I found this article from Lemonlimeadventures.com the most insightful one I have read about teaching fidgety students. She gives a printable chore list here.
Balanced and bare foot writes about kids' need to move.
Here is some great sensory, active play ideas!
Monday, September 22, 2014
Tuesday, May 14, 2013
So You Want to Make a Record Part 2: Recording
The single biggest barrier young bands face to making a record is money. Studio time is expensive, period. In Ames, the cheapest you will find is $15/hr. but that is exceptionally low. Rates from $50 to $100/hr. are not unusual. And time in the studio absolutely flies. Unless you are very well prepared you will struggle to get enough takes to produce a satisfying result. And don't forget that tracking is just the first step. The studio will also charge you for editing and mixing. The minimum time needed for an experienced audio engineer to edit and mix a typical four-piece track is ten hours. If you are doing it yourself double or triple that. Unless your record is incredibly successful you won't sell enough copies to cover the studio cost.
The single most important goal in the recording process is to capture good performances. Without good performances, you won't be happy with the track. That's why I encourage young bands to build a simple studio themselves rather than pay for pricey studio time. You will have to compromise on the sound quality and production but being able to keep going until you get it right is priceless.
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| AT2020 USB mic |
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| Line6 POD 2.0 Amp Modeler |
While the tracking phase was long and painstaking, the editing and mixing stage was the most challenging as I didn't have a lot of audio engineering experience prior to making the record. Despite a number of helpful articles online the learning curve was steep. I made a number of big mistakes that cost me time, but it was worth it in the end. The most important thing is to listen. Listen to each instrument. Listen to groups of instruments. Listen to the whole track. See how the record sounds on a number of different sound systems (headphones, car stereos, etc.) before the release. Be sure to let your collaborators hear the mix in progress. Be prepared to compromise. The record isn't finished until the whole band is happy.
Friday, May 10, 2013
So You Want to Make a Record Part 1: Songwriting
Songwriting
Songs begin as seeds. If you hear sounds in your head as I do, start with those. Maybe you'll find a phrase that seems especially resonant; plant that. If your band is more organic, start with a really good jam. But start you must and work from there. Good songs don't come easily. "Being a writer is a strenuous marriage between careful observation and just carefully imagining truths you haven't had the opportunity to see. The rest is the necessary strict toiling with language" (John Irving). Songwriting is even more challenging as you must wrestle with lyrics, melody, and rhythm together. For this you need good technique. But great chops and knowledge of music theory are just the raw materials. You still have to build a house someone would want to live in. It's not so hard. Songs are just feelings turned into sound. Put your emotions through your amplifier and you can't go wrong.
The Anxiety of Influence
Many young musicians are inspired to play by the music they love. I was no different. I still remember a friend handing me a tape of songs he thought I might like. Most were ultimately forgettable. But there were a couple that fascinated me. I remember sitting in the dark as the opening chords of "Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses" (U2, Achtung Baby, 1991) washed over me. I didn't completely understand the lyrics, I was too young. But I felt more than knew that this was a song about lost love. There was no turning back. It's nearly two decades later and I'm chasing my own songs now.
Artists like U2, Phil Keaggy, and Dream Theater have been huge influences. They are at once sources of inspiration and places I labor to leave behind. Literary critic Harold Bloom describes this tension as the "anxiety of influence." It took me years to realize I could make music I liked without being derivative. The key is to filter your influences through your personality. Your individuality is the best source of originality. Let your experiences, strengths, and preferences be your guide. And don't be afraid to take risks. Failure is part of creativity.
Still, good lyrics can unlock memories, paint pictures, and transport the listener to a new world. Great songs happen when the lyrics and instrumentation reinforce and enhance each other. There are great songs that leave a lot of room for interpretation (see Coldplay's Speed of Sound) and tunes with a more obvious narrative (e.g. Singing In My Sleep by Semisonic). You have to decide how each song will negotiate the dance of lyrics and music. "The song is king." So says Jerome Fontamillas of Switchfoot. I couldn't agree more. Records are made of songs, not vice versa. Don't sacrifice the integrity of a song to make it fit into the overall concept of the record. Ten to fifteen loosely connected but individually cohesive songs will work better than a bunch of shaky tracks related thematically. (Are you listening my progressive rock pals?) Concept albums are for experienced musicians with a number of records under their belts.
Before you start tracking, sit down and talk about each song as a band. Try different arrangements and see how they feel. Remember, you'll likely be playing these songs live after the record comes out. Then rehearse as much as you can before a note gets recorded.
Artists like U2, Phil Keaggy, and Dream Theater have been huge influences. They are at once sources of inspiration and places I labor to leave behind. Literary critic Harold Bloom describes this tension as the "anxiety of influence." It took me years to realize I could make music I liked without being derivative. The key is to filter your influences through your personality. Your individuality is the best source of originality. Let your experiences, strengths, and preferences be your guide. And don't be afraid to take risks. Failure is part of creativity.
