Does Classical Mythology reflect a disposition to explore the realities of the world or a desire to escape from them?
"Does Classical Mythology reflect a disposition to explore the realities of the world or a desire to escape from them?" For the purposes of this essay the themes of religion and death will be explored in an attempt to understand whether the ancient Greek societies used myth to understand these concepts or if they used them in a desire to escape the realities of their daily lives. "Religion, it seems to me, is a set of theories or myths...In the case of religion the problem to be solved is big: the world. Most religions claim to explain the origins, ground plan, building materials, and working of the world; they often also prescribe conduct" (Jarvie 1969). As the opening statement suggests, in the absence of science and scientists as it is understood today, the function of myth is to provide a framework with which the people of the time used to understand the world around them. It provides explanations for why the world is the way it is; how it was made and how it evolved and what was expected of the people who inhabited it. Myths provide a set of principles by which to live your life. They present and illustrate punishments that can be a deterrent to living a 'bad' life; they teach morality and the consequences of hubris. They also enlighten their understanding of what happened to them after death. Greek religion is a vast and complex subject that developed over hundreds
In the Epic, Gilgamesh, is searching for immortality. This want came from the death of his beloved friend, Enkidu, which is the major turning point in the story.
Andrew Pham Andy Nicholson English 231 Sec 1025 8 March 2012 Gilgamesh and Mortality In The Epic of Gilgamesh, the subject of fame and mortality come up quite a bit, it is the drive and reason the main characters in the story fight and live for. In the Epic, Gilgamesh, is searching for immortality. This want came from the death of his beloved friend, Enkidu, which is the major turning point in the story. From that moment on, the story shows the development and wisdom Gilgamesh gains throughout the epic. Provided, a quote, with the theme of mortality is of significance in The Epic of Gilgamesh, with that, there is a development of his character, view of mortality, and the relationship of fame and death throughout the text. One quote in the text that is of significance in relation to Enkidu's death was said by Gilgamesh: "I am going to die! -am I not like Enkidu?! Deep sadness penetrates my core, I fear death, and now roam the wilderness-" (9. 2-4.) The quote shows Gilgamesh's grief as he is shouting his sadness within Enkidu's wild origins. It also shows the turning point in the story as it is developing Gilgamesh's character for the rest of the story and his new view of mortality. At first this terrifies him about death and makes him search for immortality even more, but will develop by the end of the story. Gilgamesh's response to Enkidu's death with this quote
Montpellier - Environment, People and the Quality of Life
Montpellier: Environment, People and the Quality of Life Montpellier is a diverse and dynamic city that has experienced massive growth and change since the 1970s. During this period the city has received massive inward investment, established itself as a European (if not global) technopole, completed a number of large scale architectural projects, carried out extensive suburban residential development and has experienced a three fold growth in its population. As well as providing a thriving retail, commercial and tourist centre in the Languedoc-Rousillon region. However nationally this region has continued to battle with high rates of unemployment as well as suffering other social problems such as high demands on housing provision and high crime rates. This project aims to discover what living in modern Montpellier is really like, by attempting to assess the quality of life. I will firstly introduce the two types of quality of life indicators (hard and soft) and describe their benefits and disadvantages, as well as describing in detail the method used to carry out our assessment. Two contrasting areas of the city were investigated and the second half of this report will describe these areas and detail our findings. I will also compare the two areas and hopefully depict the diversity of the quality of life within Montpellier. In addition to this I will critically
Leadership in the Aeneid and Antigone.
