Greeks and Romans are a lot of fun
Dec. 4th, 2012 08:48 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
avreliaI've just finished another coursera.org course - Greek and Roman Mythology. At 10 weeks it felt too short, as I can read and talk about myths forever. Especially since we were actually reading classical literature - like Odyssey, Oresteiaand Aeneid .
Beside reading and lectures we wrote essays that were supposed to answer specific questions. Here are my two essays, saved here for posterity.
I. the Odyssey essay
first, the four questions that were posed, out of which students had to choose one to write about. in case I ever want to think about the rest of them. My essay answers the 4th question.
1) Some scholars have claimed that book 24 is a late addition to the Odyssey by a later editor and was never intended by Homer to be part of the epic. Using only Homer’s poetry as evidence, they wonder how well (or not well) it serves as a conclusion to the story and whether book 23 could serve as a better one. Weigh in yourself on this question. Would the Odyssey make more sense as a story if it ended with book 23? Why or why not? Justify your position using specific evidence from the epic. Analyze the main themes of book 23 and book 24 and evaluate how they relate or do not relate to the main themes of the story as a whole. Then construct a case either that 23 or 24 makes a better conclusion.
2) Professor Struck has analyzed parts of the Odyssey using the theory of Functionalism. In this theory, a myth serves to legitimize social values and norms (such as the practice of xenia). Choose one episode from the Odyssey that was not given a Functionalist reading in lecture, and analyze this episode through a Functionalist lens. It is up to you to decide how long or short an episode is. What social norm does this episode legitimize? Be sure to spell out your reasoning very carefully. The best answers to this question will move from the evidence to your conclusion with careful attention to detail. Avoid generalities.
3) Professor Struck has analyzed parts of the Odyssey using the theory of Structuralism. In this theory, a myth reflects the basic binary hardwiring that structures human thought. Choose one episode from the Odyssey that was not given a Structuralist reading in lecture, and analyze this episode through a Structuralist lens. It is up to you to decide how long or short an episode is. Propose an answer to the question of what binary opposition lies underneath this part of the story and provides the best insight into what is really at stake in it. Remember the best candidates for structuralist binaries are anchored to the deepest parts of the “grammar” by which a culture organizes itself. Look for the most rudimentary parts of human experience. Binaries drawn from biological processes are particularly useful – for example, binaries that show the cultural "processing" of things like reproduction, kinship relations, metabolism, adolescence, death, etc. The best answers to this question will move from the evidence to your conclusion with careful attention to detail. Avoid generalities.
4) The Odyssey begins in the middle of a long chronological arc, and continues to play with ideas of past, present, and future throughout. However, the actual narrative limit of the epic, from the first council of the gods in book 1 through Athena’s intervention to bring an end to the violence and the end of the epic, only takes about 40 days. What does this temporal framework – with a large swath of time compressed into a finite number of days – add to the epic, or take away from it? Analyze the idea of time in the Odyssey and argue for its significance for the making of myth.
my essay
Changing the temporal framework allowed Homer to change the focus of the story, to control its tension and suspense and to make the narrative several layers deeper and, effectively turning an adventure story into a myth about return.
Odysseus' return journey starts at Troy, the story starts much later. In the first lines a reader learns that that the story is about “The man of many devices, who wandered full many ways after he had sacked the sacred citadel of Troy (Book 1, line 1),” “Odysseus alone, filled with longing for his return and for his wife (Book 1, line 13).” It's not about wonders and dangers Odysseus met on his way, but about home that he left and the problems created by his absence. We follow Odysseus on the final stages of his journey, but we witness him fully re-taking his place in the world.
The change in time also allows to control the narrative tension. The suspense comes not from wondering whether Odysseus and his men will reach Ithaca, but what happens after Odysseus reaches his home. Will Odysseus be in time to stop the suitors? With he be able to put things to rights? What Penelope and Telemachus would do?