Balancing Lyrics and Instrumentation
If you are writing lyrics you probably have some notion of what the song is about. The subject may be relatively concrete, a story about an experience for instance. Or it may be more abstract and hard to identify. Either way, you have entered into a process of communication. However, your words must fit into the structure of the song. Rhythm, meter, and rhyme constrain the lyrics and affect your ability to communicate the denotative meaning of the song. Each songwriter has to decide how much clarity he or she is willing to give up in exchange for emotional impact. Personally, I favor songs with evocative imagery and interesting instrumentation over good storytelling and a clear theme. From an information theory perspective, the words form a relatively small part of the song. Recall that a text file containing the lyrics may only be one kilobyte in size where an audio file will typically take up several megabytes. Most of the "information" is in the sound.Still, good lyrics can unlock memories, paint pictures, and transport the listener to a new world. Great songs happen when the lyrics and instrumentation reinforce and enhance each other. There are great songs that leave a lot of room for interpretation (see Coldplay's Speed of Sound) and tunes with a more obvious narrative (e.g. Singing In My Sleep by Semisonic). You have to decide how each song will negotiate the dance of lyrics and music. "The song is king." So says Jerome Fontamillas of Switchfoot. I couldn't agree more. Records are made of songs, not vice versa. Don't sacrifice the integrity of a song to make it fit into the overall concept of the record. Ten to fifteen loosely connected but individually cohesive songs will work better than a bunch of shaky tracks related thematically. (Are you listening my progressive rock pals?) Concept albums are for experienced musicians with a number of records under their belts.
Before you start tracking, sit down and talk about each song as a band. Try different arrangements and see how they feel. Remember, you'll likely be playing these songs live after the record comes out. Then rehearse as much as you can before a note gets recorded.
Saturday, March 20, 2010
The Pride Reflex
12 “ How you are fallen from heaven,
O Lucifer, son of the morning!
How you are cut down to the ground,
You who weakened the nations!
13 For you have said in your heart:
‘ I will ascend into heaven,
I will exalt my throne above the stars of God;
I will also sit on the mount of the congregation
On the farthest sides of the north;
14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds,
I will be like the Most High’” (Isaiah 14:12-14).
Pride stands squarely at the center of the world’s spiritual history. Its roots go down deep in the soil of this planet, penetrating the core of our individual beings. It is fundamental to human nature. We cannot understand ourselves until we recognize that poison within us. This evening we will examine the nature of pride. Specifically, we will see how pride:
1) Pollutes relationships
2) Distracts us from legitimate pleasures
3) Causes misery
4) And ends in destruction.
But first, what is pride? How will we know it when we see it? The dictionary definition of pride is: 1. a high or inordinate opinion of one's own dignity, importance, merit, or superiority, whether as cherished in the mind or as displayed in bearing, conduct, etc. 2. An excessively high opinion of oneself; conceit. Pride is simply the exaltation of the self. Pride is me making much of me. It is a way of making myself appear bigger, look better, seem greater than I truly am. Pride is the celebration of the self apart from God.
In the above passage from Isaiah, we observe the workings of pride on the mind of Lucifer. “I will exalt my throne above the stars of God,” he says, and with that the perfection of God’s creation is gone. At the root of the first rebellion is an unwillingness to accept your place in the created order. The creature wishes to usurp the Creator. Satan did not want to submit to the authority of God, and neither do we. What was it that tempted Adam to eat the forbidden fruit? Was it not the promise that “your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil” (Genesis 3:5)? Adam was tempted by the promise of becoming like God. We are no different. We hope for apotheosis, secretly yearning to drag our throne into the heavens.
Christopher Marlowe understood our instinct to transgress boundaries in the search for knowledge. Marlowe’s play, “The Tragical History of Dr. Faustus,” is one of the most under appreciated works of English literature. Faust is a brilliant man who seems to have mastered many disciplines (arete). The story opens with Faust rejecting the limitations of traditional sources of knowledge: "Aristotle on logic, Galen on medicine, the Byzantine emperor Justinian on law, and the Bible on religion" (SparkNotes, Doctor Faustus). Faust is not satisfied with the knowledge available to unaided Man and turns to black magic (hubris). Listen to Faust himself:
"All things that move between the quiet poles
Shall be at my command: emperors and kings
Are but obeyed in their several provinces,
Nor can they raise the wind, or rend the clouds;
But his dominion that exceeds in this [sorcery]
Stretcheth as far as doth the mind of man:
A sound magician is a mighty god" (Marlowe 994).
Faust's thirst of the power of knowledge is so great that he sells his soul to Lucifer in exchange for the service of a devil named Mephastophilis for twenty-four years (ate). Mephastophilis reveals the hidden nature of the Universe, but refuses to tell Faust who created the world. Faust travels the world, but instead of using his new found knowledge for the benefit of mankind, is reduced to playing practical jokes (SparkNotes, Doctor Faustus). As the end of the twenty-four years approaches, Faust begins to regret his choice. He begs for deliverance: "O God, if thou wilt not have mercy on my soul, Yet for Christ's sake, whose blood hath ransomed me" (Marlowe, 1022). In the end, a group of devils drag Faust of to hell (nemesis). Here are his chilling last words: "Ugly hell gape not! Come not, Lucifer! I'll burn my books-ah, Mephastophilis!" (Marlowe, 1023).
After Adam, we all face Faust’s temptation to overreach (ate). Now sin and death has been loosed on the whole world. It infects every area of life, including our most cherished relationships. I want to pause and examine the way that pride interrupts the spirit of brotherhood that should persist between individuals.
First, pride replaces love with competition (Lewis, The Great Sin). Lewis put it best:
The point is that each person's pride is in competition with every one else's pride. It is because I wanted to be the big noise at the party that I am so annoyed at someone else being the big noise. Two of a trade never agree. Now what you want to get clear is that Pride is essentially competitive - is competitive by its very nature - while the other vices are competitive only, so to speak, by accident. Pride gets no pleasure out of having something, only out of having more of it than the next man. We say that people are proud of being rich, or clever, or good-looking, but they are not. They are proud of being richer, or cleverer, or better-looking than others (Lewis, The Great Sin).
Pride replaces harmony with invidious comparisons. It offers the “pleasure of being above the rest” (Lewis, The Great Sin). And it is never satisfied. There will always be someone better, and our pride will never let us rest until we have surpassed them, until the whole world lies below us. In the place of the pure, legitimate joy of pursuing excellence for its own sake, pride suggests an endless series of competitions, of enemies to be vanquished. Because there can be only one best.
