Growing Up With Greek Literature Essay

Learning from the Greek Dramas in class over a period has made my outlook on life and the activates I do very questionable, but in fact more understandable. I learned about 2 play writes that have been the most influential tragedies ever made, Oedipus Rex and Antigone written by Sophocles, which I will go in more detail later. This topic is very important to me because when I go to church and participate in sport; swimming. I learn about how God has a plan for us, like fate featured in the tragedies. Our fate is sealed and everything thing we do whether it’s bad or good has a reasoning for our life. Certain characters in the tragedies I can very much relate too and have personally have made me almost emotional. The characters almost all go through a rough rollercoaster of bad and good but some thrive from it and others fall because of it.

Since the beginning of time the people of the world have their share of beliefs. Greek mythology is the arguably the most popular region of study. In Ancient Greece every citizen had a patron that would protect them and pantheism was commonplace. The Romans admired the Greeks in their art and culture and even took different aspects of their gods. Polytheism was widely accepted in all cultures so the seed of mythology bloomed. The time line of the creations of gods to the end of their reign is an important factor in Greek Mythology.

The taste of fresh figs and grapes from the farm, the sound of the church bell ringing at 11 am, the smell of the sea from a mile away, these are some things that remind me of my Greek heritage. My household has always been very culturally diverse. My mother left Greece for the United States to establish greater opportunities for me and my siblings. However, she has always raised us in a household that mimics the traditional Greek ethics of the one she grew up in. Juggling physics homework and my mother yelling in Greek to help fix her new phone is a common occurrence in my daily life. This may seem like a frustrating event to some, but I love when my mother speaks in Greek. It takes me back to my childhood summers when my grandparents, aunts,

Historians have long considered Ancient Greece to be one of the most influential societies on modern day life. Ancient Greece has inspired the modern world in five main areas: theatre, government, philosophy, art, and architecture.

Greek life plays a major role in colleges and universities all across the United States. Greek life allows men and women to join an organization and create a long lasting bond, as brothers or sisters, which they will carry with them for the rest of their lives. College campuses explore and boast about the positive impacts that Greek life has on students as well as the community around them. However, even with fraternities and sororities being on college campuses for decades, few people outside the Greek life community have discovered the real, enduring process that it takes to become a "brother" or "sister". Throughout my research, I will be focusing on the negative effects that fraternities and sororities pose upon pledges. This includes hazing

What similarities could current fiction novels possibly have with old Greek drama? Greek dramas and current day novels have more in common than anyone realizes. For example, there are many similarities between Sophocles’ play Oedipus Rex and Khaled Hosseini’s The Kite Runner. These similarities show how writing and entertainment have not completely changed despite how long it has been. One of the most important similarities is the theme. This essay will explore these two works by looking into the similar themes, how the themes are treated, and the importance of similar themes.

As we grow up we all hear stories. Stories of wizards, elves, dwarves, and little men who hunt for rings, or stories of wars in far off galaxies. Or even of caped crusaders, who always seem to win against all odds. Regardless of the genre of the story, they all have one thing in common - a happy ending. An ending in which everything ends up all right, the hero wins, and the villain is defeated. But as we grow up, we see that in real life there are no such things as perfect storytale endings. Despite this, we still tell ourselves stories of hope, stories of utopia, and of dreams of a better place. We pass these on to children, and to all the subsequent generations that will succeed us. But after the devastation of human caused World Wars, countless mass genocides,the losses of millions of lives, and massive impact on such a

I first heard of the myth of Oedipus in my early years of high school and I originally thought it was strange and had no interest in it. However, after I read the play for a senior year class I surprisingly enjoyed it and after reading Oedipus for the second time, I have an even greater appreciation for Sophocles’ work. Oedipus the King is such a great piece of theatre because it is so well written.

