... Maximus is a farmer from Spain who has become emperor Marcus Aurelius most trusted general. He is loyal to his emperor which is why so many people respect Maximus. Marcus Aurelius has plans to name Maximus as his heir when he returns to Rome. Maximus doesn't really agree to this because he doesn't seem to like the trappings of power, but the only reason Marcus asked him was that he trusts Maximus and he is like a son to him. Which has made Maximus see him as a father and couldn't turn down this offer and because Marcus fears what will happen when Commodus becomes emperor. Commodus is a spoiled powerful person who is the royal son of Marcus Aurelius. After Marcus told Maximus that he wants him as his heir, he tells Commodus. Instantly Commodus is stunned, upset and jealous. Commodus then tells his father that he is nothing of what his father's list has, which is "wisdom, justice, fortitude, and temperance", but he does have "ambition, resourcefulness, courage, and devotion." Marcus then tells Commodus how he is sorry for how he turned out and gives Commodus a hug and from there Commodus kills his father. This then tells us a lot about both Maximus and Commodus. Maximus is someone who is a good, caring, vitreous person who is suffering injustice, and he wants to be able to teach others to become good. For example, Maximus was suffering injustice when he got captured by a slave trader, and he basically had to fight as a gladiator in the games/tournaments and kill others in order...
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...Who do you think the grandest king is? Although some people would argue it is King Arthur others believe it to be Odysseus. Odysseus is the king of Ithaca in Homer's Odyssey. Both of these kings prove to be great but only Odysseus proves to be an epic hero. In Homer's Odyssey, Odysseus proves to be an epic hero due to his cunningness, resilience, and determination. In Homer’s Odyssey, Odysseus proves to be an epic hero due to his cunningness. Odysseus shows he is cunning in how he constantly overcomes the challenges the Gods face him with. The narrator says “I crouched with my drawn sword to keep the surging phantoms from the bloody pit” (Beers and Odell 776). This proves Odysseus is cunning by showing he is knowledgeable in how sought...
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...The concept of a hero has been interpreted in many ways throughout the ages an Odysseus is one literary hero that stands the test of time. There are many heroic traits that makes Odysseus in The Odyssey a hero even in today's world. The first trait that makes him a hero is Odysseus is hubristic which is one of his flaws. The next trait is he is stro In the Odyssey Odysseus portrays many traits that make him a hero such as his flaws. In multiple books he shows how hubristic or pride he is especially in book nine at the cyclops island. When Odysseus and his crew first arrived on the island Odysseus picks out a dozen of his best fighters to scope out the island. They find one of the cyclops caves and de themselves at home and “built a fire, set...
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...One would assume that all great heroes are selfless people who only good thing. However, this is not always the case. Odysseus, the epic hero in The Odyssey, is a man who is loved by everyone. However, they turn a blind eye to the fact that he is a very egotistical hero. Most of Odysseus’ “heroic” acts are to benefit himself and not for the people that are seeking his heroism. When someone looks at all the benefits that Odysseus got out of these acts, one could see why he kept wanting to be the hero. The hero gets all of fame and attention from everyone about the good deed. All of these good deeds were quickly turning into greed. He may save many lives and protect many people but does the acts in a self-centered way only to benefit himself. He does not seem to be in a hurry to get back to Ithaca. Multiple islands that they stopped at on their journey, they spent unnecessary amount of time on. Odysseus and his men ended up spending an entire year on Circe’s island for no reason besides the fact that Circe wanted him to stay. This was selfish because he was not thinking about his family back at home. He was just thinking about enjoying himself with Circe and her nymphs. His wife Penelope was back in Ithaca running a kingdom,...
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...Tragedy is centered around a character with an important role in the universe, and how they handle it through intense emotions like revenge, lamentation, and suffering. These characters are often presented with a task, either through their own choices or from influence by the Gods. These influences can offer the audience a way that they may safely feel emotions like pity and fear towards the characters, allowing them to be engrossed in a tragic story. Most of our principle characters were given their circumstance by forces out of their control, however a handful of them made their decisions themselves. For example, in The Agamemnon, while Clytemnestra and Aegisthus choose to murder Agamemnon (because he sacrificed Iphigenia), there were more influential circumstances at play. Most of the characters are aware of the curse of the house of Atreus, and mention it themselves several times throughout the Oresteia. They know that Agamemnon is a son of Atreus, he is afflicted by this very curse. Rationally they need not act on the curse, but they feel like they must enact revenge to make up for other loses....