Pride interrupts our vertical as well as our horizontal relationships. Pride prevents us from knowing God (Lewis, The Great Sin). Again, Lewis:
In God you come up against something which is in every respect immeasurably superior to yourself. Unless you know God as that - and, therefore, know yourself as nothing in comparison - you do not know God at all. As long as you are proud you cannot know God. A proud man is always looking down on things and people: and, of course, as long as you are looking down, you cannot see something that is above you (Lewis, The Great Sin).
Pride offers to exchange intimacy with God for your own way. Pride offers you more of you. Why do we choose ourselves? What can we offer ourselves that is so irresistible?
The answer is that at some level we recognize our brokenness. We sense that there is something ugly buried deep inside. We don’t want to look at it. We don’t want to acknowledge the darkness that has taken up residence there. It hurts. It hurts to really see ourselves. It hurts to admit that we are thieves, or liars, or cheats. We don’t want to be gossips, or slanderers, or gluttons. So we hide behind pride. It offers a refuge from our sense that we are fatally flawed. But prideful pleasure is a vapor: you cannot hold it. It is a dish that leaves you hungry as soon as it is past your lips. It is a building that seeks to rip out its own foundation, as Spurgeon knew:
Again, pride is the maddest thing that can exist; it feeds upon its own vitals; it will take away its own life, that with its blood may make a purple for its shoulders: it sappeth, and undermineth its own house that it may build its pinnacles a little higher, and then the whole structure tumbleth down (Spurgeon, Pride and Humility).
It promises pleasure but only drives the needle of despair deeper.
We could talk for hours about the pain that pride has caused throughout our personal histories. Pride introduces corruption into our lives a thousand times a day. Let me give an example from my own life. Last week, I received an email from one of my students. He was struggling to get anything out of my lectures. He felt as though he was teaching himself. Could I perhaps do a few more examples in class?
I must confess, I bristled when I read the email. I hadn’t even really thought about what he was saying, but I felt a powerful urge to strike back. My response was automatic, almost instinctive. How dare he question my methods?
This is an example of what I describe as the pride reflex. It happens immediately when someone suggests we have come up short. It isn’t even rational. The truth is, it is my job to teach the material to the best of my ability. Once I calmed down, I remembered that the only thing that matters is how effective I am at doing that. I decided to eat my pride, and change. The next class period the students worked examples. And guess what? They got a whole lot more out of that lecture. In other words, my student was right and I was wrong. By accepting his feedback, everyone benefited.
Pride hates outcomes like that. It wants to convince us that we’ve got it all figured out. It is there when we refuse to change in order to better love our wives, husbands, children, or friends. It helps us rationalize our choice too hurt each other. It explains away our faults, sooths our bruised egos when we fail. “It’s okay. You’re still better than him!” it consoles. It stands between estranged husbands and wives. It turns friends into enemies. It tries to convince us that words like grace and forgiveness don’t apply to him. It whispers that things will never be the same again. It assures us that we’re worth it, that whatever we just have to have today is worth it. Worth letting nothing and nobody get in our way. Pride tells us that we can have it all.
Where does pride end? It ends here, in Job chapter 20.
4 “Do you not know this of old,
Since man was placed on earth,5 That the triumphing of the wicked is short,
And the joy of the hypocrite is but for a moment?6 Though his haughtiness mounts up to the heavens,
And his head reaches to the clouds,7 Yet he will perish forever like his own refuse;
Those who have seen him will say, ‘Where is he?’8 He will fly away like a dream, and not be found;
Yes, he will be chased away like a vision of the night.
Let me encourage you with this thought: it doesn’t have to be that way. I want us to imagine for the moment a world where people have unlearned the pride reflex. The Scripture promises, “Before destruction the heart of man is haughty, and before honor is humility” (Proverbs 18:12). God who made me tells me that humility will earn his praise! I admit that I long to feel the honor that only God can bestow. If the praise of man is so seductive, how much more potent must be the approbation of God Himself? Recall the luminous lyric, “You will show me the path of life; In Your presence is fullness of joy; At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore” (Psalm 16:11). The glorious truth is that you are not a robot or a helpless piece of foam afloat on the moral ocean. You have a choice. You can pursue the pure, satisfying, everlasting joy that is the presence of almighty God. “But Jesus said, ‘Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for such is the kingdom of heaven’” (Matthew 19:14). Such is the kingdom of heaven – what does that mean? In this little vignette Jesus communicates something that is beyond earthly understanding. It has to be experienced to be understood. He is trying to show us a small part of what it means to truly be with Him. He says to each of us, “Child, come to me.” And He waits for us with open arms. In the arms of the Savior we find the peace that prideful pleasure could never provide. Suddenly, the chains of guilt and self-loathing fall away and you see Him. In the hands of God we find acceptance conditioned on nothing, meaning relative to no one.
Friday, January 1, 2010
Symbolism and Meaning in Mythology
I finally got around to posting my Mythology paper. Here is the introduction:
MAN BREATHES IN THE WORLD, and breathes out myth. His voice carries over the emerald Aegean, rises from rippling Dakota plains, echoes in Norwegian fjords - a great chant of spoken dreams. What do we learn by listening? Myths are stories, and as such, are a way of crossing boundaries. In one sense, they form a bridge between the Self and the Other. In myth, the primeval and the transcendent are united in a mystical Something spanning the gulf separating the possible from the impossible. Nature becomes a vehicle for Supernature. Historically, the supernatural elements in mythology have been seen as a way for primitive peoples to explain nature. They function as an early form of science. Note how the Native Americans of Wyoming used such a myth to explain their environment.
