Throughout greek mythology, characters constantly encounter punishment or misfortune due to seemingly bad qualities that they may have shown. Three of these common “vices” in Greek mythology include disrespect or arrogance toward the gods, hastiness and greed or envy. Athena curses Arachne for thinking she could challenge her at weaving, Hera curses Echo for thinking that she could outsmart her and Athena curses Medusa for desecrating her temple; all instances showing how Greek characters usually get cursed or encounter misfortune because of disrespect directed at the gods. These traits are commonly shown in a negative way because of the Greek’s belief that the gods are superior and should not be challenged. In the myths of Midas, Pandora and Icarus, the main character quickly rushes into a decision that they later regret. …show more content…
With all the change happening in the past couple of decades for equality and unity between people it has become a very bad thing to be judgemental against another human being. The world has come a long way in trying to eliminate the lines that divide people which is why in modern society, being offensive towards someone else can be seen in an extremely hated way and affect multiple different people. Taking the previous trait a step further, it is seen as incredibly negative to exclude someone based on a judgement because it is not necessarily the facts nor is it fair to ostracise a person over one element. Another quality that is looked down upon in civilization today is extreme narcissism or selfishness which can also be seen as putting yourself above others in times of need. While in normal social encounters, a sense of self-worth is promoted, in times of stress it is seen as malicious to abandon others and consider only
I believe what drives our judgement is the way people think of others. Today in this world, people are close minded and not open to new ideas. Society’s think that people who grew up from the bad side of town, they will get nowhere in life. We judge people for the way they look, what they wear, where they 're from, where they live, etc. We judge out of our own fears and insecurities. We must treat people the way the want to be treated, not by how you think they should be treated. When we judge someone, do we really know what goes on in their life. Also, still discriminate others to this day, such as, we still judge people based on their race. We have to treat people with equal rights no matter what race or ethnicity they are. We have qualities
3. The Greek gods where cruel to the Greeks in some of their myths. For example, Hera, Zeus’ wife, would greatly punish any women who Zeus fell in love with, when mainly it was Zeus who
It is obvious by all their actions that the Greek gods showed the human characteristics of vengeance, love and jealousy. These
In Edith Hamilton's Mythology, the behavior of the Greek gods illustrates that in Greek society, the Greeks understand the fundamental nature of having flaws. The Trojan war started due to the actions of a Greek goddess of discord Erin who was not invited to a banquet, “Resenting this deeply, [Erin] determined to make trouble—and she succeeded very well indeed” (Hamilton 254).Erin's jealousy and wrath cause her to disrupt the peace among the gods and start the Trojan War. The Greeks recognized this ability to be imperfect and evil among humans as well as gods. The understood this significance so much that they created gods that were evil or impure in nature like Erin, rather than making every god perfect. Another example of a god exhibiting
Have you ever thought about how people judge others without motives or reasons? Well this quite common in today’s world. We judge people by
In a perfect world, everyone WOULD be judged based on the content of their character. But we do not live in a perfect world and humans have always pre-judged others based on physical and cultural differences. These are the first things we notice about a stranger, and first impressions are hard to forget. Racism and prejudice have caused us to make dire mistakes in the past, but we have learned from these mistakes and have bettered our society. However, society today is filled with stereotypes and prejudices about people of certain races. It
Throughout the Odyssey, the presence of divine intervention overwhelmingly shapes the story as a whole. The relationship between humans and gods within the book can be characterized as one that provides humans options, commonly in the form of an omen and according to their choices, will result in a set punishment or appraisal. From an individual’s choices in life and the aforementioned trials, a god or goddess will positively or negatively impact the person’s life. This divine intervention drives people to practice holy acts out of self-interest and fear which reveals that all humans at their base are not altruistic but, selfish and only care for events that will promote their lives. Their faith in or fear of the gods also provide insight on humans’ tendencies to divert blame, and be scared of the unknown. Throughout the Odyssey each and every character serves as a median to demonstrate how the gods intervene in humans’ lives that they either favor or despise and according to their subjective views on these people, they will construct their fate.
