...Progressively Shaming Women By Laura Berger Some might say that Euripides’ The Bacchae is a play with themes of female liberation and is progressive in its portrayal of its female characters. The women of this play gallivant and dance through the woods, rebelling against Pentheus and Thebes’ Patriarchy, and the lead character, a god, Dionysus, possesses feminine qualities of his own. All of these are very progressive at first glance. The Bacchae may have been progressive in the era Euripides wrote it, and while it did break the barriers of what a female character could be, it may not be as feminist friendly as one might think. In reality, The Bacchae is more harmful and sexist in its portrayal of women and femininity, whether it was the playwright’s intention or not. Lets start at the very beginning of the play (a very good place to start). Enter Dionysus, god of wine and son of Zeus. He is in the land of Thebes, which is under the rule of Pentheus, grandson of Cadmus. Thebes is a land that has denied his godliness and refused to acknowledge and celebrate him under the orders of Pentheus. Dionysus declares “Every woman in Thebes – but the women only – I drove from home, mad. There they sit, rich and poor alike, even the daughters of Cadmus, beneath the silver firs on the roofless rocks.” The god has sent the women of Thebes to Mt. Cithaeron to perform rituals in his rite; he makes the women maenads (ecstatic women followers of Dionysus) and they rebel against...
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...Name: Courses: Professor: Institution: Date of submission: Discuss and analyze the Archetypes (The patterns of behavior) of the Hero (Dionysus and Tyler [via Ed Norton] Dionysus is a Greek god, who went back to the city of Cadmus in Thebes to seek vengeance for his mother Semele, whom had a child with Zeus, but was denied this birth right by the plotting of his grandfather Cadmus and his aunts, one of them being Agava, the mother of the reigning king; Pentheus, in the land of Thebes. (Euripides, 410BC) Ed Norton (narrator) is working in an insurance firm and feels that his life has become too monotonous and he does not feel alive to it. This starts manifesting in his lack of sleep and a suggestion to visit a testicular cancer meet by his doctor sets him off on his self-discovery. Tyler who is one and the same (a projection) of the two main characters of the plot in Fight club is a soap sales man. The narrator of the movie (who remains unnamed) sets out to start a fight club with this soap sales man he met on the plane. The concept is triggered by a mutually agreed scuffle they have while leaving a pub to go home. The patterns of behavior of Dionysus and Tyler via Ed Norton are uncanny. First of all the audience in the movie only learn that Tyler Durden is a projection of Ed Norton at the tail end of the movie, Dionysus on his part also sets out to hide his true identity from the people of Thebes when he sets out on his journey to redeem his mother’s honor, this...
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...THHS Ahalya Sanjiv Humanities 9.17.14 Draft#1 Paper Question#1 In both Euripides’ Bacchae and Marie de France’s “Bisclavret”, humans are evaluated in comparison to animals. Both texts classify women separately from men on the human-animal spectrum. The male characters in both texts suffer as a result of the actions of women, implying the respective author’s view on the nature of women. Bacchae depicts a group of women who, under the power of Dionysos, cause chaos and become violent. “Bisclavret” on the other hand has one woman who insidiously complicates her husband’s existing dilemma. While both works agree that women share intrinsic characteristics such as vulnerability that separate them men,...
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...The patriarchal society of the Greeks views women as weak and inferior. However, the way the women are portrayed contradict the weak and inferior viewpoint. On the surface, Agave is oblivious to the fact she “with hands alone . . . caught [the] beast and tore it limb from limb” (Bacchae 1209-10). Agave believes that the bloody item she is holding in her hand is the head of a lion, rather than the head of her own child. Agave’s obliviousness is a form of dramatic irony which Euripides uses to represent Agave and the other woman's rational inferiority to men. The Chorus and all the other men look in awe while Cadmus tries to rationally explain to Agave that, “that horrible thing you carry [in your hand] is Pentheus,” however Agave still insists...
