Mutability of a myth occurs between two myths, two similar myths which have a similar story or characters, however, there are contradictions or noticeable differences with in the story or with the characters. Herakles is a prime example to examine and see the mutability of myth in these texts Women of Trachis by Sophocles and Herakles by Euripides. Both of the texts have Herakles as the main character but the plot and Herakles’s character are totally different. In Women of Trachis Herakles is disconnected from his family and doesn’t care. In Herakles he loves his family, and would do anything for them. Under close examination we can see that Herakles’s family and family’s background are different, the characters who die, and the reason and …show more content…
As we know in Women of Trachis Herakles the main character, and is the first victim to start their death. Herakles has moved on without his family, like any wife Deianeira just want things go back to normal. When the robe is given to Herakles his skin starts to burn, we know this is not intention, Deianeira just tried to make him fall in love with her again. When news reaches Deianeira of what occurred, she takes her own life with a blade. Sophocles uses Deaneries’ death to humiliate the great Herakles, the way in which she dies is considered manly, dying by a blade. On the other end of the spectrum Herakles dies a women’s death by being poisoned. This is an insult to Herakles and his family’s name. Herakles’s slow feminine death is emotionally traumatizing to him for the remainder of the day he has left to live. In Herakles he does not die but becomes emotionally strong. Unfortunately for Herakles’s family, they die by Herakles’s doing. Herakles has just killed his family and is now contemplating suicide, but the King and his father motivate him and give him purpose in life once again. The tone then changes because Herakles is going to Athens with the King (not the labors) to help out the city. This is surprisingly a positive “pick me up” tone, and Herakles does just that. Herakles moves on from sadness to perform deeds for the city, showing how strong Herakles is by …show more content…
In Women of Trachis, Herakles is outperforming the 12 labors, the reason is because he is clearing the blood guilt he has from killing his first family. This makes Herakles sound like a man who heart is good who wants to be a good person, however, he is no longer interested with his current family. Herakles finds a new woman to be with while he is away, showing no respect for his current family. This shows Herakles to be not such a good person after all, abandoning his kid and his wife. In Herakles, Herakles is initially perceived as a good hearted person as did Herakles in Women of Trachis. We know Herakles is a good person because he is clearing the blood guilt for his father by performing the 12 labors, an act which is not directly correlated with him. Herakles is risking his life for his stepfather and his family name, this also shows courage. Upon his return he is happy to see his family and saves them once again. Herakles also commits one more selfless act by saving the King from the underworld. This shows Herakles is a person with a good heart, and it stay that way though the time away. The two myths both have similarities and differences, but it’s those differences which make Herakles separate from each other in the myths. The authors depict Herakles character in different way, Sophocles tends to make Herakles look emotionally weak, not masculine, and in general
Within the writings of Greek mythology women commonly display certain attributes that the Greek society associated with women or femininity back in the day. A common quality demonstrated amongst the women in Greek society, and more specifically in Greek mythology, is deception. Throughout the Greek literature discussed in class, women have commonly showed their deception and trickery in different ways and for numerous different reasons. The Odyssey, Theogony, and Homeric Hymm all displayed Greek women showing some form of deception within the stories and poems. These stories show various ways and reasons for Greek women being deceiving and disingenuous, reasons for which there needs to be
There has been many discussions on the differences between Hercules and Heraclês. Disney likes to change stories to make them more child friendly. This creates differences between the original stories and the Disney take on the tales. In the case of the movie of Hercules and the story of Heraclês the main differences, that I will be focusing on is family value, true love, and comic relief.
The stories that as a whole make up the body of ancient Greek mythology have treatedthe complex subject of women in various ways. Although women are generally considered to beweak and subordinate to their husbands, there exist some examples of strong, even heroic womenin certain myths. Such “extraordinary” women include Deianeira, Phaedra, Medea, Penelope,and Clytemnestra, among others. This discussion of women will focus on the latter two,comparing and contrasting them and addressing the ways in which the former is often considereda “good” wife and the latter a “bad” wife. The comparison of Penelope and Clytemnestra willultimately show that, in certain ways, the line between “good” and “bad” wife is rather blurryand the distinction between husband-killing monster and devoted, faithful wife is not as clear-cutas one might expect.The major works in which Penelope and Clytemnestra appear are Homer’s Odyssey andAeschylus’ Oresteia, particularly the Agamemnon. One of the first things to notice about theseworks is that they were both written by men, for men. Given the ancient Greek context, this is arather obvious observation, but it deserves to be pointed out because it should be expected thatmen would have a biased view of women. Hesiod’s Theogony and Works and Days describe thecreation of Pandora, the first of “the race of women”, as a gift and punishment from the gods.While she is made to “look like a goddess immortal, / having the lovely, desirable shape of a
Since the days of mythological origin to the origin of pop culture, various mythological stories have been adopted and presented to newer generations. Some of these presented adaptations of mythological stories have significantly been modified in order to be deemed entertaining by audiences in a pop culture generation. Thus, my study will seek to compare mythological hero's during their time to how they have been depicted in modern day. Moreover, my study will analyze the similarities and differences between the Greek hero Heracles and his replica character, Hercules, depicted in Disney's adaptation of this myth. Although there are few similarities between the two versions, the differences between Heracles and Disney's Hercules are
It could be argued that none of the characters in "Women of Trachis" are essentially and solely responsible for the death of Sophocles’ character Heracles. It is simply human error and the innate qualities of a tragic hero and heroine. All the same, one could justify that the characters could have foreseen the impact of their actions or perhaps that the disastrous end of Heracles was inevitable as it was the prediction of the oracle (Women of Trachis ll.77-82). In the first
Many people regard Homer’s epics as war stories—stories about men; those people often overlook the important roles that women play in the Odyssey. While there are not many female characters in the Odyssey, the few that there are, play pivotal roles in the story and one can gain a lot of insight by analyzing how those women are portrayed. Homer portrays the females in contradictory ways: the characters of Athena and Eurykleia are given strong, admirable roles while Melantho, the Sirens and Circe are depicted in a much more negative way. Penelope—the central female character—is given both negative and positive attributes.
