The Never Ending Cycle of Death
|
Out of all the ideas and lessons to be learned from the Oresteia, the one that caught everyone’s attention was how murder doesn’t serve in the role of justice. Throughout the whole novel there were constant instances where we saw murder after murder with intent to serve justice to the previously killed. “[A]venge all insults and settle all scores,” (Remarque 102) was how Aeschylus made it seem within the beginning of the novel. However, this “avenging” only worsened the situation and caused similar repeats in how a murder was dealt with. Each character who wanted to avenge another had the right idea in mind; which was that it wasn’t right to murder a soul, but it wasn’t until Athena changes things with Orestes near the end of the Eumenides and stops the cycle of justice through murder.
Coming from this one lesson from Aeschylus come multiple solutions that are applicable to vengeful actions or thoughts of vengeance nowadays. Take the instance where Orestes was running from the furies as well as his own guilt; he had thought that by killing his father’s murderers that everything would be settled and done with because it was the right thing to do. In reality he had actually caused himself to obtain a state of guilt and the furies on his back. This would relate to life nowadays in areas of people wronging other people, or the helpfulness in removing the vengeful side of getting back at someone with an unreasonable punishment. Murder being one of the main unreasonables. An end to the cycle of murder is actually seen in Oreste’s Trial as Athena appeases both the Furies and Orestes by making the trial end in both their favors. Of course Orestes' favor is easy to see, however the Furies are frustrated at first. Athena softens this anger by making them into the Eumenides or “The Kindly Ones.” As Aeschylus demonstrates through the example of the outcomes of the trial, a great way to resolve an issue to this extent of immorality is through forgiveness of the one who does wrong and a means of appeasement to the receiver of such that steers their attention away from the immorality. |
Found on Google Images
|
Works Cited
Remarque, Erich Maria, and A. W. Wheen. All Quiet on the Western Front. Sahara Publisher Books, 2020.
Remarque, Erich Maria, and A. W. Wheen. All Quiet on the Western Front. Sahara Publisher Books, 2020.
A Feminist's Nightmare
A main theme across Christa Wolf's whole novel was feminism: how women were oppressed and what ideas and thoughts went unrecognized. From even the outside perspective of the novel, the reader can see from history that Cassandra was a perfect example of how women were treated during her time. Cassandra's most known story tied into feminism with the idea that a woman could have great ideas, but they could never be seen. The story being how she was cursed by Apollo to be able to see into the future, but no one would ever believe her words to be true. Within Wolf's writing we can infer that she wanted to depict what exactly women were going through and what they still are going through nowadays.
Within the novel, Wolf uses Cassandra to communicate what logical and reasonable courses of action and thoughts take place from women that are missed due to the oppression. An example of this would be the event of Cassandra’s anti war beliefs being dismissed. Cassandra wanted to end even the thought of it due to her ability to see the outcome of the future and what would lay before them in ruins. She had ended up being seen as a traitor to her people since her antiwar beliefs were seen as unpatriotic and against the Trojans. This strong hatred towards war also explains why Cassandra was so against being in love with Aeneas since he was a war hero and did not take a liking to being yet another female casualty of war.
Other than only Cassandra being tied to feminism, the two belligerents of the Trojan War had some involvement in the belittling of the female. The Greeks had been the main oppressors to women and their values and ideas while the Trojans grew into more of the idea of women being seen as less than equal to men nearing the end of the novel.
Concluding with Wolf's main theme is her idea that women, or anyone with a voice is a debatable topic, are important in the roles of their opinions and thoughts being heard and, if given the opportunity, should help to better the circumstances. Writer of the article Understanding the Myth: Why Cassandra Must Not be Silenced, Laura Shamas, discusses within her writing that myths show patterns of human behavior and that Cassandra’s views do matter because they could have changed the outcome, which supports Wolf giving Cassandra a deep sense of significance rather than a speck within the Trojan war. This speaks to the whole idea of women empowerment and how feminism plays the lead role within Wolf’s Cassandra.
