the suitors. Telemachus says, “Or did my father, Odysseus, ever do injury to the armed Achaeans? Is this your way of taking it out on me, giving free reign to these young men?” (II, 76-79). Odysseus ruled over Ithaca before leaving to fight in the Trojan war, so in wording it this way Telemachus appeals to their emotions, as if they were leaving the son of a man who had done no harm to them and was a good leader to fend for himself. Behind everything he says there’s a want for pity, he wants the audience to feel sorry for him, so they’ll help him. Also, Telemachus plays to a more selfish side, but nevertheless still an emotional tie to the Greeks by saying, “Think of the talk in the islands all around us,/ and fear the wrath of the gods” (II, 70-71). One’s reputation at this time was vital, without a good reputation there would be nothing to remember them by when they died. Therefore, when he asks
is special in its own way. It is their work that makes them happy and
Cressida betrays Troilus by not resisting going to the Greeks. Troilus expressed his ardent love for Cressida and shows he really loves her. He even asked Pandarus to partake in wooing her by saying “I tell thee I am mad in Cressida’s love”. (Shakespeare 39) He does prevail over Cressida and she even pronounces her love to him. But when Cressida is taken over to the Greeks, she does not fight or struggle, instead it seems like she goes over with no resistance. Troilus feels betrayed that she behaves this way.
In Chaucer’s tale, Cressida is in Troy with her father, a Trojan soothsayer who switched sides when he had a vision of Troy losing. Troilus is a Trojan prince who doesn’t believe in love until he happens upon Criseyde and – surprise, surprise – falls in love. Pandarus helps the two together, only to have Cressida’s father set up an exchange with the Greeks wherein Criseyde is traded for a Trojan prisoner. Criseyde then chooses another lover, Diomedes, after she realizes how hopeless the situation is. Troilus later dies in battle, but he is happy as he ascends to the “eighth circle,” some sort of allusion to Heaven, supposedly.