The Kiowa story has it that eight children were playing in the woods, and there were seven sisters and their brother. The boy is pretending to be a bear and he's chasing his sisters, who are pretending to be afraid, and they're running. And a terrible thing happens in the course of the game. The boy actually turns into a bear. And when the sisters see this, they are truly terrified and they run for their lives, the bear after them. They pass the stump of a tree, and the tree speaks to them and says, "If you will climb up on me I will save you."
So the little girls scamper on top of the tree stump. And as they do so, it begins to rise into the air. The bear comes to kill them but they're beyond its reach. And it rears up and scores the bark all around with its claws. The story ends, the girls are borne into the sky and they become the stars of the Big Dipper. It's a wonderful story because it accounts for the rock, Devils Tower, this monolith that rises nearly a thousand feet into the air, and it also relates man to the stars.
Read the whole paper here: Mythology paper full text
Saturday, October 17, 2009
Mythology posts
As some of you know, I've been taking a Mythology course at DMACC this fall. A large fraction of the course is dedicated to online discussion questions. My responses to date have been posted. I've also reproduced a summary of each myth to facilitate discussion. Let me know what you think!
Medea II: Marry Medea?
Regarding Medea: If you are female, would you marry Jason? Why or why not? If you are a male, would you marry Medea? Why or why not? Cite specifics from the text to support your response but then offer the reader your gut feeling about either Jason or Medea. Your gut feeling does not need to be substantiated.
Medea is such a rich, complex character. If Euripides was interested in psychological realism, he certainly succeeds with conflicted, magical, magnificent Medea. Is she wife material, however? I have been married for seven years now, so I have a real flesh-and-blood woman as a point of reference.
In my view, character is everything when considering with whom to spend your life. Medea exhibits strengths and weaknesses on this point. Her fierce loyalty to Jason is on display throughout "Jason and the Golden Fleece" and "Medea." She is willing to leave her home in Colchis to become "a stranger in a strange land" in Hellas (197). All she asks is that Jason give her his word that he will remember her help in capturing the Golden Fleece (197). When Aeetes threatens the Argo, Medea is willing to sacrifice her own brother to save Jason: "For we must push little Apsyrtus into the grasping hands of Thanatos!" (216). Endlessly resourceful, Medea disguises herself as a priest of Artemis in order to help Jason remove Pelias from the throne of Iolcus (221).
Medea asks for only one thing from Jason in exchange for all of this: faithfulness. This is, of course, too much to ask for the supremely fickle Jason. When Jason breaks his wedding vow to marry Glauce, he unleashes the darker side of Medea's character (227). Suddenly, Medea's love turns to hate. She cannot bear to be mocked: "For I cannot let Jason abuse me! Or he will laugh at me ... And wherever I walk upon Mother Gaea, I will hear it mock me." (237). Medea then turns all her considerable creativity and power towards making Jason suffer. First, she murders Glauce and King Creon (239). Then, to leave Jason utterly alone in the world and despite the protests of a mother's heart, she kills her sons as well (239).
While I admire Medea's courage and loyalty, I would be afraid to marry someone capable of "such reckless hate" (Tolkien, "The Two Towers"). Though I like to believe that I would never betray Medea like Jason did, everyone makes mistakes. Forgiveness is essential to any healthy relationship, especially a marriage.
My gut feeling is that Medea is neither completely good nor completely evil; she is simply human. She is truly one of us.
Medea is such a rich, complex character. If Euripides was interested in psychological realism, he certainly succeeds with conflicted, magical, magnificent Medea. Is she wife material, however? I have been married for seven years now, so I have a real flesh-and-blood woman as a point of reference.
In my view, character is everything when considering with whom to spend your life. Medea exhibits strengths and weaknesses on this point. Her fierce loyalty to Jason is on display throughout "Jason and the Golden Fleece" and "Medea." She is willing to leave her home in Colchis to become "a stranger in a strange land" in Hellas (197). All she asks is that Jason give her his word that he will remember her help in capturing the Golden Fleece (197). When Aeetes threatens the Argo, Medea is willing to sacrifice her own brother to save Jason: "For we must push little Apsyrtus into the grasping hands of Thanatos!" (216). Endlessly resourceful, Medea disguises herself as a priest of Artemis in order to help Jason remove Pelias from the throne of Iolcus (221).
Medea asks for only one thing from Jason in exchange for all of this: faithfulness. This is, of course, too much to ask for the supremely fickle Jason. When Jason breaks his wedding vow to marry Glauce, he unleashes the darker side of Medea's character (227). Suddenly, Medea's love turns to hate. She cannot bear to be mocked: "For I cannot let Jason abuse me! Or he will laugh at me ... And wherever I walk upon Mother Gaea, I will hear it mock me." (237). Medea then turns all her considerable creativity and power towards making Jason suffer. First, she murders Glauce and King Creon (239). Then, to leave Jason utterly alone in the world and despite the protests of a mother's heart, she kills her sons as well (239).
While I admire Medea's courage and loyalty, I would be afraid to marry someone capable of "such reckless hate" (Tolkien, "The Two Towers"). Though I like to believe that I would never betray Medea like Jason did, everyone makes mistakes. Forgiveness is essential to any healthy relationship, especially a marriage.
My gut feeling is that Medea is neither completely good nor completely evil; she is simply human. She is truly one of us.
Medea I: Medea's Alter Ego
By our standards, Medea's behavior is understandable but grossly unacceptable. If Medea were a modern American woman, what would she be? Why? Would she have a profession or vocation? If so, what?