Within the novel, Wolf uses Cassandra to communicate what logical and reasonable courses of action and thoughts take place from women that are missed due to the oppression. An example of this would be the event of Cassandra’s anti war beliefs being dismissed. Cassandra wanted to end even the thought of it due to her ability to see the outcome of the future and what would lay before them in ruins. She had ended up being seen as a traitor to her people since her antiwar beliefs were seen as unpatriotic and against the Trojans. This strong hatred towards war also explains why Cassandra was so against being in love with Aeneas since he was a war hero and did not take a liking to being yet another female casualty of war.
Other than only Cassandra being tied to feminism, the two belligerents of the Trojan War had some involvement in the belittling of the female. The Greeks had been the main oppressors to women and their values and ideas while the Trojans grew into more of the idea of women being seen as less than equal to men nearing the end of the novel.
Concluding with Wolf's main theme is her idea that women, or anyone with a voice is a debatable topic, are important in the roles of their opinions and thoughts being heard and, if given the opportunity, should help to better the circumstances. Writer of the article Understanding the Myth: Why Cassandra Must Not be Silenced, Laura Shamas, discusses within her writing that myths show patterns of human behavior and that Cassandra’s views do matter because they could have changed the outcome, which supports Wolf giving Cassandra a deep sense of significance rather than a speck within the Trojan war. This speaks to the whole idea of women empowerment and how feminism plays the lead role within Wolf’s Cassandra.
|
Works Cited
Shamas, Laura A. “Understanding the Myth: Why Cassandra Must Not Be Silenced.” Understanding the Myth: Why Cassandra Must Not Be Silenced by Laura A. Shamas, 13 July 2011, https://www.ontheissuesmagazine.com/cafe2/article/163. |
Appease the Audience
|
Colm Tóibín’s House of Names is a great depiction of some of the struggles society deals with on a daily basis. These struggles are hidden to the eye, however, and are within the individual whose options are limited to their own choices. Each character within Tóibín’s novel has their own path that they are taking and feel alone while trying to go through each obstacle in their path. Similar to each character, there are parts of society that have to face related experiences. The author communicates these relations through the reader’s emotions and connections between the character’s thoughts, feelings, actions, and makes it easier to understand and acknowledge the purpose of the actions carried out within the novel. Even Heller Mcalpin communicates at the end of her book review, House of Names is a Violent Page-Turner, and a Surprising Departure, that Tóibín gives the reader the empathy needed to either relate or understand each character. These experiences all relate to two big topics within the novel: grief and isolation.
Grief played a huge role within each of the main character’s paths; originating from several loved one’s deaths. Electra seems to have a struggle with grief overall in the sense that she just doesn't really have any. Electra seems to be held on to this idea of revenge and almost seems emotionless with her lack of grief towards the death of her dead father and Iphigenia. Orestes also shares a role in the grief for it was the death of his father as well and he has also taken part in matricide in a direct method; killing his mother, rather than Electra’s method of having Orestes do the “dirty work.” Orestes also has dealt with the death of Mitros and the old woman who basically kept him, Mitros, and Leander alive when they were helpless, without food, and on the brink of death. From these deaths and the different scenarios that make them, the reader is provided with a variety of ways to relate, emphasize, or even just understand what in the world is going on. Another main attention grabber is the idea of isolation and its effects on the character’s and audience. Electra is left alone when her father passes and her brother is sent away and falls into this deep, almost emotionless, revengeful mindset. Orestes feels alone, or abandoned because no one wants to be alone with him, until he finally finds one who loves just being around him. Clytemestra is alone as a ghost and keeps calling for her son because of this. And the old woman seems to want the three men to stay by her side because of her loneliness, considering it’s just her and the dog. There are different aspects of loneliness: one caused by the lack of a lover, another by a lack of family to be around, and another from the lack of any social interaction. All of the aspects abide by the individual reader’s initiation of empathy and ways to relate to the characters. |
Found on Google Images
|
Works Cited
McAlpin, Heller. “House of Names Is a Violent Page-Turner, and a Surprising Departure.” NPR, NPR, 10 May 2017, https://www.npr.org/2017/05/10/527629908/house-of-names-is-a-violent-page-turner-and-a-surprising-departure.