Finally, by starting the story close to the end, Homer makes Odysseus tell about his travels himself. “What, then, shall I tell thee first, what last? (Book 9, line 15)” Tales of delight or of woes? Lies or truth? Odysseus tells his story to Alcinous, then Eurimachus, Telemachus, Penelope, Laertes, even Athena. The stories are different – truthful and not, calculated to fit specific purposes. Odysseus becomes a narrator of his own story, making him into a mirror of Homer and his co-author, and adding layers of depth to the story.
This way, by starting the story of Odysseus' travels close to its horological end, Homer achieves several important goals: he controls the narrative by changing the focus of the story from journey to return home, he moves the suspense away from dangers at sea to dangers at home, and he adds depth by making Odysseus tell his story.
II. The second essay
1.In this course, we have introduced Functionalism, Structuralism, Freudianism, and Myth and Ritual theory as tools to examine our myths. Choose one of these tools and use it to analyze one episode in the Greek tragedies or the portions of Vergil’s Aeneid or Ovid's Metamorphoses that we have read for this class. It is up to you to decide how long or short an episode is. The best answers to this question will demonstrate a thorough understanding of the theoretical tool, and will use it to reveal something new in the episode under consideration. You may NOT repeat a specific result, using one of these theoretical tools, set out in lecture. Move from the evidence to your conclusion with careful attention to detail. Avoid generalities.
2. In tragedies, the worlds of the divine and the human often come into direct contact, but in different ways in each tragedy. Choose one tragedy and analyze how it imagines the relationship between humans and the divine.
3.We've seen numerous kinds of relationships under scrutiny in the myths we have studied: (1) relationships between humans and the divine; (2) familial relationships, e.g., fathers and sons, husbands and wives, mothers and sons, etc.; (3) relationships between individuals and communities; (4) relationships between the individual and himself/herself. For this essay, you need to decide which ONE of these 4 types of relationships is most important for the myths we have read, and explore why it is so. Of course, a wise person will see that there is at least some importance in all of them, but for this question, you must choose the most important ONE, and then explore why it is.
4. From Odysseus' halls in Ithaca, to the court of the Areopagus at Athens that tries Orestes, to the debate over the arms of Achilles in Ovid, the myths we have read have debated the concept of justice. First explore the different definitions of justice worked out in the myths, then decide which one has the most merit. Explore the definitions using detailed evidence from the texts, and argue for your choice using careful, explicit reasoning.
In Agamemnon, as opposed to other parts of Aeschylus' Oresteia, gods don't act themselves and don't directly influence the action. They seem to be conspicuously absent.
Clytemnestra is happy to claim Agamemnon's murder as her own deed: “here is Agamemnon, my husband, now a corpse, the work of this right hand, a just workman.[1405]” Aegisthus is proud of his own involvement, too: “Exile though I was, I laid my hand upon my enemy, compassing every device of cunning to his ruin. [1609]” No god helps to arrange the murders, no god demanded those murders, but no god comes to help their victims, either.
The gods are not forgotten, of course. The humans are calling to them throughout the tragedy. The Chorus talk about gods; Agamemnon greets the gods upon his return home; Clytemnestra prays to Zeus and appeals to the gods for the justification of her actions; Cassandra calls out to Apollo, “Apollo, Apollo! God of the Ways, my destroyer![1080]” Gods don't answer.
The reason could be found in another Cassandra's utterance “a god-hating house, a house that knows many a horrible butchery of kin, a slaughter-house of men and a floor swimming with blood.[1090]” Gods didn't just left people to their own devices, they abandoned the house of Atreus, according to Aeschylus' text, for their god-hating ways. The presence of Cassandra in the tragedy is not accidental. She was given the gift of clairvoyance by Apollo, but when she spurned his love, he abandoned her and turned his gift into punishment. The same can be said about the house of Atreus. They committed horrible crimes against their own blood, they flaunted the laws set by gods, and the gods abandoned them.