Medea is clearly a conflicted, complex character. Though she ultimately kills her brother and her children, their deaths exact a terrible personal cost. The decision to kill her children is excruciating. Euripides pulls back the curtain of her mind to reveal the battle between a mother's devotion to her children and a jilted lover's lust for revenge. "Why should I deprive them of their growing up, their wedding, and their happy times? For they carry no blame upon their small shoulders! And surely this unspeakable deed would hurt me twice as much as it would hurt Jason!" (237). Medea will not be mocked: "Everyone will laugh at me!" (237). In the end, her anger drives her to kill her own children (239).
Jody Foster as an American woman who understands Medea's need for vengeance. While I have no reason believe that Foster herself is vengeful, her performance in the 2007 film "The Brave One" convinced me that she would understand Medea. Foster played an NPR-inspired radio host named Erica Bain. Bain and her boyfriend are brutally beaten by New York thugs. Her boyfriend eventually succumbs to his injuries and dies. Before becoming a victim of crime, Foster's character was an idealistic, sunny optimist. Instead of retreating from the world, Bain finds a "stranger inside her" that longs for only one thing: revenge. Erica buys a gun and pursues a life of vigilante justice.
Erica Bain and Medea eventually get revenge on the people who wronged them. Neither character finds healing or solace in their vengeance, however. Erica Bain is asked how a person recovers from being the victim of a crime so terrible. Her response is, "You don't."
Medea is clearly a conflicted, complex character. Though she ultimately kills her brother and her children, their deaths exact a terrible personal cost. The decision to kill her children is excruciating. Euripides pulls back the curtain of her mind to reveal the battle between a mother's devotion to her children and a jilted lover's lust for revenge. "Why should I deprive them of their growing up, their wedding, and their happy times? For they carry no blame upon their small shoulders! And surely this unspeakable deed would hurt me twice as much as it would hurt Jason!" (237). Medea will not be mocked: "Everyone will laugh at me!" (237). In the end, her anger drives her to kill her own children (239).
Jody Foster as an American woman who understands Medea's need for vengeance. While I have no reason believe that Foster herself is vengeful, her performance in the 2007 film "The Brave One" convinced me that she would understand Medea. Foster played an NPR-inspired radio host named Erica Bain. Bain and her boyfriend are brutally beaten by New York thugs. Her boyfriend eventually succumbs to his injuries and dies. Before becoming a victim of crime, Foster's character was an idealistic, sunny optimist. Instead of retreating from the world, Bain finds a "stranger inside her" that longs for only one thing: revenge. Erica buys a gun and pursues a life of vigilante justice.
Erica Bain and Medea eventually get revenge on the people who wronged them. Neither character finds healing or solace in their vengeance, however. Erica Bain is asked how a person recovers from being the victim of a crime so terrible. Her response is, "You don't."
Euripides' Medea
The following summary of Medea is due to SparkNotes.
Euripedes' Medea opens in a state of conflict. Jason has abandoned his wife, Medea, along with their two children. He hopes to advance his station by remarrying with Glauce, the daughter of Creon, king of Corinth, the Greek city where the play is set. All the events of play proceed out of this initial dilemma, and the involved parties become its central characters.
Outside the royal palace, a nurse laments the events that have lead to the present crisis. After a long series of trials and adventures, which ultimately forced Jason and Medea to seek exile in Corinth, the pair had settled down and established their family, achieving a degree of fame and respectability. Jason's recent abandonment of that family has crushed Medea emotionally, to the degree that she curses her own existence, as well as that of her two children.
Fearing a possible plot of revenge, Creon banishes Medea and her children from the city. After pleading for mercy, Medea is granted one day before she must leave, during which she plans to complete her quest for "justice"--at this stage in her thinking, the murder of Creon, Glauce, and Jason. Jason accuses Medea of overreacting. By voicing her grievances so publicly, she has endangered her life and that of their children. He claims that his decision to remarry was in everyone's best interest. Medea finds him spineless, and she refuses to accept his token offers of help.
Appearing by chance in Corinth, Aegeus, King of Athens, offers Medea sanctuary in his home city in exchange for her knowledge of certain drugs that can cure his sterility. Now guaranteed an eventual haven in Athens, Medea has cleared all obstacles to completing her revenge, a plan which grows to include the murder of her own children; the pain their loss will cause her does not outweigh the satisfaction she will feel in making Jason suffer.
For the balance of the play, Medea engages in a ruse; she pretends to sympathize with Jason (bringing him into her confidence) and offers his wife "gifts," a coronet and dress. Ostensibly, the gifts are meant to convince Glauce to ask her father to allow the children to stay in Corinth. The coronet and dress are actually poisoned, however, and their delivery causes Glauce's death. Seeing his daughter ravaged by the poison, Creon chooses to die by her side by dramatically embracing her and absorbing the poison himself.
A messenger recounts the gruesome details of these deaths, which Medea absorbs with cool attentiveness. Her earlier state of anxiety, which intensified as she struggled with the decision to commit infanticide, has now given way to an assured determination to fulfill her plans. Against the protests of the chorus, Medea murders her children and flees the scene in a dragon-pulled chariot provided by her grandfather, the Sun-God. Jason is left cursing his lot; his hope of advancing his station by abandoning Medea and marrying Glauce, the conflict which opened the play, has been annihilated, and everything he values has been lost through the deaths that conclude the tragedy.
Jason IV: Medea's Motivation
Medea is a conflicted character. She is torn between her feelings for Jason and her perceived duty to her father. Question: To what degree is she responsible for her actions?
