1. Earlier in this course we saw the Homeric view of the role of the gods. Discuss three ways or examples that TRAGEDY teaches us the power of the gods and how humans are to behave in the face of them. How do we see magic being used?
While tragedies are a form of entertainment, they are also a form of worship. Thus they constantly include lessons about the power of the Gods. These tragedies often use myths in which a person makes a mistake to a God and pays the price for it.
One of these famous tragedies is Hippolytus. Euripides wrote Hippolytus. The main character Hippolytus worships the goddess Artemis and ignores the goddess Aphrodite. The play starts out with Aphrodite saying why she is going to punish him. She says, ” I shall punish Hippolytus this day. I have no need to toil to end: much of the task has been already done.” She punishes Hippolytus by making his stepmother, Phaedra fall in love with him. Hippolytus is asexual. Phaedra tells her nurse about her love for Hippolytus. The nurse then tells Hippolytus, who feels disgusted about it. Phaedra commits suicide and leaves a note saying that Hippolytus raped her and out of shame she killed herself. When Hippolytus’s father comes back and sees his dead wife and read her suicide note, which says, “Hippolytus has dared to rape my wife. He had dishonored God’s holy sunlight.” Hippolytus immediately tells his father he did no such thing, but his father still after banishes him from the kingdom. But instead his father’s curses causing Poseidon to make his horses kill him by dragging him. Artemis eventually tells Theseus what really happened. The lesson of this story is that as humans we should love and worship all the God’s because if you ignore some of them and they get a...
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...pse… at last his life was quenched, And the unhappy man gave up the ghost…” Medea used her magic for evil in this case. She used it to kill.
Another tragedy where the use of magic is discussed Hippolytus. The nurse talks about it with Phaedra, as a solution to her natural love. She says,” there are some magic love charms, spells of enchantment; will find some remedy for your love-sickness.” In this case magic is not being used to necessarily cause harm to anybody, but rather to help somebody. If Hippolytus is charmed by magic to fall in love with Phaedra, then maybe Phaedra to get over him and return back to normal. I believe magic shown in both ways, it can be used to cause harm or to be used for good. Medea was using magic for a good when she was saving Jason every time he was in danger. But when she wanted to kill the king and the princess she also used Magic.
Euripides’ plays Hippolytus, The Bacchae and Iphigenia at Aulis all revolve around the journey of key characters that fail to show respect to various deities within the Greek Pantheon. This disrespect, in all three plays, is met out with retaliation from the gods themselves, thus effecting those that disrespected them as well as their families. To convey these tales Euripides implements many themes, one such theme being divine retaliation. Euripides’ use of the theme of divine retaliation provides a stark illustration of the Greek Pantheon striving to prove their superiority relentlessly and gives insight into their merciless use of mortals as pawns to achieve this.
While I enjoyed how Mills analyzed Medea’s action by bringing up relevant information regarding her historic roots and comparing her to several similar Greek characters, I disagreed with his heavy emphasis on her celestiality. She certainly does implore many aspects that a witch or mystical spirit would exhibit, such as her use of herbs and her method of escape, but I don’t think it is appropriate to blame her act of vengeance on aspects of alienation from humanity. Because Euripides’ intention of writing this play was to compel his audience to question social norms and gender roles in society, I don’t think he would have crafted Medea in a way that cast her outside of the human realm. While it certainly would have not been socially accepted
The myths which prove the contradictory behavior of the gods, acting as both benefactors and tormentors of man, can readily be explained when viewed in light of the prime directive for man, to worship the gods and not “overstep,” and the ensuing “Deus ex Mahina” which served to coerce man to fulfill his destiny as evidenced by the myths: “Pandora,” “Arachne, and “Odysseus.” Humankind and it’s range of vision over the gods beauty and power portrayed them to be benefactors but unseemingly it depicted their affliction towards humans.
Kreon, with his enlightening realization and uncontrollable mishaps, possesses qualities that better represent a tragic figure. He also corresponds to more aspects of Aristotle’s tragic hero model than Antigone does: Kreon is of noble beginnings, is fated by the gods to suffering, faces misfortune from an error judgment or personality flaw, is pitied by the audience, is enlightened or changed, and becomes a vessel for the audience’s catharsis. In the end, tragedies are essentially plays in honor of Dionysus. Through Kreon’s experiences in the play, the audience is reminded of their place in relation to the gods. Just as with every other aspect of Greek culture, religion plays a fundamental role in dictating the Greeks’ interpretation and
Aeschylus’ Prometheus Bound portrays a greek god detained by a superior for disobedience against the latter’s rule. On the other hand in Euripides’ Hippolytus portrays lust and vengeance of the gods and the extent that they can go to to avenge it.
I’ve noticed that the characters tend to blame the gods for problems that occur in their life. The characters are not taking in to a count for the consequences of their own actions. The choices that are made can cause sorrow and pain to another. This can cause tension and fights between characters. It’s stated in the beginning of the book by the god Zeus how the humans blame the gods for their recklessness behavior. This tells me that the gods are not favored by the characters throughout this book. With the gods having higher power the characters think that they can control everything that happens. Telemachos blames the gods for his father’s disappearance. He is grieving in pain and he needs someone to blame for why Odysseus never came back.