The relationship between divine and human are more troubled in Agamemnon than in other parts of Oresteia. The gods don't appear in the play by themselves or through their oracles or dreams, and don't answer humans' appeals. They abandoned the humans, and, in Aeschylus' interpretation, it is not a gift but a punishment.
Beside reading and lectures we wrote essays that were supposed to answer specific questions. Here are my two essays, saved here for posterity.
I. the Odyssey essay
first, the four questions that were posed, out of which students had to choose one to write about. in case I ever want to think about the rest of them. My essay answers the 4th question.
1) Some scholars have claimed that book 24 is a late addition to the Odyssey by a later editor and was never intended by Homer to be part of the epic. Using only Homer’s poetry as evidence, they wonder how well (or not well) it serves as a conclusion to the story and whether book 23 could serve as a better one. Weigh in yourself on this question. Would the Odyssey make more sense as a story if it ended with book 23? Why or why not? Justify your position using specific evidence from the epic. Analyze the main themes of book 23 and book 24 and evaluate how they relate or do not relate to the main themes of the story as a whole. Then construct a case either that 23 or 24 makes a better conclusion.
2) Professor Struck has analyzed parts of the Odyssey using the theory of Functionalism. In this theory, a myth serves to legitimize social values and norms (such as the practice of xenia). Choose one episode from the Odyssey that was not given a Functionalist reading in lecture, and analyze this episode through a Functionalist lens. It is up to you to decide how long or short an episode is. What social norm does this episode legitimize? Be sure to spell out your reasoning very carefully. The best answers to this question will move from the evidence to your conclusion with careful attention to detail. Avoid generalities.
3) Professor Struck has analyzed parts of the Odyssey using the theory of Structuralism. In this theory, a myth reflects the basic binary hardwiring that structures human thought. Choose one episode from the Odyssey that was not given a Structuralist reading in lecture, and analyze this episode through a Structuralist lens. It is up to you to decide how long or short an episode is. Propose an answer to the question of what binary opposition lies underneath this part of the story and provides the best insight into what is really at stake in it. Remember the best candidates for structuralist binaries are anchored to the deepest parts of the “grammar” by which a culture organizes itself. Look for the most rudimentary parts of human experience. Binaries drawn from biological processes are particularly useful – for example, binaries that show the cultural "processing" of things like reproduction, kinship relations, metabolism, adolescence, death, etc. The best answers to this question will move from the evidence to your conclusion with careful attention to detail. Avoid generalities.
4) The Odyssey begins in the middle of a long chronological arc, and continues to play with ideas of past, present, and future throughout. However, the actual narrative limit of the epic, from the first council of the gods in book 1 through Athena’s intervention to bring an end to the violence and the end of the epic, only takes about 40 days. What does this temporal framework – with a large swath of time compressed into a finite number of days – add to the epic, or take away from it? Analyze the idea of time in the Odyssey and argue for its significance for the making of myth.
my essay
Changing the temporal framework allowed Homer to change the focus of the story, to control its tension and suspense and to make the narrative several layers deeper and, effectively turning an adventure story into a myth about return.
Odysseus' return journey starts at Troy, the story starts much later. In the first lines a reader learns that that the story is about “The man of many devices, who wandered full many ways after he had sacked the sacred citadel of Troy (Book 1, line 1),” “Odysseus alone, filled with longing for his return and for his wife (Book 1, line 13).” It's not about wonders and dangers Odysseus met on his way, but about home that he left and the problems created by his absence. We follow Odysseus on the final stages of his journey, but we witness him fully re-taking his place in the world.
The change in time also allows to control the narrative tension. The suspense comes not from wondering whether Odysseus and his men will reach Ithaca, but what happens after Odysseus reaches his home. Will Odysseus be in time to stop the suitors? With he be able to put things to rights? What Penelope and Telemachus would do?