The issue of whether or not Medea is responsible for her actions is central to understanding "Jason and the Golden Fleece." There are two possibilities. The first is that Medea is a puppet of the gods. In this case, "Jason" is really a story about how Hera exacts revenge on Pelias. The second is that Medea, while influenced by Hera, ultimately chooses to side with Jason out of love. In this case, "Jason" is about Medea's devotion.
The answer to this question hinges on whether or not the gods are irresistible. Dr. Rosenberg addresses this question in the introduction to the "Illiad." She indicates, "Even though the gods may give advice or help, a mortal's actions in response to any given situation are determined by his or her own personality and ability. Consequently, a mortal's fate is created by the interaction between personality and situation. Because the Homeric gods are not all-powerful, mortals can be dignified, morally responsible, and important. The world of ancient Greece contains no puppets" (123).
Let's look at the text of "Jason" to see if there is a reading that supports this view.
In fairness, Medea's love for Jason begins with divine interference when Eros shoots her with an arrow (180). After this, the relationship between the actions of the gods and of Medea becomes more complicated. On pages 186 and 187, Medea wrestles with the choice to help Jason or to remain loyal to her father. She becomes so distraught that she even considers suicide (186). Hera intervenes and renews her will to live. Medea, however, makes the choice to "save the man I love" (187).
Ultimately, Medea's own skills and talents enable her to aid Jason in his quest. She uses her magic to dismember Jason (191), her herbs protect him when he fights the bulls (193), and her spell sends the dragon to sleep (199). Without Medea's active, willful participation, the quest for the Fleece would have ended in disaster. In summary, I believe that while Medea is influenced by the gods, her most important choices remain her own.
The issue of whether or not Medea is responsible for her actions is central to understanding "Jason and the Golden Fleece." There are two possibilities. The first is that Medea is a puppet of the gods. In this case, "Jason" is really a story about how Hera exacts revenge on Pelias. The second is that Medea, while influenced by Hera, ultimately chooses to side with Jason out of love. In this case, "Jason" is about Medea's devotion.
The answer to this question hinges on whether or not the gods are irresistible. Dr. Rosenberg addresses this question in the introduction to the "Illiad." She indicates, "Even though the gods may give advice or help, a mortal's actions in response to any given situation are determined by his or her own personality and ability. Consequently, a mortal's fate is created by the interaction between personality and situation. Because the Homeric gods are not all-powerful, mortals can be dignified, morally responsible, and important. The world of ancient Greece contains no puppets" (123).
Let's look at the text of "Jason" to see if there is a reading that supports this view.
In fairness, Medea's love for Jason begins with divine interference when Eros shoots her with an arrow (180). After this, the relationship between the actions of the gods and of Medea becomes more complicated. On pages 186 and 187, Medea wrestles with the choice to help Jason or to remain loyal to her father. She becomes so distraught that she even considers suicide (186). Hera intervenes and renews her will to live. Medea, however, makes the choice to "save the man I love" (187).
Ultimately, Medea's own skills and talents enable her to aid Jason in his quest. She uses her magic to dismember Jason (191), her herbs protect him when he fights the bulls (193), and her spell sends the dragon to sleep (199). Without Medea's active, willful participation, the quest for the Fleece would have ended in disaster. In summary, I believe that while Medea is influenced by the gods, her most important choices remain her own.
Jason III: Faust
Pelias, Phineus, Jason, and later, Medea all become victims of the behavior pattern that Phineus described to the Argonauts (176). Give at least one example of a situation from popular culture where a person becomes the victim of the pattern of arete, hubris, ate, and nemesis.
The mythology surrounding the character Faust has enjoyed a number of pop culture incarnations, including the 1967 film "Dr. Faustus" starring Richard Burton. The film is based on Christopher Marlowe's "The Tragical History of Dr. Faustus" and provides us with a perfect example of the cycle of arete, hubris, ate, and nemesis. In my view, Marlowe's play is one of the most under appreciated works of English literature. Faust is a brilliant man who seems to have mastered many disciplines (arete). The story opens with Faust rejecting the limitations of traditional sources of knowledge: "Aristotle on logic, Galen on medicine, the Byzantine emperor Justinian on law, and the Bible on religion" (SparkNotes, Doctor Faustus). Faust is not satisfied with the knowledge available to unaided Man and turns to black magic (hubris). Listen to Faust himself:
"All things that move between the quiet poles
Shall be at my command: emperors and kings
Are but obeyed in their several provinces,
Nor can they raise the wind, or rend the clouds;
But his dominion that exceeds in this [sorcery]
Stretcheth as far as doth the mind of man:
A sound magician is a mighty god" (Marlowe 994).
Faust's thirst of the power of knowledge is so great that he sells his soul to Lucifer in exchange for the service of a devil named Mephastophilis for twenty-four years (ate). Mephastophilis reveals the hidden nature of the Universe, but refuses to tell Faust who created the world. Faust travels the world, but instead of using his new found knowledge for the benefit of mankind, is reduced to playing practical jokes (SparkNotes, Doctor Faustus). As the end of the twenty-four years approaches, Faust begins to regret his choice. He begs for deliverance: "O God, if thou wilt not have mercy on my soul, Yet for Christ's sake, whose blood hath ransomed me" (Marlowe, 1022). In the end, a group of devils drag Faust of to hell (nemesis). Here are his chilling last words: "Ugly hell gape not! Come not, Lucifer! I'll burn my books-ah, Mephastophilis!" (Marlowe, 1023).
Works Cited
"Doctor Faustus." SparkNotes.
Marlowe, Christopher. "The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus." The Norton Anthology of English Literature. Seventh Edition. Vol. I. New York: Norton, 2000.