McAlpin, Heller. “House of Names Is a Violent Page-Turner, and a Surprising Departure.” NPR, NPR, 10 May 2017, https://www.npr.org/2017/05/10/527629908/house-of-names-is-a-violent-page-turner-and-a-surprising-departure.
Hero or Not?
|
Zachary Mason attempts, and I believe succeeds, in defining what a hero is depicted as and the impractical qualities society has given into this so-called hero in his novel, The Lost Books of The Odyssey. Mason provides multiple circumstances where society may see a hero in the individual who is taking great action, but when we take another perspective on the matter it changes our minds a bit. This change causes disapproval of the name calling of hero when, at points, there is an even an almost hatred. He hints towards The Odyssey's characters to all be flawed throughout his novel and that none are actually a hero, but can only be seen as one through their actions. Andrew Kushnir put it well in his article, "[that] Mason essentially reinterprets the hero as an unreliable narrator" (The Lost Books of the Odyssey by Zachary Mason). His use of the word unreliable helps to show that Odysseus is constantly changing through each story and his actions or depictions of being a hero shifts as well. Mason uses the point of view of Odysseus and several other characters in the novel in order to show the depictions of Odysseus through his encounter's thoughts and feeling as well as Odysseus himself to demonstrate his standing on his own actions.
Society creates a standard of a hero that ultimately cannot actually be taken upon a person because of human flaw. Odysseus is an example of that human flaw and the sense that nobody is perfect. Odysseus seems to be seen as a hero, however, deep down, his actions are actually caused by his own selfish intent. Some of his actions are actually even less than heroic and are left unseen. Polyphemus is a great use of demonstrating one of Odysseus's less than heroic actions. Polyphemus had been in a state of peace until Odysseus turned the situation upside down with his tricks he began to play on Polyphemus. It would be hard to tell that his actions weren't heroic because others would see his actions as good; out-besting a monster through his wit. However, when we look at Polyphemus's point of view, Odysseus becomes the monster as he disrupts the peace. Mason points out here that everyone has a little bit of evil within them which causes nothing perfect to conclude out of human input. Someone seen as a hero might actually just be enacting in one good action but that doesn't represent their whole lifestyle. Compared to The Odyssey, this novel on the "lost books" helps the reader to see the unseen through Odysseus's eyes as well as just through his actions seen by other characters. A common acknowledgement of how a hero is depicted would be the example of Superman. Superman has the right mindset to do what is right no matter the cost, putting himself aside from others. Mason creates a view on Odysseus that does not actually show this heroic trait, but rather a selfish one within. Odysseus is doing everything mainly for himself; whether that be because he doesn't want to see someone he likes get hurt or himself. I believe he would not care to help if it had nothing to do with him or a loved one. This mentality creates an opposing opinion on Odysseus being a hero within The Odyssey and supports the idea of human flaw preventing a true hero. |
Found on Google Images
|
Works Cited
Kushnir, Andrew. “The Lost Books of the Odyssey by Zachary Mason.” Diotma, 2019, https://diotima-doctafemina.org/reviews/literature-review/the-lost-books-of-the-odyssey-by-z-mason/.
Kushnir, Andrew. “The Lost Books of the Odyssey by Zachary Mason.” Diotma, 2019, https://diotima-doctafemina.org/reviews/literature-review/the-lost-books-of-the-odyssey-by-z-mason/.
A Love For Mortality
|
An unintentional gift was given to the mortals within Madeline Miller’s Circe that provided the character of Circe a fascination and, at the end of the novel, a greater sense of joyfulness in life. As a god there are many qualities that would make you great and powerful, however, Miller challenges their greatness with mortality. Circe helps in the depiction of the mortals through her fascination with the need for purpose; even though their existence is only for a limited time. Her involvement with the lives of the mortals develops her thoughts and opinions about mortality and immortality as well as the downsides of what the gods carry alongside them throughout eternity.