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...can be overdone, especially if a reason for the spectacle cannot be found. Language is the dialog or speech that makes up the story, and is used by characters to present the play to the audience. Aristotle lays out a very specific definition of what a tragedy should include, and how each element should be presented. He tells us that the tragedy must include these six elements and that they must be laid out in a logical manner. Aristotle sets up the framework for a tragedy that is used with or without the playwright’s knowledge for innumerable classical and modern plays. 3. Along with giving us the six elements of a tragedy, Aristotle also gives us four parts that should be included in a tragic hero. Sophocles’ character Oedipus is considered to be the classic example of a tragic hero. This is attributed to...
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...Examples of such works include Homer’s The Iliad and The Odyssey as well as Virgil’s The Aeneid. While each hero in each stories encounters his own journey, there are common stages that they all go through to reach “heroism.” What defines an epic hero is someone who is wise and noble in counsel action or war. The epic hero has to have a semi-divine spirit and a god as a parent (Barua, Page 1). Achilles was a hero in each and every form of the word. He was extraordinary and is said to be one of the greatest heroes of Greek mythology. He embodied all the great values that made up a superhuman. Achilles was strong, courageous, and loyal but he was also just a man-A man with a grave weakness and without the love, fear and sacrifice of his mother, he would have surely met an earlier end. When he was just a boy, his mother, Thetis, did everything to make sure her son was immortal. She would burn him over a fire every night, then dress his wounds with ambrosial ointment and then finally dunked him in the River Styx (History.comStaff). The river’s waters were said to confer the invulnerability of the gods. This was the only way to ensure her son’s immortality. Thetis was supposed to cover Achilles from head to toe in the water but when she dipped him, she held onto his heel and it stayed dry. He was 99.9% immortal. From birth Achilles was destined to be great. Even though he was great, he was not perfect. Achilles worried about being an honorable hero so...
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...Tennyson (Ulysses and Crossing the Bar) Presented by: Fatima Tawfiq ********************************************************** Tennyson Biography Alfred, Lord Tennyson, is one of the most famous poets in English literature. Many of his poems are standard of 19th-century literature and are critical and popular favorites. The body of critical work on him is immense, and although some of his work is seen as too sentimental today, his intellectual contributions to poetry and metaphysics are undeniable. Alfred Tennyson was born on August 5, 1809 in Somersby, Lincolnshire, where his father George was a clergyman. Young Alfred began writing poetry at a very early age, and published his first work "Poems by Two Brothers" at the tender age of sixteen. In that same year of 1827 Tennyson entered Cambridge University, where he befriended Thackery and produced his second collection, "Poems, Chiefly Lyrical". He also met Emily Selwood, to whom he became engaged in 1839. The Selwood family objected to the engagement, partly because of Tennyson's lack of money, and partly because his brother Charles was unhappily married to Emily's sister Louisa. Tennyson poured his energy into writing, and his "Poems" of 1842 made him extremely popular. He let his doctors convince him to give up writing for a time because of his poor health, but the respite was temporary. In 1847 "The Princess" was another success, and two years later Tennyson married Emily in a secret ceremony. When William Wordsworth...