The mythology surrounding the character Faust has enjoyed a number of pop culture incarnations, including the 1967 film "Dr. Faustus" starring Richard Burton. The film is based on Christopher Marlowe's "The Tragical History of Dr. Faustus" and provides us with a perfect example of the cycle of arete, hubris, ate, and nemesis. In my view, Marlowe's play is one of the most under appreciated works of English literature. Faust is a brilliant man who seems to have mastered many disciplines (arete). The story opens with Faust rejecting the limitations of traditional sources of knowledge: "Aristotle on logic, Galen on medicine, the Byzantine emperor Justinian on law, and the Bible on religion" (SparkNotes, Doctor Faustus). Faust is not satisfied with the knowledge available to unaided Man and turns to black magic (hubris). Listen to Faust himself:
"All things that move between the quiet poles
Shall be at my command: emperors and kings
Are but obeyed in their several provinces,
Nor can they raise the wind, or rend the clouds;
But his dominion that exceeds in this [sorcery]
Stretcheth as far as doth the mind of man:
A sound magician is a mighty god" (Marlowe 994).
Faust's thirst of the power of knowledge is so great that he sells his soul to Lucifer in exchange for the service of a devil named Mephastophilis for twenty-four years (ate). Mephastophilis reveals the hidden nature of the Universe, but refuses to tell Faust who created the world. Faust travels the world, but instead of using his new found knowledge for the benefit of mankind, is reduced to playing practical jokes (SparkNotes, Doctor Faustus). As the end of the twenty-four years approaches, Faust begins to regret his choice. He begs for deliverance: "O God, if thou wilt not have mercy on my soul, Yet for Christ's sake, whose blood hath ransomed me" (Marlowe, 1022). In the end, a group of devils drag Faust of to hell (nemesis). Here are his chilling last words: "Ugly hell gape not! Come not, Lucifer! I'll burn my books-ah, Mephastophilis!" (Marlowe, 1023).
Works Cited
"Doctor Faustus." SparkNotes.
Marlowe, Christopher. "The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus." The Norton Anthology of English Literature. Seventh Edition. Vol. I. New York: Norton, 2000.
Jason II: Medea the Hero
Who is more responsible for Jason's success in his quest for the Golden Fleece: Medea or Jason?
Medea is the real reason for the success of the quest for the Golden Fleece. Despite her fear of dishonoring her family, Medea decides to help Jason (186-187). Jason is able to withstand the fire of the bulls' breath because of the herbs the Medea provides (193). Jason possesses the strength to yoke the bulls and plow the field because of Medea's magic (191). Jason tricks the "earth-born warriors" into killing each other because of Medea's advice to throw a stone into their midst (195). Finally, Medea warns Jason of Aeetes' treachery and leads him to the Golden Fleece (197). Without Medea's skills and courage, the quest would have been a dismal failure.
Medea is the real reason for the success of the quest for the Golden Fleece. Despite her fear of dishonoring her family, Medea decides to help Jason (186-187). Jason is able to withstand the fire of the bulls' breath because of the herbs the Medea provides (193). Jason possesses the strength to yoke the bulls and plow the field because of Medea's magic (191). Jason tricks the "earth-born warriors" into killing each other because of Medea's advice to throw a stone into their midst (195). Finally, Medea warns Jason of Aeetes' treachery and leads him to the Golden Fleece (197). Without Medea's skills and courage, the quest would have been a dismal failure.
Jason I: The Secret to Jason's Success
Think of the monomyth (4.1). Jason's threshold crossing would be his dismemberment. The elixir theft would be his theft of the fleece. But, the narrative you read doesn't really emphasize these things. It emphasizes tests and helpers. Why? What is it about Jason that makes others quick to help him? Is it his looks (image)? His money? His character? His really big ship (image)? Some combination of these or other elements? Not even poor Heracles (image) had the kind of help Jason gets.
Jason does not rely upon himself alone to accomplish his quest for the Fleece. The key to Jason's success is his ability to delegate tasks to others and convince them to accomplish their task. I don't believe that he is successful in this endeavor because of any particular personal quality. The crew of the Argo simply understands that they all need to contribute something for them to accomplish the quest. For instance, no particular rhetorical skill or personal charm convinces the sons of Boreas to attack the harpies. They simply have the skills to do the job. "And it came to pass that, swift as the wind, the sons of Boreas rose to meet the Harpies" (177). Later, Medea would not have helped Jason if Aphrodite had not directed Eros to cause Medea to fall in love with Jason. "'Foam-born Aphrodite must have her son, Eros - whose love-inspiring arrows flood even the hearts of the Olympian gods with fear - aim his bow at King Aeetes' maiden daughter'" (178). Jason simply benefits from Hera's desire to punish Pelias.
Jason does not rely upon himself alone to accomplish his quest for the Fleece. The key to Jason's success is his ability to delegate tasks to others and convince them to accomplish their task. I don't believe that he is successful in this endeavor because of any particular personal quality. The crew of the Argo simply understands that they all need to contribute something for them to accomplish the quest. For instance, no particular rhetorical skill or personal charm convinces the sons of Boreas to attack the harpies. They simply have the skills to do the job. "And it came to pass that, swift as the wind, the sons of Boreas rose to meet the Harpies" (177). Later, Medea would not have helped Jason if Aphrodite had not directed Eros to cause Medea to fall in love with Jason. "'Foam-born Aphrodite must have her son, Eros - whose love-inspiring arrows flood even the hearts of the Olympian gods with fear - aim his bow at King Aeetes' maiden daughter'" (178). Jason simply benefits from Hera's desire to punish Pelias.
Jason and the Golden Fleece
The following is a summary of Edith Hamilton's take on Jason and the Golden Fleece by Apollonius of Rhodes (SparkNotes).
