Different Versions Explaining The Gift And Curse Of Cassandra

Coming Together is an annual event that takes place in Skokie, sponsored by the village council. In this event, residents of the village are embolden to read and discuss a book that will capture the interest of the village. For the selection of the book, the village council asked the Niles West English 22 classes to suggest a book for the upcoming event. The House of Scorpion, by Nancy Farmer would fit the council’s criteria.

While Cassandra was in Troy, she had visions of what was going to happen to the City and this caused the King Priam to lock her away in the sense of her being “mad”. One of her visions was that there were men hiding inside the Trojan Horse, her claims were believed by one but then swiftly repressed. This quandary of Cassandras follows her throughout Agamemnon, in her brief scene with the chorus/audience. After Clytemnestra exits the room, Cassandra screams in horror to Apollo, asking why he was leading her to her death. She cries to the chorus; “I mourn the marriage, Paris marriage, that doomed his own people” (Aeschylus 155-157), this refers to the fall of Troy and the prophecies she told. If Paris would have believed her she would not be in the house of death and the city of Troy would still stand. We can see that throughout the scene with Cassandra and the Chorus, she reveals that her murder and Agamemnon will take place in his house. She predicts her imminent death, as well as Agamemnon's, at the hands of a woman that she calls “bitch”. By this time, the Chorus replies; “we find, though, that we trust your prophecies” (Aeschylus 1213). With that being said, we can see a turn in what is seen as her curse, the chorus believes her but will do nothing to help her.

She possesses great vulnerability as victim to Apollo, who gave her powers, Agamemnon, her kidnapper, and Clytemnestra, her murderer. The first group of people she spoke to were the Chorus, who acted as the voice of the common man throughout the trilogy. She described her visions, in detail, of the future. Cassandra tells the chorus how she deceived Apollo by promising to marry him in exchange for prophetic powers but backed out. Upon realizing her deceit, Apollo cursed her so that no one would believe her prophecies. She wails that the House of Atreus is cursed because of the blood-soaked hands of the past fathers. She predicts that Clytemnestra will kill Agamemnon and describes the frantic splashing of Agamemnon in the bath tub while Clytemnestra stabs him. She also predicts her own murder at the hands of two butchers, Clytemnestra and Aegisthus. Cassandra, uninvolved in the family’s ordeals, fears for her own life but then soon realizes that fate is inexorable and accepts her death with courage. The Chorus doesn’t understand her utterances, but know that they are full of sorrow. She also foretells Orestes, the son of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra, will avenge his father’s death by murdering his mother. Cassandra isn’t presented as a citizen but rather as an unstable, dirty (matter out of place) slave. Carson situates women as “pollutable, polluted, and polluting in several ways at once” resulting in the male fearing the woman for lack of personal boundary

While frantically celebrating her appalling marriage to King Agamemnon, giving praise to Hymen, the god of marriage, she says, “O Mother, crown my triumph with a wreath” (I, i, 361). Here she does not show signs of terrible heartache about being sent to a bridal bed that will ruin her life’s work and sacrifice her virginity. Until she begins to tell her mother how she will try to take revenge for her family does she show pain by saying, “I shall kill [Agamemnon] mother, lay his house as low as he laid ours, make him pay for all he made my father suffer, brothers . . .”(I, i, 367-369). Raving, she prophecies, “If Apollo lives, my marriage will be bloodier than Helen’s,” and in time we see that she is right with the fall of Greece (I, i, 364-365). She also makes an interesting point on the defeat of Troy. She explains that the Greeks are just there to fight and conquer, and that their families are not there to soften their hearts. The Trojans fight as a family for their people. The Trojans have lost, but they died with great honor trying to save and protect their country and kinsmen. Cassandra refers to those soldiers, her family, who fought with a final divination, “Brothers, in Troy’s earth laid, my father, a little time and I am with you. You dead, I shall come to you a victor. Those ruined by my hand who ruined us” (I, i, 469-472). Even though she is portrayed as mad, the evidence of her wisdom, whether it be given to her by the god she has devoted her life, or just insane predictions, shows us that women could be intelligent and know of things to come just as men. Giving us our second example of feminism, Cassandra shows her intellect equivalent to

Hysteria derives from the greek work uterus. That notion refers to women everywhere having to live by the myth of gender roles. Most of the time these stereotypes turn into name calling which result in a harassment of words sticking long enough to the point where it's deemed as normal. The significance of that myth by people who endure verbal attacks correlates to how the rest of the crowd then perceives the judged. The consequences that follow are in the form of reputation creating these social norms that are unfair. In the tale “Cassandra Amongst the Creeps,” author Rebecca Solnit exemplifies the topic of how myths create social norms with the setting stone story of the goddess denying a Gods sexual request. As a result the curse of disbelief and tainted credibility of women was made normal as that myth stayed alive throughout history even to this day. In conjunction to Solnit, Lauren Holmes author of “Barbara the Slut” exhibits the modern setting of a high school to portray how impactful perception and credibility derived from that myth are. Both authors entertain how certain attitudes perpetuate future problems that can destroy characters esteem. Barbara’s scarred credibility was in result of other people's false conscious of her character. Barbara the Slut’s story represents the meaning of Solnit's belief of myth changing reality by exhibiting how women's sexuality is tied to perception, and how that perception changes individual's credibility and reputation.

