All of this leaves little hope in her. Directing Cody kept us all aware of his vision from the beginning. For my scene, he made especially clear that I was to “lead” with my eyes. This kept my character Helen to appear in a constant state of calculation and overconfidence. Later, when Helen was condemned, I was the only person in the whole show to get on my knees and beg. The other women in the cast held their dignity. Acting: Were these actors cast appropriately…
Castor and Polydeuces, my beloved, divine brothers, how I long for you. The war has adjourned and Troy has been burned to the ground and I despair that my brothers are no longer of this realm and now spend their days between Mt. Olympus and Hades, even now the two of you are inseparable. I have always admired and envied your bond and yearned for the same between Clytemnestra and I and now I am even more alone than ever. Did the King of the Heavens know of the events he’d set off, I wonder?…
The Trojan War was being fought in the 13th or 12th BC which was a period of time known as the Bronze Age. In Greek Mythology, the war was fought against the city of Troy after Paris of Troy took Helen from her husband who is the King of the Spartans. Many people fought wars to achieve and gain pride or themselves and their family. Although in Ancient Greece many were fearless and brave: in the Trojan War, Hector, a fierce Greek warrior, portrays the most hero-like qualities, in the epic poem,…
drugging everyone, Helen has the power to mess with their memory, making them believe a story about Odysseus and the Trojan War that is questionable. She is also the only one capable of understanding the omen of the eagle who ripping apart the goose. Menelaus, the King of Sparta, cannot translate the omen: “The warlord fell to thinking— / how to read the omen rightly, how to reply?” (Pg. 324 ll. 188-189). This talent is a characteristic that could support the theory that Helen is Zeus’s daughter…
This is not the first time I have read the Iliad. I took a course back in my sophomore year called Love and War in the Ancient World. After reading the Iliad for a second time, I realized something that I did not see when I read it the first time. I realized that the Greeks were not all that much different than myself. While reading the Iliad, I got a sense that there was a theme of God, Family, and Country. This reminds me of a lot of important in my own life. Let me explain the Greeks are more…
name of the war that lasted those long dreaded years was called, the “Trojan War”. “The Trojan War”, was an epic war that lasted ten years between two great nations, the Greeks and the Trojans. The war was started when Paris the son of Troy stolen Helen of Sparta away from her husband, Menelaus, the king of Sparta. After she was taken, Agamemnon took this as an opportunity to take his massive army and to conquer Troy and its’ Allies territory. Soon after, amassing his army, Agamemnon set sail…
The story Iphigenia at Aulis by Euripides starts with the main character Agamemnon having second thoughts about going through with the sacrifice of his daughter Iphigenia to get the winds to move to go to Troy. He decides to write a second letter to send to her telling her to go back home and that her supposed marriage to Achilles would be another time. Before the letter can get to Iphigenia, Agamemnon’s brother Menelaus intercepts the letter and is outraged that his brother would damage Greece…
Characters of Mythology A. Paris / insolent B. “The ties between guest and host were strong. Each was bound to help and never harm the other… shamed the hand that gave him food, stealing away a woman.” (Hamilton 257) C. Although he was entitled to Helen by Aphrodite, she had already been wedded to another man. The god of beauty had no other choice but to grant Paris his wish. The way that he had taken the wife of Menelaus, however, was cowardly and dishonored the sacred ties between host and…
Within Euripides Iphigenia at Aulis, and Seneca’s Medea, a variety of atrocious acts take place, sparing no violence and certainly no mercy. Although Seneca and Euripides hail from much different time periods, many parallels can be drawn between the atrocious acts depicted within their works. While the scenarios that lead up to the atrocious acts that take place within Medea and Iphigenia at Aulis differ, many similarities can be found between both antagonists. In addition to the similarities,…
Odysseus, a household name thanks to English class in high school. Students spend weeks analyzing his character and journey. Learning that Odysseus fits all the characteristics of the classic hero; strength, courage, nobility and his most distinguishing strait, intelligence. Many view Odysseus as the hero of the Odyssey but there is another character that has the same traits as Odysseus and that is Penelope, his wife. She is often forgotten in the shadow of her husband even though she is…