What if a god decided to reward you for your actions. That would be the greatest thing ever! But what if you got on their bad side, and they punished you severely? You would now have to pay the ultimate price. In Midas and Echo & Narcissus, the punishments and rewards can be seen throughout the entirety of the myths.
The concept of fate and the influence of gods on mortals’ lives are prominent aspects of Greek mythology. While the gods of Olympus are commonly presented as the primary manipulators of human lives, the Fates are the true creators of destiny. Gods may be able to affect human lives in monumental ways, but predetermined destiny and the Fates’ intentions ultimately reign. The gods have respect for this authority, as well, as they’re aware that a limit on their ability to intervene is necessary to maintain the order of the universe. This leaves one to question the amount of knowledge that the gods themselves have of fate, and whether they have their own free will to refrain from intervening or if they truly must submit to the authority of the Fates and their plans. The gods do have some knowledge of the Fates’ plan, but they are also wise enough to avoid too much interference and therefore don’t necessarily need to be commanded; they sometimes help guide mortals by sending them messages and symbols—and sometimes even influencing them for their own advantage—but ultimate fate cannot be avoided.
Our nature as humans is to judge others. We are programmed to judge everything for the benefit of ourselves. Think about it for a second. What do you do when you meet new people? You judge them from the way
“The truest characters of ignorance are pride and arrogance. This quote by Samuel Butler is truer than gold in the two greek myths Phaethon and Daedalus and Icarus. The protagonists of both stories boastful,arrogant and prideful natures lead them to their agonizing deaths and downfall. The two myths would be lifeless and stale without the use of of literary elements like conflict,imagery,and and characterization. Conflict shapes the story,Imagery foreshadows and provides color,and characterization develops the characters personalities and behaviors. These elements are how the authors were able to teach the lesson in the theme. The two stories’ main characters, Phaethon and Daedalus and Icarus share the same moral theme of a prideful disregard from those elder and wiser can quickly lead to disastrous consequences,existing thanks to these literary elements.
Growing up as a citizen of ancient Greek and Rome being raised to follow Greek and Roman mythology caused the ancient people to believe that they must act and behave like the gods. In creating this ideology, the people developed same personality and behavior habits as the gods in various myths. But even as the myths were written, the personalities of the gods and goddesses reflected the average human in that time period. The gods were so much like humans that it was normal to behave like them. Ancient Greek Philosophy stated “the gods depicted by Homer acted selfishly and were driven by emotions such as favoritism and jealousy. They behaved like ordinary people except they were immortal and had supernatural powers.” Unlike other religions were the gods have never sinned and are very different from humans, the gods in ancient Greek mythology make mistakes and commit horrific crimes that in today’s society would be highly unacceptable. For the people, it is a lot easier to be human and make mistakes rather than try to be perfect and sinless.
The relationship between gods and mortals in mythology has long been a complicated topic. The gods can be generous and supportive, and also devastating and destructive to any group of humans. Mortals must respect the powers above them that cannot be controlled. The gods rule over destiny, nature, and justice, and need to be recognized and worshipped for the powerful beings as they are. Regardless of one's actions, intentions, and thoughts, the gods in Greek myth have ultimate power and the final decision of justice over nature, mortals, and even each other.
“Gods can be evil sometimes.” In the play “Oedipus the King”, Sophocles defamed the gods’ reputation, and lowered their status by making them look harmful and evil. It is known that all gods should be perfect and infallible, and should represent justice and equity, but with Oedipus, the gods decided to destroy him and his family for no reason. It might be hard to believe that gods can have humanistic traits, but in fact they do. The gods, especially Apollo, are considered evil by the reader because they destroyed an innocent man’s life and his family. They destroyed Oedipus by controlling his fate, granting people the power of prophecy, telling Oedipus about his fate through the oracle of Apollo, and finally afflicting the people of
People judge each other on a daily basis. The way an individual presents themselves, speaks, and behave are all qualities other people base their perception off of. Consequently, these inferences are quite useful in determining who you would and would not enjoy being in any type of relationship with based on surface appearance. However, people may take judging people on surface appearance too far. Therefore, although making a judgement on about a person may not be a negative inference, people take their judgmental attitude to the extreme. Consequently, they have placed themselves in a negative lifestyle which negatively impacts their mood and social interactions.