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...Overview of Prehistory and the Ancient World Subtitle: EP’s fast forward background This “mini-lecture” gives you a sense of the main points I would like to make before we study Hellenic and Hellenistic Greece . Our text is lacking some of the literary and philosophical examples I think you need – we are trying to have as “interdisciplinary” a study as possible, so I’m adding background I think is pertinent and is just fun stuff to know! Prehistory: The text discussed the period when man was still nomadic and groups subsisted as hunter/gatherers. There are two art works that are remarkable as “mirrors of mind” of those earliest people. Don’t be confused by the sequence of the illustrations in your book – the very earliest of the artistic works we have is the “Woman [or ‘Venus’] of Willendorf”. Was this a sculpture of a specific woman? Does it show details? Is its nudity indicative of a lusty sexual obsession of the artist? Why would this subject be a priority for early expression? Really ponder these questions independently for a moment before reading on. If early Mankind was aware of anything, it was that life is CYCLICAL. There are cycles of the moon, of rivers flooding, menstrual cycles, childbearing cycles, seasonal cycles, cycles of the day from sunrise to sunset, etc.. Woman is the source of life and the womb and breasts nourish new life. No, this is not a statue of a particular woman – the features are very abstract and generic. The artist pays homage...
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...The Dominance of Fate Fate was of great concern to the Greeks, and its workings resonate through many of their myths and texts. We see countless characters who go to great lengths in attempts to alter fate, even if they know such an aim to be futile. The inability of any mortal or immortal to change prescribed outcomes stems from the three Fates: sisters Clotho, who spins the thread of life; Lachesis, who assigns each person’s destiny; and Atropos, who carries the scissors to snip the thread of life at its end. These three divinities pervade all the stories of Greek myth, whether they be stories of gods, goddesses, demigods, heroes, or mortals and regardless of the exploits recounted. Nothing can be done to alter or prolong the destiny of one’s life, regardless of the number of preparations or precautions taken. This inflexibility applies just as much to Zeus as to the lowliest mortal, as we see in Zeus’s hounding of Prometheus to divulge the name of the woman who will bear the offspring that one day will kill him. Though this lesson is somewhat consoling—the way of the world cannot be bent to match the whims of those in authority—it is also very disturbing. The prospect of free will seems rather remote, and even acts of great valor and bravery seem completely useless. The myths provide an interesting counterpoint to this uselessness, however. In virtually all the stories in which a character does everything in his power to block a negative fate, and yet falls prey to it,...
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...MYTHOLOGY IN MODERN SOCIETY [pic] [pic] [pic] |Mythology is everywhere! Daily you run across instances of words, city names, companies, | |literary allusions - and even planets and constellations - that take their name or borrow | |their theme from myths. Because of your many requests, I've provided a couple of thousand | |excellent examples to help you get started in your research. Remember, you're surrounded | |by mythology in today's society, whether you realize it or not! | Mythological Influence on Modern... |[pic]Companies & Groups |[pic]Planets & Constellations | |[pic] Words & Expressions |[pic]Literary & Pop Culture | [pic]American Cities Named From Mythology [pic] COMPANIES & GROUPS |Mythology is everywhere! There are hundreds of companies, groups and corporations that take their name, logo or theme from ancient mythology. | |I've provided a variety of examples to help you in starting your research. Some are well-known international companies, others are of a more | |local nature. | |Aegis - Zeus and Athena's protective shield; modern group of insurance companies (The Aegis Group). | |Ajax - Greek warrior in the Trojan War, who "cleaned up" in...
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...was one person, was born between 850 and 1100 BCE) was, to use a modern term, the source code for Greek literature and poetry, and therefore for Western literature, heavily influencing practically everyone who followed him, including, of course, the great Florentine poet Dante Alighieri ( 1265-1321 A.D.). Both poets’ visions of Hell, as depicted in The Odyssey and Inferno, are noteworthy because they open important windows into the philosophical and theological underpinnings of the worlds into which these authors were born. Why is this important? Because their elaborately drawn visions of Hell represent the two great divides in how humans for 3,000 years have been seeing themselves and the universe they perceive surrounding them. In the Homeric vision, life is tragic and arbitrary. We as humans are mere playthings of the Fates and the gods. Sometimes justice occurs, but usually only by accident, and even then it comes wrapped up in irony. Good is punished and evil triumphs. The hero, instead of enjoying the fruits of his victory, is brought low by some tragic flaw. Homer’s portrayal of the gods and of hell in the Odyssey…[big long quote] For Dante, in sharp contrast, the universe is ordered and just. The wicked are, eventually, punished and the righteous are rewarded, if not in this life, then in the next. Existence, while often painful and scary, is not arbitrary, but proceeds according to a mysterious divine plan devised long ago by an eternally all-knowing, loving...
