Comparing Act Without Words 'And Tantalus'

Tantalus, a Greek mythological figure, famous for his punishment in Tartarus. Tantalus is forced to emerge himself in pool of water beneath a tree full of fruit with branches hanging low, with the fruit away from his grasp, and the water draining before taking a drink. As he starts to get frustrated, he sits on the big cube and looks as if he has given up and threw in the towel. Therefore, the cube is pulled up from beneath him, and he is dropped to the ground. Moving forward, he refuses to continue to play the game, even when the carafe of water is dangled in front of his face he does not make an attempt to grab it. The branches with thick leaves open, providing shade for him, but he doesn’t notice. He simply sits there in the light curiously looking at his hands.
The protagonist Tantalus is thrown, forced, born into an environment where he can not have anything nor succeed. At first the protagonist is a thinker, but made to deal …show more content…
The audience and both the protagonist have learned that in life if you want something you have always wanted, it may or may not be acheivable, it may be out of grasp. Sometimes in life you have to accept defeat but you always have to bounce back from defeat. In Act Without Words and Tantalus, if you truly want something and boast, then you arent going to be able to get it but if you start to show a lack of interest in what you want, then it will come to you. When Tantalus comes up with all different ideas on how to obtain shade and reach the carafe, the trees start to provide less shade and the carafe starts to get pulled up. However, when Tantalus starts to give up and doesn’t want to play the game anymore, the tree starts to provide an immense amount of sunlight and the carafe drops down to Tantalus so it is reachable. Basically in Tantalus, if you want something, you arent going to get it, but if you give up it, it may be