The decision they made caused them to have great consequences. For example, when Odysseus’ men opened the bag Odysseus was given thinking it was full of treasurers but instead the winds were released. They were punished for their greed, wrong decisions and self-indulging.
Each tale reveals moral lessons that attempt to prevent the reader from performing the same mistakes as the character. “The Pardoner’s Tale” and “The Reeve’s Tale” possess similar themes, distinct differences arise in the topics presented in each passage. “The Pardoner’s Tale” and “The Reeve’s Tale” illustrates how greed corrupts men, how sin leads to more sin, and how revenge drives men to undertake foolish feats. The differences between Chaucer’s tales allows for a humorous yet insightful
In ancient Greek ideology and mythology there is a common theme of characters ‘getting what they deserve’. In Homer’s graphic novel The Odyssey, there are several occasions where this theme of reciprocity is occurring. Revenge and justice are something that the romans held highly in their culture, so characters in their stories often had fates that was deemed fit for their ‘crime’. Odysseus crew was told before their journey to the island of Thrinacia, that they had to steer clear of this island.
The hardships these characters endure give them a new insight into their own
With the realization of his demise, Oedipus tries to protect himself from punishment and shame by gouging out his own eyes and exiling himself out to die in the place destiny prevented him from dying originally. After many years of luxurious living, Oedipus’s predestined fate tears his life apart and returns him to the place he should have died as an infant, the mountain. Through the use of, departure, initiation, and return, Sophocles displays the journey of Oedipus. Not only is Oedipus the King evidence of the use of the hero’s journey throughout many famous plays, movies, and books across all cultures and time periods, but it also seen as a perfect tragedy, in which the audience experiences both pity and fear for the main
In today’s society you can also tell what someone’s intentions are by their behavior towards the less fortunate. When the people in Ithaca did not help remove the suitors Telemachus and Odysseus took justice into their own hands. They killed the suitors and took revenged for their honor, however this caused a greater conflict between
In contrast, in the Oresteia, the myth demonstrates an overwhelming theme of justice. Agamemnons’ death here shows the curse hunting his household from generation to generation, starting from Agamemnon’s father
In Sophocles’ Greek tragedy Antigone, a woman’s individual conscience trumps state law when Antigone displays time and again that she values her divine motives higher than those of the state throughout the tragedy. Her continued defiance of the state’s authority marks the importance of her individuality through various scenes in Antigone. Knowing full well her role as a woman in a patriarchal society, Antigone goes beyond the powers of the common man to carry on morals of herself and family exceeding beyond immortality and death. Engulfed in the menacing misogyny King Creon set forth in the state, Antigone is determined to thrive and keep the sacred deeds of herself and family in tact despite the fate it bears. The character of Antigone exhibits
Her fathers love is very similar to that of Janie's grandmother. There seems to have been a falling out between Emily's father and the rest of the family, leaving Emily to learn about love only from him. Faulkner writes, "we had long thought of them as a tableau, Miss Emily a slender figure in white in the background, her father a spraddled silhouette in the foreground, his back to her and clutching a horsewhip." This imagery portrays a sense of control that Emily's father has over her and her relationships. Although it is a form of love, it might not be in Emily's best interest.
Arcite and Palamon are the main characters in “The Knight’s Tale” and they both play very important parts in the story. These two men have similar traits but different personalities and methods for accomplishing tasks. Arcite and Palamon are cousins, who are so close, that they consider themselves, and even swear an oath stating that they are brothers. Their brotherly pact, as strong as it may seem, is still helpless against the powers of love. In “The Knight 's Tale”, similarities and differences between Arcite and Palamon are evident when they fall in love with the same person, how they behave after they leave prison, and what they pray for and how the prayers are answered.
Throughout the epic, violence is evident in the actions and the decision making of the characters in order to obtain peace. The battles and suicides throughout the story are prevalent and gruesome, while moments of peace are minor and fleeting. The characters, whether man or god, result to violence as a primary way to manage their problems. Aeneas is strong, heroic, and seems calm; however, he does not receive true peace and calmness until he has killed his enemy, Turnus, to end the battle and avenge his friend, Pallas. Nonetheless, Aeneas is a noble character who overcomes bad odds and embodies Roman ideals, including violence.
Critic Northrop Frye claims that tragic heroes “seem the inevitable conductors of the power about them… Conductors may of course be instruments as well as victims of the divisive lightning.” A perfect example of this assertion would be King Oedipus in the classical tragic play “Oedipus Rex,” written by Sophocles, where Oedipus, himself, becomes the victim of his doomed fate. As someone who was born and raised of royal blood, he becomes too proud and ignorant, believing that he was too powerful for his fate. Using the metaphor “great trees [are] more likely to be struck by lightning than a clump of grass,” Frye compares the heroic but unfortunate Oedipus to the great trees as they both are apt to experience victimization of tragic situations
Throughout the tragedy of Oedipus the King, Oedipus displays his imperfectly noble being for all to see. While Oedipus had saved the Thebans from the Sphinx’s riddle, Oedipus’s nobel pride and anger lead to his destruction as he attempted to find Laios’s murderer. In his mistreatment of Teiresias, and his false allegations towards Creon being a usurper, Oedipus shows his imperfectly noble character as he foolishly attempts to fight fate and the gods will. Oedipus and his imperfectly noble nature appear again and again as he attempts to solve the murder of the previous King.
In many people’s eyes, it is seen that fate is something that one can not escape. In Oedipus Rex, by Sophocles, Oedipus gives a speech to the citizens of Thebes, about the murder of their previous leader, Laius. And in this speech, he explains the hardship that the murderer will have to eventually face. In Oedipus’s speech from Oedipus Rex, Sophocles uses the literary device of dramatic irony to develop the central idea that fate is destined to happen, and can possibly bring more intensified consequences when avoided. If one tries to escape their fate, the conflicts that occur can be more severe than they were supposed to be. One can infer that what Oedipus is stating will eventually happen to him in the end of the play, if he is classified as the murderer.
It is often said that an anti-climax work is more admired than its counterparts. For reasons, the struggle of humans, the ultimate failure of a hero, and the corruption of mortal spirit have always hold its ground against classic comedy. From the ages of Oedipus Rex, a tragedy carries the irony of an egoistic giant trapped in predestined downfall. Oedipus was almost certain that he had escaped the arranged destiny. This confidence led him to pursue the murderer of Thebes until, at the end, he made the horrible discovery that his wife was his mother, and that his daughters were instead, his sisters.