Immortality becomes more of a curse within Circe’s eyes as the novel progresses and as she develops. The gods, as a whole, lack empathy or compassion for the mortals as they don’t quite understand or grasp the idea of their significance, whereas Circe develops that understanding and compassion through her experiences and overall growth in knowledge. She distances herself from the gods as they are power hungry and cruel towards the mortals thinking their lives are meaningless. The gods only have their own paths and selfs in mind, which goes to show their involvement with the mortals as they use them for their own gain. Athena using Odysseus is a great example of a god using a mortal in such a way. She provokes Odysseus until the point of his demise, which definitely defies the idea of a god being greater in every way. Miller provides Circe with such ideas in order to create an opposition to a god's immortality being great and rather it destroys an overall sense of care for others. Circe is provided with the time to support her decisions and thoughts while she finds mortality to be a gift. Demonstrated within Melissa Rodman’s article, ‘Circe’ Muses on Mythology and Mortality, there is a clarification on her time spent in her growth of knowledge, “Circe’s immortality enables her to encounter heroes whose stories are separated by thousands of years.” Odysseus with whom she falls in love, the birth she gives to a mortal child, and even her transformation at the end of the novel provides some of the many positive encounters she has alongside the negatives of men who do her wrong and, in return, become pigs from her witchcraft. She finds that the imperfections of the mortals are similar to the gods yet still are deemed far from greater than them because of the ability to appreciate their short lives given rather than live in the hatred that the gods spend eternity with. |
Found on Google Images
|
Works Cited
Rodman, Melissa C. “'Circe' Muses on Mythology and Mortality.” Arts | The Harvard Crimson, The Harvard Crimson, 10 Apr. 2018, https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2018/4/10/circe-review/.
Rodman, Melissa C. “'Circe' Muses on Mythology and Mortality.” Arts | The Harvard Crimson, The Harvard Crimson, 10 Apr. 2018, https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2018/4/10/circe-review/.
Fend For Yourself
|
A disregard of women is what led to the initial theme of this novel; fighting for oneself in hopes to gain, leading to only a disregard of others. There is a common idea floating around the whole novel that in order to be respected or at least treated fairly, power needs to be sought out. Even this power that is sought out only gets to be received from a few, which begins to leave others who also seek to have this respect and fairness behind. Penelope and her twelve maids are the characters that are mainly seen to go through this process. And through these thirteen characters are Atwood’s inclusions of gender and class which help in the reasoning of why one must see themselves into power.
Time and time again we see that there is a power struggle for women when compared to men. This social construct that was placed in gave roots to the bigger idea of power being sought out. Gender within the novel even became a class within itself where men came out on top and women on bottom. Women in Atwood’s novel seem to want as much as they can get from the hands of their superiors which ultimately leads to a neglect towards each other. Jim McNabb wrote in the study guide of the play, the Penelopiad, “[p]erhaps Odysseus chose to believe in his wife’s fidelity and therefore hanged the maids who could have proven her unfaithful,” and even though it was only a concept to think about in the study guide of the play, it represented what was actually going on with the twelve maids and Penelope. A dispute over power, never actually taking place in conversation. Penelope initially had tried to get as much power as possible and, in the meantime, strayed away from acknowledging the other women below her in power and their struggle. The class of women from queen to maid interpreted the amount of struggle given. |
Found on Google Images
|
Works Cited
McNabb, Jim. “The Penelopiad Study Guide - Nightwood Theatre.” Nightwood Theatre, BMO Financial Group, https://www.nightwoodtheatre.net/uploads/The_Penelopiad_study_guide_-_Nightwood.pdf.
McNabb, Jim. “The Penelopiad Study Guide - Nightwood Theatre.” Nightwood Theatre, BMO Financial Group, https://www.nightwoodtheatre.net/uploads/The_Penelopiad_study_guide_-_Nightwood.pdf.
