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37 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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Thyestes
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Brother of Atreus, eats own children
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Atreus
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Seeks revenge on his brother, Thyestes, for having an affair with Atreus’s wife and seeking too much power; father of Agamemnon and Menelaus; killed by Aegisthus (not shown in plays, but that’s how the myth plays out.)
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Tantalus
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(grandfather to Thyestes and Atreus) and his son Pelops (father of Thyestes and Atreus)
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Agamemnon
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Victorious general from the Trojan war. Killed by his wife, Clytemnestra, and her lover, Aegisthus.
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Clytemnestra
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Wife of Agamemnon; lover of Aegisthus.
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Aegisthus
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Son of Thyestes and Thyestes’s own daughter. Bred for the sole purpose of getting revenge for his father against Atreus and his sons. Kills Atreus (not in the play, but in the myths), helps to kill Agamemnon. Lover of Clytemnestra.
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Iphegenia
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Daughter of Agamemnon that he sacrificed in order to go to the Trojan war. Motivation for Clytemnestra to seek revenge on Agamemnon.
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Cassandra
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Prophetess, unwilling lover of Agamemnon.
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Beowulf
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Geat warrior who kills Grendel and Grendel’s Mother as a favor to Hrothgar – a way to pay off a debt that Beowulf’s family owes Hrothgar for paying wergild for Beowulf’s father. Becomes king of the Geats eventually and dies killing a dragon.
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Hrothgar
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King of the Danes. In the past, pays wergild for Beowulf’s father.
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The Last Survivor
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Treasure's origin - last survivor's speech (153)
Interacting unravels Equivocal view of gold & treasure Dragon's hoard - 300 years |
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Wiglaf
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Mirrors young Beowulf - first time in battle
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Wheel of Fortune
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Metaphor in Roman Literature
No sense of divine justice The higher you rise, the harder you fall |
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Revenge
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Generational
In Seneca's tragedies they were based on revenge Grendel's mother |
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Unlimited cruelty of human beings (Roman tragedies of Seneca)
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Humans are evil and think of cruel punishments (Thyestes eats his own sons, Atreus did this)
Unlimited perversion |
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Moral indifference of the Roman gods
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Have no interaction in human life like the Greek gods
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Curse of the House of Atreus
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?
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Pietas and revenge
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Honors the ancestors to seek revenge on their behalf (Aegisthus helps kill Agamemnon to fulfill his father’s lust for revenge)
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Stoicism
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The philosophy of gravitas, control, and ethos; Stoic values are wisdom, courage, justice, temperance.
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“What’s past is prologue.”
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History repeats itself
Thyestes's ghost: sins both intended & inadvertant Clytemnestra the ambivalent revener (p 177) Iphigenia (p 179) |
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“Wherever there’s a Helen, there’s a Troy.”
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Wherever there is injustice, a greater injustice will follow it. There will always be out of proportion implications for injustice. Also, injustice for one means injustice for all.
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The importance of multiple perspectives on one problem (Agamemnon)
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?
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The only way to receive justice is through the law – not through revenge.
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Revenge is never ending but the law puts and end to it
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Wergild
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Restitution paid for a crime, especially murder
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Wyrd
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Fate
Acceptance of wyrd (p 47) |
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Symbolism
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?
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Unities of time, place, and action
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Greek & Roman playwright observed the unities of time, place, & action
It all takes place in one day, in one setting, with one plot |
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Analepsis
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Flashback
Reveals the worthlessness of wisdom in the face of tragedy; implications of king's death (p 165-71) |
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Prolepsis
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Flashforward
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Epic elements of Beowulf
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Supernatural Elements
-demonic monsters, dragon, "superhero" Backward looking -nostalgia "when men were men" Interest in history (generations) Analepsis & Prolepsis |
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Comitatus
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Everyone protects the king at all costs even if it means a warrior giving up his own life
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Overlay of Christian perspective in Beowulf
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Narrator trying to get listeners/readers to “buy in” to the Beowulf story by using what the audience knows and values.
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Debt, reciprocity, and power in Beowulf
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Gift giving - reciprocity, loyal, debt
Beowulf present gifts to Hygelac Hygelac reciprocates with better gifts Debt - wergild The more you have the more powerful you are |
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Christian symbols in Beowulf: baptism, resurrection, conquering sin and death, the cross, the cup. What do the monsters symbolize?
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Christian writer
"Through the strength of one they all prevailed" (p 47, messiah language) Swimming through the mere - water that appears to burn (baptism, symbolic death) Grendel - descendent of Cain -evil in the abstract -sin that haunt the sinner (guilt) (p 9) -death symbolizes victory over sin Grendel's mother - Eve -death symbolizes victory over death Resurrection (p 111) Aschere & Grendel's heads -represent conquer over sin & death Melted sword remains as a cross Thief - Judas Cup = Holy Grail |
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The dangerous mistake of feeling like you’re past the point of failure.
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Think again
Your experience will challenge you |
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The hero as the middle man between two rich kings
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Balancing of power
Beowulf is a cog in the wheel of power, sucking up to his kings so he can live the good life |
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The worth of gold and riches
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Beowulf wants to see the treasure before he dies
No one will benefit from it because it's cursed |