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...A Summary of Christine Smallwood’s “New Books” Christine Smallwood, author of “New Books” published in Harper’s Magazine in 2014 begins the article by giving the reader the complete details of a wrestling and boxing match with a man named Arrichion. Arrichion started his career in boxing and wrestling in the time of 564 B.C... He won only two titles in his career, one in 572 B.C. and the other in 568 B.C. Arrichion’s last match occurred when he was in a chokehold and refused to tap out, eventually breaking out of it and dislocating his opponents’ ankle. Unfortunately after winning the match, Arrichion, injured himself by “breaking his own neck” (73) causing his own death. According to Smallwood’s article, the Greek motto, “Victory or Death” (73) takes on a new connotation; “Victory in Death” (73) thus implying 2500 years later, professional football players today are more likely to suffer from some type of brain trauma due to their desire to win championships like that of Arrichion. Who knew that the life expectancy of a professional football player was only the age of fifty-five? Several professional football players have committed suicide due to repeated concussions while playing their sport. According to the article by Smallwood, the issue has become so pervasive, Dave Duerson, a former safety in the NFL, “shot himself in the heart in 2011, he left a note asking that his brain be sent to Boston University” (73). Smallwood points out that according to neurological...
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...| M. Sept. 24 | Oedipus Rex 2 | Lévi-Strauss, T 354-369 | W. Sept. 26 | Oedipus and Structuralism | “ | M. Oct. 1 | Gilgamesh | The Epic of Gilgamesh, T 192-227 | W. Oct. 3 | No class—UMich Plato conf. | | M. Oct. 8 | Thanksgiving | | W. Oct. 10 | Gilgamesh and Structuralism | G.S. Kirk “A Lévi-Straussian Analysis of G.”, T 228-238 | M. Oct. 15 | Ritual & Liminality | Victor Turner, “Forest,” T 417-429 | W. Oct. 17 | Demeter & Ritual | Hom. Hymn to Demeter, T 430-448 | M. Oct. 22 | Tricksters: Prometheus | T 381-383, 396-402, 27-29, 38-41Review Lévi-Strauss, T 280-294 | W. Oct. 24 | Tricksters: Hermes | Hom. Hymn to Hermes, ACM 187-197 | M. Oct. 29 | Dionysus: Myth & Bacchae | T 495, 509-514Euripides, Bacchae (44-83) | W. Oct. 31 | Bacchae | ACM 21-22 (D1), 47 (M2), 48 (M4), 212-213 (Ode 2.19), 394 (1130) | M. Nov. 5 | Exam 1 | Odyssey Books 1-8 | W. Nov. 7 | Hesiod Theogony 1 | Hesiod Theogony ACM 129-160 | M. Nov. 12 | Hesiod Theogony 2 | Same | W. Nov. 14 | | | M. Nov. 19 | | | W. Nov. 21 | Hesiod Works and Days | Hesiod “The Ages of Man” T 41-44 | M. Nov. 26 | | | W. Nov. 28 | Enuma Elish | T 61-81 Mesopotamia: Enuma Elish | M. Dec. 3 | Heracles 1 | | W. Dec. 5 | Heracles 2 | Apollodorus ACM, pp. 33-45 | | Xmas Break | Xmas Break | M. Jan. 7 | No class—classics conf. in Seattle | | W. Jan. 9 | Epic 1: Epic as Source for Myth | No new reading | M. Jan. 14 | Epic 2: Epic as Source for Myth | Proclus...
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...The essential characteristics of Dionysiac religion are an ecstatic spiritual release through music and dance, the possession by the god of his followers, the rending apart of the sacrificial animal, and the eating of the raw flesh (omophagy, a kind of ritual communion, since the god was believed to be present in the victim) (Morfor Classical Myth. pg. 325). As a god of ecstatic possession, Dionysus left his worshippers without consciousness identity and brainwashed. Dionysus’s female followers were called Maenads or Bacchae, “Female Devotee who became possessed,” and are shown in frenzied, trance-like states. Dionysus is studied as the god of wine. He was later considered a patron of the arts. He invented wine and spread the art of trending...
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...Poetry as Mimesis (Imitation) Aristotle defines all poetry as mimesis (imitation). In other words, poetry imitates nature, which is to say it imitates life, whether natural objects or human actions. For Aristotle, tragedy is an imitation of human action. The concept of art as imitation proved vastly influential in Western literature right up until the eighteenth century, when the Romantic age gave birth to the expressive theory, that poetry arises from the emotions, feelings and impressions of the artist. Aristotle insisted, perhaps consciously in opposition to Plato, that poetry represents something that is real, something that exists in the world. Whereas Plato believed that the poet was cut off from reality, Aristotle saw the poet’s act of imitation as directly connected to life itself, instead of an attempt to reach a larger ideal. In his analysis of the origins of poetry, Aristotle argues that imitation is natural to childhood, and children learn most of their first life lessons through the imitation of others. People are also naturally given to taking pleasure in imitation. Unity of Plot In his analysis of tragedy, Aristotle argues that the most important element is plot. Further, he insists on the necessity of unity in the plot. All the events portrayed must contribute to the plot. There must be no subplots or superfluous elements. Every element of the plot must work together to create a seamless whole. If any part were to be altered or withdrawn, this would leave...