Adam Oliver Dr. Frost Honors Cultural Perspectives 101 24 September 2004 Leadership in the Aeneid and Antigone Throughout Sophocles' Antigone and Vergil's Aeneid the characters of Aeneas, Dido, Antigone, and Creon display various leadership qualities that define their effectiveness as leaders in their respective contexts. However, in determining the most effective leader from this group, one must establish an objective standard by which to compare all characters. Considering the vastly different societies from which the characters of the Aeneid and Antigone arise, both the standards of Platonic Greek society and the standards of Roman society should be used. According to the Greek standard of arête, defined as the display of courage, honor, virtue, and manliness, Aeneas and Antigone exemplify the most effective leadership. According to Roman standard of stoicism, however, Aeneas displays the most effective leadership showing the leadership of even Antigone to be inferior as he exhibits Roman stoic virtues almost perfectly. In Greek society the standards of leadership involved a concept known as arête, which serves as a basic definition of manliness in Greek society. Given the profoundly gender defined society that existed in Greece, it is not surprising that the qualities of a strong leader mirror those of an upstanding male. Arête basically contains four
incepctor calls
Priestly was a socialist writer. Through the characters of Mr Birling and the inspector, how does his play, 'An Inspector Calls' encourage the audience to see Socialist philosophy as morally right and capitalism as wrong? 'An Inspector Calls' is set in 1912 although it was written in 1945, after World War II so Priestly lived through both world wars which probably influenced or strengthened his belief that Capitalism didn't work and that Socialism was the way forward. It is obvious that Mr Birling represents Capitalism because he hardly cares when he hears the inspector say that one of his former employees, Eva Smith, has died horribly. His excuse is one of loss of profit and about his business. Capitalism is a philosophy of profit and industry: capital is another way of saying money. In Capitalism community is a word not used often: the rich are the ruling class; they have the influence and power while the working class are little more than slaves. The Inspector represents Socialism: he has strong moral views on how there should be equality and a community. "With no work, no money coming, and living in lodgings, with no relatives to help her, few friends, lonely, half- starved, she was feeling desperate." Priestly had Inspector Goole say this to convey his own opinion on how life was for the lower class and what capitalism put the lower class through. Throughout the play
Historique Gillette
I- Historique L'histoire de Gillette remonte à l'année 1891. C'est grâce au Canadien d'origine Française King Camp Gillette que fut inventé le premier rasoir à lame jetable, baptisé rasoir de sûreté, composé d'une lame jetable très fine et à double tranchant insérée dans un support. C'est seulement 10 ans plus tard, en 1901, à Boston que Gillette crée la société Gillette Safety Razor Company. Les débuts de l'entreprise fut modestes. En 1903, elle vend seulement 51 rasoirs et 168 lames. Mais en 1904, l'entreprise dépose un brevet et Gillette vend 250 000 rasoirs et deux millions de lames aux États-Unis. Son succès s'étend rapidement à l'étranger. Gillette implante sa première usine étrangère à Paris, en 1905, puis au Canada, en Allemagne et en Angleterre. Au cours de la Première Guerre mondiale, l'armée américaine lui commande 3,5 millions de rasoirs et 36 millions de lames. Le rasoir devient le compagnon du soldat. Non seulement pour l'hygiène des soldats qui restent des mois interminables dans les tranchées, mais aussi parce qu'une peau sans barbe permet une meilleure tenue des masques à gaz. Dès 1955, le groupe décide de se diversifier et démarre une politique d'investissement dans le secteur du stylo, avec l'achat de Paper Mate, puis Waterman et Liquid Paper. Le groupe possède également des entreprises telles que Braun
Jean Anouilhs' play Antigone - Analysis of Major Themes.