To begin the comparison of the two myths, one must look at both the similarities and the differences. To write the myth both poets need help from the Gods, however, the Gods just appear to Hesiod, thus making the Gods in control and the Gods are asked to help by Ovid, thus putting
The female characters portrayed in Aeschylus and Sophocles’ works have considerably different personalities and roles, yet those females all have the common weaknesses of being short-sighted and stubborn. They intensify the conflicts within their families while being inconsiderate of the impacts that they may bring to their nations and societies, which leads to consequences that they are incapable of taking responsibilities for. Clytemnestra and Antigone, two major characters in their respective author’s works, possess different motivations for their deeds in the stories. While Clytemnestra is driven by the desire of revenge to murder her husband Agamemnon, Antigone acts against Creon’s will and strives to properly bury her brother. Despite having different motivations and personalities, Clytemnestra and Antigone both commit
They both agreed on how he had his heroic parts, and his non-heroic parts. His heroic parts were that "As part of his Twelve Labors, Heracles killed monstrous creatures (the Nemean lion, the Hydra, and the Stymphalian birds) and captured dangerous animals (the Erymanthian boar, the Cretan bull, and man-eating horses). He even brought the hound Cerberus up from the underworld in a symbolic conquest of death itself (abcclio.com)." His non-heroic deeds were that "Heracles committed many outrages against relatives, friends, and innocent strangers when he was unable to control his passions, and he was also prone to gluttony and other excesses that were not considered admirable in Greek society (abcclio.com)." In Stephanie Budin's article she wrote about how he struggled keeping his emotions stable. She talked about how he sometimes had outrages, and went very violent towards people. She also talks about his heroic deeds as well. Emma Stafford, on the other hand, talks about how the story of Heracles developed over time and how his heroism has also changed over time. In conclusion, even though Stephanie Budin and Emma Stafford had different viewpoints on why Heracles was a hero, they still agree that he was a heroic person for Ancient
Hermia, originally the Apple of all Athens’ eye, put on an impossible pedestal by both Lysander and Demetrius, seems to trade social standings with the outcast Helena. It seems that Hermia doesn’t fully appreciate the quality of her state. She complains that her father will not allow her to merry her true love Lysander, and pawns her off to the inadequate Demetrius. Never can she accept the flattery of Demetrius’ unrequited love which her best friend would do anything to sincerely receive. Instead she revels in wonderment: “The more I [Hermia] hate, the more he [Demetrius] follows me” (I.i.198). Her unhappiness is far heightened when her two followers are given the love potion, turning them against her and beckoning to Helena. The cruel swap of fates lets the two female characters feel as though in the others’ shoes. It’s Hermia’s karma for being ungrateful at the attention bestowed upon her all these years that leads her to this harsh lesson.
Especially after Io’s entrance and the recount of her story, Hera seems more like a jealous wife than the noble queen she is presented as in Hesiod’s work. Her attitude towards Io is blamed on Zeus, who has not only provoked Hera’s actions but is her husband and thus responsible for Hera, as it was customary in ancient Greece.
It could be argued that none of the characters in "Women of Trachis" are essentially and solely responsible for the death of Sophocles’ character Heracles. It is simply human error and the innate qualities of a tragic hero and heroine. All the same, one could justify that the characters could have foreseen the impact of their actions or perhaps that the disastrous end of Heracles was inevitable as it was the prediction of the oracle (Women of Trachis ll.77-82). In the
Sophocles’ Theban tragedy, Oedipus the King, is not sexist. The prominent play portrays both men and women justly. The events presented by Sophocles exemplifies a level of admiration and respect for women that was not ordinary in ancient Greece. This is predominantly achieved through the dialogue of Jocasta and Oedipus, illustrating a corresponding relationship. In addition, the behavior of Jocasta, analysis of other literature, as well as the bad fortune of the male characters reaffirm that the Oedipus the King is not sexist.
In Athens, women had very little rights. Womens fathers were the ones who got to choose whom they married, and that caused trouble for the lovers. Hermia’s father, Egeus, strongly believed in this rule. At the beginning, Egeus decides that he wants Hermia to marry Demetrius, which is good for Demetrius but bad for Hermia. Hermia, daringly refuses her father’s wishes, so they seek the help of Theseus, the Duke of Athens. Theseus listens to their situation, and being the authority in the situation, tells Hermia: “Either to die the death, or to abjure for the society of men. Therefore, fair Hermia,... if you yield not to your father’s choice, you can endure the livery of a nun...”(24). This shows how authority, in this case the law, gets in the way of “the course of true love…”(28). Egeus’s decision to have Hermia marry Demetrius does not only affect Hermia but also affects Helena. When Hermia’s father chooses Demetris to be her
The Iliad and Odyssey present different ideals of women, and the goddesses, who are presented as ideal women, differ between the two epics. The difference in roles is largely dependent on power, and relations to men, as well as sexual desirability and activity.