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...While Athena intervenes in Ajax’s life, she does not force his struggle. His choices and brash actions are his own, which ultimately end with him losing his life. He is acting on his own primal emotions at not being selected over Odysseus, which encompasses the strong emotion for revenge and rejection. The Bacchae is clearly direct god intervention, although it begins with Pentheus’s decision to explicitly not worship a god. Which evoked Dionysus’s wrath pretty quickly, in the worst ways. And despite the choices made by the characters, everyone seemed to suffer by Pentheus’s decision to not believe in Dionysus’s...
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...Robyn Bonate Mr. Schmidt Freshman Lit. & Comp 16 March 2014 The Madness of Hamlet In William Shakespeare’s The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, the character of Prince Hamlet has just gotten back to Denmark from school to learn that his uncle and mother are now getting married, the same uncle that killed his father, the king. There is much debate as to whether or not Hamlet truly did go crazy from these series of events. However, Hamlet, much to his dissent, did indeed go crazy when his late father died, although he persisted in believing he had not; through his demeanor, words, and inner turmoil, it was shown that he was simply in denial about this fact. When Hamlet’s late father’s ghost told him to kill his uncle as an act of vengeance, Hamlet wholeheartedly agreed. He also decided to act crazy, something his family and friends attributed to either grief or love, however Hamlet told his friend Horatio that he was simply acting. He might have began off simply acting, but he did gradually fade into madness. Hamlet went to see Ophelia after his meeting with the host of his father, where he demonstrated his first act of madness. “He took me by the wrist and held me hard…/ Long stayed he so,/ At last, a little shaking of mine arm,/ And thrice his head thus waving up and down/ He raised a sigh so piteous and profound” (II. i. 98-106). This is where his family got the idea that he was mad with love. And so, deciding to prove this, Claudius and Polonius had Ophelia help them...
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...REL 1300 MWF 11:15-12:05 Final Exam: Apr 25, 2016 | 10:00AM-12:00PM Study Guide 1. Which early theorist of religion said the following: “The criticism of religion disillusions man, so that he will think, act, and fashion his reality like a man who has discarded his illusions and regained his senses, so that he will move around himself as his own true sun”? 2. Which early theorist of religion proposed the concept of the numinous? 3. What does Emile Durkheim say that religion essentially is? 4. In Eliade’s model of the sacred and profane, what does it mean for something to be profane? 5. What does Martin Ruel say about the concept of belief in the study of religion? 6. Why does Catherine Bell suggest that scholars reframe their discussions of ritual to instead talk about ritualization? 7. What does Steven Ramey say is the major problem in the popular video “the spread of world religions”? 8. What is the main point that Edward Said makes when talking about Orientalism? 9. Which public speaker in the 1893 World Parliament of Religions spoke about “little wells” and which religion did he/she represent? 10. Which of the following is not one of the postmodern critiques of “religion”. 11. What does Masuzawa say about the study of religion? 12. What is Craig Martin’s “Rule of Thumb”? 13. What does Portier-Young say about apocalypses? 14. What label do we use to refer to a religious discourse that maintains the basic logic...
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...Jacqueline Aldaco Anthony Bullock Classics 28 27 April 2012 Knowledge and its Limitations Greeks could never know exactly what their gods were up to, so they often had to travel to visit oracles that were able to give them insight. Greeks saw knowledge as a form of power that helped them gain some control over their lives. To ancient Greeks knowledge was such an important aspect of life they had a divinity symbolize it. Apollo was the god of knowledge and medicine, in many Greek myths the quest for knowledge, or attaining too much knowledge altogether was a common source of tragedy. Ancient Greek cultures believed that even if mortals had the knowledge they sought, once they acquired it they did not know what to do with it. There are many examples in Greek myth that plainly show how knowledge eventually leads to tragedy. For instance, Oedipus’ search for knowledge of the king’s murderer ends up becoming his demise and the major source of pain in his life. Oedipus needed to find out why Thebes was suffering from a plague, so he sent Creon to the temple of Delphi to ask Apollo what he could do to life the plague from his people. As the oracle of Apollo Tiresias goes to Thebes and tells him that the person responsible for the death of the prior king, king Laius was living amongst them, and the plague would only be lifted once they found the murderer. In the quest for the knowledge that would save his people, King Oedipus summoned the messenger that was given the...