Nazir Savji Mrs. McLean ENG 4U July 11, 2003 Analysis of Major Themes Themes are the fundamental and often universal ideas explored in a literary work. That is their denotation. They are the most imperative components of a literary piece no matter what type of style or format. Jean Anouilh's Antigone contains numerous themes that have a significant impact on the audience. Firstly, social status conveys the influence and standing that different members of society have. Another well developed theme in this play is suicide and how it comes about. However, the most momentous theme in this play is determinism and fate and that some things are inevitable and cannot be controlled or distorted. In Jean Anouilh's play Antigone, the most prominent and profound themes are social status, suicide, and determinism. First off, social status is a theme used to depict one group as more aloof and renowned then the others. In Ancient Greek culture, the lower class, which included guards, servants, local merchants, etcetera, was known as plebeians and the upper class, which included lords, earls, kings, queens, etcetera, was known as the patricians. In Antigone, the guards are used to represent the lower class of society. This is portrayed when Binns suggests that he, Jonas, and Snout pay a visit to the Arab Palace and Jonas replies shockingly, "Are you crazy? The wine's twice the
AntigoneDiscuss and analyse the themes which arise in Sophocles' Antigone
Antigone Discuss and analyse the themes which arise in Sophocles' Antigone In his Poetics, Aristotle set the guidelines for the form of tragedy, using Oedipus the King as his ideal model. Tragedy is usually concerned with a person of great stature, a king or nobleman, who falls because of hubris, or pride. There are unities of time, place and most importantly action. Action may be thought of as motive or "movement of spirit." In Oedipus, the action is to find Laius's killer and stop the plague. Antigone is a strange case because the "movement of spirit" comes from two directions with both protagonists having different sets of values. The play of Antigone is concerned with a single conflict. A king, in full and sincere consciousness of his responsibility for the integrity of the state, has made an order of ruthless punishment upon a rebel and traitor - an order denying the barest rites of sepulture to his body and thus of solace to his soul. A woman, for whom political expediency takes second place, to compassion and piety, has defied the order and is condemned to death. Here is conflict enough, and tragedy - not in the martyrdom of obvious right under obvious wrong, but in the far more bitter, and at the same time more exhilarating contest between two passionately held principles of right; each partly justifiable and each to a degree vitiated by stubborn blindness of the
For what purposes does Virgil use the supernatural in Book 3 of the Aeneid?
Tosin Abdullai For what purposes does Virgil use the supernatural in Book 3 of the Aeneid? In book 3 Virgil uses the supernatural influence plays a prominent role in unraveling the plot of the poem. Through this I mean the contributions of the supernatural powers are inevitable as it they direct most of the happenings in the poem. For example, Virgil uses the omen of the blood as the media to inform Aeneas' character not to found a land in the city of the Thracians. The first indication of the supernatural in Book 3 is the omen of the blood. As explained earlier, this omen suggests how unsuitable this land is for Aeneas to found his new city. Aeneas says, "Dark gouts of blood dripped from it and stained the earth with gore. The horror of it chilled me to my bone. I trembled and my blood congealed". The image-conjuring effect of this sight on Aeneas described by Virgil emphasizes how horrible this sight is. Here the blood serves as a warning of the evil and calamitous nature of the land. This supernatural omen makes us aware of Virgil's dramatic spectacle, as this particular incident would be shocking to both Aeneas and those who listened to this poem being recited. Rather than indicating possibilities of the doomed nature of this land, Virgil goes on to use Polydorus' supernatural speech as a means of confirming it. This is done in the narration of Polydorus' past
How would an Epicurean respond to Callicles argument (in Platos Gorgias) on pleasure?
How would an Epicurean respond to Callicles' argument (in Plato's Gorgias) on pleasure? Explain your answer. The Gorgias, composed in the early 4th century BC by Athenian philosopher Plato, presents us with a dialogue between Socrates and four rhetoricians, as they discuss a variety of philosophical ideas and themes including the power of art, justice and evil. Callicles, an older rhetorician, is introduced straight away in the discussion; the dialogue takes place in his house, as he takes on the role of Socrates' most fervent opponent. Devin Stauffer notes in his own discussion of the Gorgias: 'Callicles has come to be regarded, together with the likes of Thrasymachus, as one of the most vehement representatives of the moral outlook diametrically opposed to that of Socrates... he is always described as a radical critic of the restraints of Socratic moralism and rationalism.' (2002: 627-8) The subject of 'pleasure' arises towards the end of the dialogue, following a debate between the two on the nature of justice. Here, Callicles sees 'natural' justice as, quite simply, the weak being ruled by the powerful. It is only when Socrates' offers the consideration that a slave might therefore have power over his master due to superior strength that Callicles must adjust his argument. He concludes that it is the wisest - the most superior of people - who ultimately rule over