Finally, by starting the story close to the end, Homer makes Odysseus tell about his travels himself. “What, then, shall I tell thee first, what last? (Book 9, line 15)” Tales of delight or of woes? Lies or truth? Odysseus tells his story to Alcinous, then Eurimachus, Telemachus, Penelope, Laertes, even Athena. The stories are different – truthful and not, calculated to fit specific purposes. Odysseus becomes a narrator of his own story, making him into a mirror of Homer and his co-author, and adding layers of depth to the story.
This way, by starting the story of Odysseus' travels close to its horological end, Homer achieves several important goals: he controls the narrative by changing the focus of the story from journey to return home, he moves the suspense away from dangers at sea to dangers at home, and he adds depth by making Odysseus tell his story.
II. The second essay
1.In this course, we have introduced Functionalism, Structuralism, Freudianism, and Myth and Ritual theory as tools to examine our myths. Choose one of these tools and use it to analyze one episode in the Greek tragedies or the portions of Vergil’s Aeneid or Ovid's Metamorphoses that we have read for this class. It is up to you to decide how long or short an episode is. The best answers to this question will demonstrate a thorough understanding of the theoretical tool, and will use it to reveal something new in the episode under consideration. You may NOT repeat a specific result, using one of these theoretical tools, set out in lecture. Move from the evidence to your conclusion with careful attention to detail. Avoid generalities.
2. In tragedies, the worlds of the divine and the human often come into direct contact, but in different ways in each tragedy. Choose one tragedy and analyze how it imagines the relationship between humans and the divine.
3.We've seen numerous kinds of relationships under scrutiny in the myths we have studied: (1) relationships between humans and the divine; (2) familial relationships, e.g., fathers and sons, husbands and wives, mothers and sons, etc.; (3) relationships between individuals and communities; (4) relationships between the individual and himself/herself. For this essay, you need to decide which ONE of these 4 types of relationships is most important for the myths we have read, and explore why it is so. Of course, a wise person will see that there is at least some importance in all of them, but for this question, you must choose the most important ONE, and then explore why it is.
4. From Odysseus' halls in Ithaca, to the court of the Areopagus at Athens that tries Orestes, to the debate over the arms of Achilles in Ovid, the myths we have read have debated the concept of justice. First explore the different definitions of justice worked out in the myths, then decide which one has the most merit. Explore the definitions using detailed evidence from the texts, and argue for your choice using careful, explicit reasoning.
In Agamemnon, as opposed to other parts of Aeschylus' Oresteia, gods don't act themselves and don't directly influence the action. They seem to be conspicuously absent.
Clytemnestra is happy to claim Agamemnon's murder as her own deed: “here is Agamemnon, my husband, now a corpse, the work of this right hand, a just workman.[1405]” Aegisthus is proud of his own involvement, too: “Exile though I was, I laid my hand upon my enemy, compassing every device of cunning to his ruin. [1609]” No god helps to arrange the murders, no god demanded those murders, but no god comes to help their victims, either.
The gods are not forgotten, of course. The humans are calling to them throughout the tragedy. The Chorus talk about gods; Agamemnon greets the gods upon his return home; Clytemnestra prays to Zeus and appeals to the gods for the justification of her actions; Cassandra calls out to Apollo, “Apollo, Apollo! God of the Ways, my destroyer![1080]” Gods don't answer.
The reason could be found in another Cassandra's utterance “a god-hating house, a house that knows many a horrible butchery of kin, a slaughter-house of men and a floor swimming with blood.[1090]” Gods didn't just left people to their own devices, they abandoned the house of Atreus, according to Aeschylus' text, for their god-hating ways. The presence of Cassandra in the tragedy is not accidental. She was given the gift of clairvoyance by Apollo, but when she spurned his love, he abandoned her and turned his gift into punishment. The same can be said about the house of Atreus. They committed horrible crimes against their own blood, they flaunted the laws set by gods, and the gods abandoned them.
The relationship between divine and human are more troubled in Agamemnon than in other parts of Oresteia. The gods don't appear in the play by themselves or through their oracles or dreams, and don't answer humans' appeals. They abandoned the humans, and, in Aeschylus' interpretation, it is not a gift but a punishment.
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