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...Narrative A narrative is a sequence of events that a narrator tells in story form. A narrator is a storyteller of any kind, whether the authorial voice in a novel or a friend telling you about last night’s party. Point of View The point of view is the perspective that a narrative takes toward the events it describes. First-person narration: A narrative in which the narrator tells the story from his/her own point of view and refers to him/herself as “I.” The narrator may be an active participant in the story or just an observer. When the point of view represented is specifically the author’s, and not a fictional narrator’s, the story is autobiographical and may be nonfictional (see Common Literary Forms and Genres below). Third-person narration: The narrator remains outside the story and describes the characters in the story using proper names and the third-person pronouns “he,” “she,” “it,” and “they.” • Omniscient narration: The narrator knows all of the actions, feelings, and motivations of all of the characters. For example, the narrator of Leo Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina seems to know everything about all the characters and events in the story. • Limited omniscient narration: The narrator knows the actions, feelings, and motivations of only one or a handful of characters. For example, the narrator of Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland has full knowledge of only Alice. • Free indirect discourse: The narrator conveys a character’s inner thoughts...
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...Министерство образования и науки Республики Казахстан Кокшетауский государственный университет им. Ш. Уалиханова An Outline of British Literature (from tradition to post modernism) Кокшетау 2011 УДК 802.0 – 5:20 ББК 81:432.1-923 № 39 Рекомендовано к печати кафедрой английского языка и МП КГУ им. Ш. Уалиханова, Ученым Советом филологического факультета КГУ им. Ш. Уалиханова, УМС КГУ им. Ш. Уалиханова. Рецензенты: Баяндина С.Ж. доктор филологических наук, профессор, декан филологического факультета КГУ им. Ш. Уалиханова Батаева Ф.А. кандидат филологических наук, доцент кафедры «Переводческое дело» Кокшетауского университета им. А. Мырзахметова Кожанова К.Т. преподаватель английского языка кафедры гуманитарного цикла ИПК и ПРО Акмолинской области An Outline of British Literature from tradition to post modernism (on specialties 050119 – “Foreign Language: Two Foreign Languages”, 050205 – “Foreign Philology” and 050207 – “Translation”): Учебное пособие / Сост. Немченко Н.Ф. – Кокшетау: Типография КГУ им. Ш. Уалиханова, 2010 – 170 с. ISBN 9965-19-350-9 Пособие представляет собой краткие очерки, характеризующие английскую литературу Великобритании, ее основные направления и тенденции. Все известные направления в литературе иллюстрированы примерами жизни и творчества авторов, вошедших в мировую литературу благодаря...
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...Essays Essays Part II. 2, 2.] Part II. 2, 2.] Essays The Project Gutenberg EBook of Essays, by Ralph Waldo Emerson This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net Title: Essays Author: Ralph Waldo Emerson Editor: Edna H. L. Turpin Release Date: September 4, 2005 [EBook #16643] Language: English Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 *** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ESSAYS *** 1 Essays Produced by Curtis A. Weyant , Sankar Viswanathan and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net ESSAYS BY RALPH WALDO EMERSON Merrill's English Texts SELECTED AND EDITED, WITH INTRODUCTION AND NOTES, BY EDNA H.L. TURPIN, AUTHOR OF "STORIES FROM AMERICAN HISTORY," "CLASSIC FABLES," "FAMOUS PAINTERS," ETC. NEW YORK CHARLES E. MERRILL CO. 1907 CONTENTS INTRODUCTION LIFE OF EMERSON CRITICAL OPINIONS CHRONOLOGICAL LIST OF PRINCIPAL WORKS THE AMERICAN SCHOLAR COMPENSATION SELF RELIANCE FRIENDSHIP HEROISM MANNERS GIFTS NATURE SHAKESPEARE; OR, THE POET PRUDENCE CIRCLES NOTES PUBLISHERS' NOTE Merrill's English Texts 2 Essays 3 This series of books will include in complete editions those masterpieces of English Literature that are best adapted for the use of schools and colleges. The editors of the several volumes will...
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