In order to better understand the metaphors and riddles used in the above passage the audience must have a little more understanding of the characters involved. Cassandra is a prophetess of Apollo and the daughter of King Priam of Troy. She has been taken from Troy and brought as Agamemnon’s concubine. She has the gift of prophecy and the curse that no man will believe the truth she sees and tells. She is able to see, experience and become emotionally involved with her visions. Through her foresights the

Throughout history, there have been certain gender roles established for both males and females. For ages, many held the belief that women must fit a certain mold— good wife, housekeeper, caretaker, etc.,— solely based on the notion that "that 's what women are supposed to do". These societal standards that women are held to are prevalent in all kinds of literature, ranging from works from biblical times to the late nineteenth century. Through her novel, The Awakening, Kate Chopin shows a contrast between the characters of Mademoiselle Reisz and Adèle Ratignolle versus that of Mary Magdalene and Mary the Mother of God as seen in the bible. This contrast pits the image of

When Aeneas sees Helen, he is driven into a state of fervent anger because he believes she caused the downfall of his homeland. When Aeneas first finds Helen, she is seeking refuge at the altar of Vesta (2.567), goddess of home and family. By seeking refuge at the altar of a goddess, Helen appears more vulnerable which serves to highlight the vengeful action Aeneas contemplates. Helen’s actions parallel those of Cassandra who sought refuge at the altar of Minerva during the fall of Troy. Like Helen, Cassandra was seeking refuge from the horrors of the war only to be assaulted by Ajax. While Aeneas never follows through on his desire to attack Helen in her place of refuge, the parallel serves to emphasizes how brutal Aeneas’ murder of Helen would be if he committed it at an altar. Killing someone seeking refuge at an altar would be a dishonorable act that would offend the gods, which is something that would be out of character for Aeneas if he was

When problems arise, individuals attempt to make sense of the situations by either looking for solutions to the problems or by attempting to make the best of the situation as much as they can when it is impossible to avoid. In the passage of Agamemnon by Aeschylus, Agamemnon has just came back from destroying the city of Troy, and brought back Cassandra, the princess of Troy, as a slave for Argos. However, Cassandra seems to have already seen this coming as she received a gift and a curse from Apollo to be able to give prophesies, but not have anyone to believe it. Due to the curse given by Apollo, Cassandra sees series of misfortunes that eventually will lead to her death, nevertheless, after having experienced the mixed emotions of anger

Cassandra looked up to her grandfather named Max Rosenbery who lived from (1914-2004) he was a motion picture producer and Cassandra look up to him a lot.

Fate, as described in the Oxford English Dictionary, is “The principle, power, or agency by which, according to certain philosophical and popular systems of belief, all events, or some events in particular, are unalterably predetermined from eternity.” To the western world, fate is perceived as “a sentence or doom of the gods” (Oxford). They often sought prophecies of the gods, especially from Apollo, the god of knowledge. The Greeks would seek prophecies usually when they had doubts about something, or if they were afraid or in despair. When the gods made a prophecy, the Greeks put all their faith in it and believed that it would happen. When their prophecies did come true, was it really fate that

Clytemnestra makes no implications of violence until she deceitfully welcomes Agamemnon, “For while the root still lives, the leaves bring cool shade to the house again. So coming back to hearth and home, you bring a summer’s warmth to us in wintertime,” (77: 1108-1112). This quote serves as the prelude to Clytemnestra finally utilizing destructive justice, and thus breaking the circle of violence. Clytemnestra destructiveness is intrinsic in the scene where she welcome home Agamemnon, who accompanied by Cassandra. Aeschylus writes, “You go inside now. I’m talking to you, Cassandra. Zeus, not unkindly, has determined you should share the lustral water of our house, standing where all our slaves crowd the altar of god who guards the house’s wealth” (79:1173-78). In this excerpt, Clytemnestra shows that she is the head of her household because she can determine who is rightfully welcome. One might argue that Clytemnestra is not revealing destructive justice because of her calmness and generosity in this scene. However, the passage suggests that she is the head and Cassandra is the extended family, and therefore Clytemnestra shows a hint of her destructiveness as she enslaves Cassandra. Clytemnestra mercilessly tells Cassandra that it is “Here with us you’ll be treated as custom warrants (1189).

Stephen King is perhaps the most widely known American writer of his generation, yet his distinctions include publishing as two authors at once: Beginning in 1966, he wrote novels that were published under the pseudonym Richard Bachman. When twelve, he began submitting stories for sale. At first ignored and then scorned by mainstream critics, by the late 1980’s his novels were reviewed regularly in The New York Times Book Review, with increasing favor. Beginning in 1987, most of his novels were main selections of the Book-of-the-Month Club, which in 1989 created the Stephen King Library, committed to keeping King’s novels “in print in hardcover.” King published more than one hundred short stories (including the collections Night Shift,

Cassandra walks fearfully into the palace, then the chorus hears Agamemnon’s cry for help. After some deliberation of what to do, they go into the palace only to see Clytemnestra over the dead bodies of Agamemnon and Cassandra. Clytemnestra tells that the reason for this seemingly wrong act was to do justice for Agamemnon sacrificing their daughter. Clytemnestra’s lover and partner in crime, Aegisthus, enters the palace with an armed bodyguard and justifies his part in the crime. He tells of Atreus’, Agamemnon’s father, sinful act against Thyestes, Aegisthus’ father.

In the novel Clockwork Prince, the author always has you on the end of your seat. Cassandra Clare does this by adding romance and nail-biting events. For example, Jem proposes to Tessa, but Tessa’s heart is split into two. As a reader, you can only make assumptions of who she will choose. A cliff-hanging event usually occurs after a battle when characters get gravely injured. You don’t know if the characters will die from the wounds or if they will live. The author also does an absolute job of making you love and feel apologetic for the characters. Clare does this by getting you attached to the characters and then have you read about past events that were misfortunate. This technique is known as pathos because it arouses pity for the characters.