What ancient religion contains infidelity, incest, and life-time long punishments of which were almost, if not, are unbearable? Welcome to Greek Mythology! The Ancient Greeks envisioned higher powers, such as titans, gods and many other mystical wonders to account for every unexplainable thing they saw. As a result, a series of tales of betrayal, humiliation and entrancements sprouted from the imagination of the Ancient Greeks. The international bestseller, Heroes, Gods and Monsters of the Greek Myths, by Bernard Evslin, engages it’s readers, while telling the narratives of the Greek Gods.
In “Euripides Madea”, the main character Medea is depicted as a villain, who uses evil polypharmakas to seek revenge on her ex-husband. Medea was once happily married, to her husband Jason who abandoned her and their two children for another woman. This event shook Madea to the core, so much that it drove her to curse her own existence. Medea’s plan to seek revenge on her husband involved killing her two kids, and her husband’s new wife. She uses polypharmakas to commit the murders and seek revenge. This drama depicts polypharmakas as a tool that is only used for evil. It also continues the trend of negatively depicting the practice of witchcraft, which happens to be a common theme throughout history. Dramas like Homers Odyssey and Euripides Madea only help to further the gap between understanding and misunderstanding the practice of witchcraft.
Around the time where Greece was known to be the greatest civilization on earth, many people used myths and stories as an extension of their belief because they were culturally significant and important. Ancient Greece was a male-dominated civilization that created laws which would benefit only those with power, which let to the suffering of those without power. The relationship of the sexes was very important, because it showed how men were more superior and woman were frowned upon because they were treated more like minorities. Aeschylus’ “Agamemnon” is about a Greek king who would do anything, including sacrificing his daughter, because he feels as a man and a king whatever decisions he makes are always just. Sophocles’ “Antigone” is about a girl who goes against the religious values of the society, and get persecuted because state laws restrict her
With no husband, no country to turn to, and no one she can really depend on for rescue, Medea is trapped by her circumstances. Instead of becoming crushed, however, Medea turns it against those she hate. She attacks the weaknesses in her enemies’ character. Knowing Jason would feel guilty about his abandonment, Medea sent her own children to deliver the poisoned gifts, despite the certain death her children would face being involved in such a plot. Knowing the princess would not resist flashy gifts, she cursed the dress and crown. Knowing the king’s love for his daughter would cause him to rush to her aid, Medea formulated the curse to spread to those who touched the daughter as well. As each facet of her plan had to be executed perfectly to succeed, Medea demonstrated the full potential of her capabilities. She proves that when a society completely scorns and devalues women, everyone will pay as women are incredibly strong.
Tragedies most often refer back to the actions of men. The play Julius Caesar, by William Shakespeare, provides a good example to how the quote is shown to be accurate." The calamities of tragedy do not simply happen, nor are they sent [by the gods]: they proceed mainly from actions, and those actions of men." This statement is profoundly proven through the past and present actions of the conspirators throughout the play. From the beginning of the play, the reader can identify who will necessarily betray and plot to murder Caesar.
One of the best summarizes of Greeks’ gods attitude toward human is the claim of Aphrodite in Euripides’ Hippolytus that she will treat well the people who revere her power, but will “trip up” those who are proud towards her, and this pri...
“Gods can be evil sometimes.” In the play “Oedipus the King”, Sophocles defamed the gods’ reputation, and lowered their status by making them look harmful and evil. It is known that all gods should be perfect and infallible, and should represent justice and equity, but with Oedipus, the gods decided to destroy him and his family for no reason. It might be hard to believe that gods can have humanistic traits, but in fact they do. The gods, especially Apollo, are considered evil by the reader because they destroyed an innocent man’s life and his family. They destroyed Oedipus by controlling his fate, granting people the power of prophecy, telling Oedipus about his fate through the oracle of Apollo, and finally afflicting the people of Thebes with a dreadful plague. Fundamentally, by utilizing fate, prophecies, the oracle of Apollo, and the plague, the gods played a significant role in the destruction of Oedipus and his family.
Greek tragedies began at a festival in honor of Dionysius, who was the god of wine. At the early festivals, drinking, quarrels, and sexual activity occurred frequently. Later on, tragedies gained much more respect and were taken very seriously. The plays dealt with man's relationship with god(s). These plays also dealt with a specific instance of life. The chorus wore goat-skins and served a great purpose in the tragedies, themselves. Thespis, the father of the tragedy, created an actor who talked with the leader of the chorus to further make the importance of the chorus seen.
I chose the story of Orpheus and Eurydice as the myth I will be analyzing. It is one of the earliest tales of a relationship ending tragically, and countless of modern stories have undoubtedly been inspired at least in part by it. There have been many artistic interpretations of the myth, and each lends its own unique perspective.