In the Poetics, Aristotle provides an outline of how the artist is to portray or represent the perfect Tragedy. A Tragedy, of course, was nothing more than a drama, in which the characters appeared "better" than in real life (in a comedy, they appeared "worse," according to Aristotle). Aristotle's Poetics makes several references to other dramatic works to illustrate his points, but he most commonly calls upon The Odyssey to support his argument for how a dramatic structure should be designed. However, along with the Odyssey, Aristotle extensively references Sophocles' Oedipus Rex. Both poetic works were enormously popular in their time (the former had been passed down orally for generations, and the latter won the top prizes at the dramatic festivals). Therefore, Aristotle is comfortable using both to support his viewpoint concerning Tragedy and the Tragic Hero. This paper will analyze the standards that Aristotle sets out concerning the definition of the Tragic Hero and show how Sophocles' Oedipus exemplifies Aristotle's definition of a Tragic Hero.

When hearing the word Tragedy, it would not be surprising if several different individuals would immediately think of several unique examples of the word. Perhaps one is an opera enthusiast who immediately thinks of Puccini’s La Boheme. Another is a war enthusiast that thinks about History Channel’s new episode highlighting the harshest and bloodiest battles of World War One. Even a third one obsessed with Greek mythology could generate a handful of examples of tragedy. Tragedy, like love or comedy is a universal theme that can be used to entertain, enlighten and excite its audiences. William Shakespeare, a world renown writer, was a master of this genre writing works, including Romeo and Juliet, Othello, and Hamlet. Another lesser known

Robert D. Murray, Jr. in “Thought and Structure in Sophoclean Tragedy” gives the perspective of the Greek audience, and thereby the reason why there has to be a tragic flaw in Sophoclean tragedy: “A Greek of the fifth century would, of course, have felt. . . . that moral instruction was a vital and valuable function of tragic drama, in particular, and that the voice of the poet was the voice of morality and wisdom as well as of  beauty” (23).

The most memorable writers are often those who diverge from the status quo, bending the lines just enough so that the curve of disbelief still faintly hits the border of reality. Although not the prime example, Athenian playwright Euripides deviated tremendously from the typical standards of Greek tragedies in his famous work Medea. Albeit the characterization was majorly based off of an existing Greek myth, Euripides’s manipulation of the protagonist and storyline created a drama encompassed by aberration and eccentricity far more peculiar than that of the established legend. However, Euripides used his audience’s developed knowledge of Greek mythology to his advantage and was still able to convey a believable story to the citizens of ancient Greece, earning him the third place prize at the Dionysian Festival that year.

Thesis Statement: Tragedy was a source of entrainment back from the Ancient Greece that was written to tell a story and to pull audiences into feeling remorse, pity and to help them gain an appropriate response about the protagonist. Hamlet, Agamemnon, “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” are comparable pieces of literature that shares a similar element of Hamartia.

In these four novels, they illustrate some critical tragedies that had taken place in different scenarios relating to one main theme, which is tragedy, created by four infamous authors, King Lear written by William Shakespeare, Oedipus the King written by Sophocles, Wind From An Enemy Sky written by D'Arcy McNickle, and ultimately Agamemnon composed by Aeschylus. These writers depicted these novels as a distinctive and dynamic catastrophe implied for the benefit of heart winding up going into miserable spirals of catastrophe. Others surveyed these stories as a “felicitous renderings of catastrophe in which … faithfulness to the ancient content meets poetic phrasing and meticulousness of imagery’’ (Andreas Markantonatos). Whereas in my point of view I viewed these stories as a 'well' suited novel implied to be headed towards catastrophe in which I believe instead, its given more of its content illustrating a more graceful expression and carefulness of symbolism rather than it's normal assumption of tragedy.

Greek tragedy is often seen as a verbal, static and a moralistic story when in fact it is something emotionally felt and theatrical. The word drama itself can be translated into a communication through action, this action is influenced by emotion and meaning which in turn directly speaks to the audience.When we read a piece of work we have an incomplete understanding of what is on the page. Theatrical elements allow for the audience to understand the mood and emotion of what is being played out. By reading Prometheus bound we lose vital characteristics of the drama. We miss the tone, pitch, volume, and intonation of one’s voice, we lose facial expressions, gestures, and physical posturing of where the speaker is standing and who they are addressing.