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...Modern Performance and Adaptation of Greek Tragedy Helene P. Foley Barnard College, Columbia University “Leave it to a playwright who has been dead for 2,400 years to jolt Broadway out of its dramatic doldrums” begins a recent New York Times review (December 4, 1998) of a British Electra by Sophocles starring Zoe Wanamaker and Claire Bloom. This fall the Times has repeatedly remarked on the “deluge” of Greek tragedy in the 1998-99 theater season: the National Theater of Greece’s Medea, Joanne Akalaitis’ The Iphigeneia Cycle (a double bill that combines Euripides’ two Iphigeneia plays), a revival of Andrei Serban’s famous Fragments of a Greek Trilogy, and a four-and-a-half-hour adaptation of the Oedipus Rex were announced at the start of the season. Off-off Broadway versions will inevitably follow. The Brooklyn Academy of Music even hosted a dance/theatre piece based on the Eleusinian Mysteries. 1 The Classic Stage Company, an off-Broadway theater group devoted to performance and adaptation of Western classics, currently receives more scripts that re-work Greek tragedy than any other category of drama. 2 From a global perspective, New York is simply reflecting a trend set by important modern playwrights and directors worldwide. Greek drama now occupies a regular place in the London theater season. In the past twenty years, acclaimed productions have been mounted not only in Europe but also in Japan, India, and Africa. Translations are even beginning to proliferate in China, occasionally...
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...LIBERTY UNIVERSITY BAPTIST THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY Dr. Daniel Warner of the requirements for the completion of the course OBST 510 Old Testament – Introduction to Old Testament by Sheniece Wallace September , 2014 Introduction John N. Oswalt, curiosity about the study of the Bible and theological questions was influenced in the 1960s, during his graduate studies at Asbury Theological Seminary. Followed by further education in Theology, triggered a facet of questions during his time at Harvard Divinity. William F. Albright, a scholar proposed the questions the Israelites of the Old Testament and their reasoning about there beliefs. The radical Prolegomena for Oswalts, book sprung up a multitude of questions for him to consider answering his and humanity questions about the godly ideology in religion culture. His statements questions godly character whether it was wrong , right, or believable. He mentions his hypothesis of revelation: as humans we couldn’t possibly be in control of our own purpose and that we need a higher power to sustain us. Comparison is made between religions of Israelite the and ancient near east; the worship of their deity. The thought of serving one deity, then, why were so many other religions evolved? Subliminally, in my words, questions the Biblical integrity and purpose being accredited to for humans to believe as truth...
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...The Bible among the Myths Book Summary Introduction The author, John N. Oswalt, attended Asbury Theological Seminary for his undergraduate studies. He attended Brandeis University in the Mediterranean Studies Department for his graduate degree. Mr. Oswalt has taught at Asbury Theological Seminary, Trinity Evangelical Divinity, and Wesley Biblical Seminary. According to Oswalt, serious questions about the evolutionary paradigm inherent in the philosophy of Idealism were the result of the economic depression in the late 40’s. Since there was little separation from Idealism and the standard higher critical views of Old Testament that had prevailed for the past fifty years, there was cause for some rethinking about the Old Testament and the associated religion. This rethinking was led by William F. Albright, G. Ernest Wright, and others of the Harvard Divinity School. Sixty years later, it is widely accepted that Israelite religion is just one more West Semitic religion and that its characteristic features can be fully explained on through evolutionary change. Oswalt writes that no new discoveries led to this dramatic change in thinking. Because of the work of Karl Barth in 1950, the scholarly world was ready the idea of revelation in ways not found in the last couple of generations. Revelation assumes that this world is not self-explanatory and that some communication from beyond the world is necessary to explain it. Oswalt states that this idea is distasteful...
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