Hamilton’s account of the Golden Fleece comes from Apollonius of Rhodes, a Greek poet from about 300 b.c. Athamas, a king, gets tired of his first wife, Nephele, and marries a second, Ino. Ino wants Nephele’s son, Phrixus, out of the way so her own son can inherit the throne. Hermes sends a flying golden ram to rescue Phrixus and his sister, Helle, who falls off the ram and dies. Phrixus safely reaches the land of Colchis, where he sacrifices the ram to Zeus and gives its skin—the Golden Fleece—to Colchis’s king, Aetes.
Meanwhile, a man named Pelias has usurped the throne of Phrixus’s uncle, a Greek king. Jason, the deposed king’s son, grows up and returns to reclaim the throne. En route to Pelias’s kingdom, Jason loses a sandal. Pelias is afraid when he sees Jason approach, as an oracle has told him that he will be overthrown by a stranger wearing only one sandal. The wicked Pelias pretends to acquiesce but says that the gods have told him that the Golden Fleece must be retrieved for the kingdom first. This is a lie—Pelias assumes that anyone sent on that dangerous journey will never come back. Jason, intrigued by the challenge, assembles a remarkable group of heroes to help him, including Hercules, Theseus, Peleus, and Orpheus. Their ship is named the Argo, so the group is called the Argonauts.
The Argonauts face many challenges on the way to Colchis. They first meet the fierce women of Lemnos, who have killed their men, but find them atypically kind. Hercules leaves the crew, and the Argonauts meet an oracle, Phineus. The sons of Boreas, the North Wind, help Phineus by driving off some terrible Harpies who foul his food whenever he tries to eat. Phineus gives the Argonauts information that helps them pass safely through their next challenge—the Symplegades, gigantic rocks that smash together when a ship sail through them. After narrowly avoiding conflict with the Amazons, bloody women warriors, and passing by the chained Prometheus, the Argonauts finally arrive at Colchis.
Though more trials await here, Hera and Aphrodite help Jason. Like Pelias, Aetes pretends to want to give Jason the Fleece but first demands that he complete two tasks that are designed to kill him. Aphrodite sends Cupid to make Aetes’s daughter, a witch named Medea, fall in love with Jason and help him through the tasks. The first challenge is to yoke two fierce magical bulls with hooves of bronze and breath of fire, and Medea gives Jason an ointment that makes him invincible. The second task is to use the bulls to plow a field and sow it with dragon’s teeth, which causes armed men to spring up from the earth and attack Jason. Medea tells him that if he throws a rock in the middle of the armed men, they will attack each other, not him. After Jason’s success, Aetes plots to kill the Argonauts at night, but Medea again intercedes, warning Jason and enabling him to steal the Fleece by putting its guardian serpent to sleep. Medea joins the Argonauts and flees back to Greece. On the way home, she commits the ultimate act of love for Jason: to help evade the ship’s pursuers, she kills her own brother, Apsyrtus.
On the way home, the Argonauts pass more challenges, including safely navigating Scylla, the dreaded rock; Charybdis, the whirlpool; and Talus, the giant bronze man. Upon returning, Jason finds that Pelias has killed his father and that his mother has died of sadness. Jason and Medea plot revenge—Medea convinces Pelias’s daughters that they will restore Pelias to youth if they kill him, chop him up, and put the pieces into her magic pot. Out of love for their father, they slice him to bits, but Medea leaves the city, taking her magic pot with her after first restoring Jason’s father to life.
Medea and Jason have two children, but Jason leaves out of personal ambition to marry the daughter of the king of Corinth, who banishes Medea and her children. Infuriated by the unsympathetic Jason, Medea enacts a terrible revenge, sending her two sons with a beautiful magic robe as a gift for Jason’s new bride. When the girl dons the robe, it bursts into flame, consuming her and the king as he rushes to her. Medea then kills the two sons she had with Jason and flies away on a magic chariot. This tragic final chapter in the story of Jason and Medea is the subject of Euripides’ play, Medea.
Iliad II: The End of the Iliad
Why does Homer chose to end The Iliad so abruptly? (Hint: what's the main focus or idea of the work?). How would you have concluded it?
The Illiad focuses on the choice that Achilles faces between a long, uneventful life and a short, glorious one. Achilles' rage is integral to the decisions he makes with respect to life and glory. Let's examine two instances of Achilles rage and how they affect his decisions. First, he refuses to fight for the Greeks after Agamemnon forces him to give up Briseis, his prize of honor. "'Yet now,' Achilles continued, 'you threaten to take away my prize of honor, which I earned and which the Greeks gave to me. Whenever I sack a town, my prize is my own. So now I will return to my homeland. I refuse to stay here, dishonored, on order to win greater wealth for you (129)!'" His rage indirectly causes the death of his friend Patroclus. Achilles' rage incites him to enter the battle to avenge Patroclus. "'I will go forth to slay Hector, who killed the man I loved. I will accept my fate whenever Zeus and the other immortals bring it upon me. Until then, may I win great fame and glory, and may every Trojan realize that the greatest of the Greeks no longer remains apart from battle'" (145). Ultimately, Achilles chooses to quench his thirst for revenge, defy fate, and garner glory in exchange for his life.
By telling the story of Achilles' rage, Homer adds to Achilles' glory by immortalizing him. Generations of people in the West have heard his story. By ending the Illiad abruptly, without a lengthy denouement, the listener is left with the memory of Achilles as a vengeful, conquering hero. This is Homer's tribute to a Greek among Greeks. As a modern, I would probably have ended the Illiad with the account of Achilles' death or the fall of Troy. While this ending might be more satisfying as a conclusion, it is less effective in glorifying the Greek ideal of a warrior.
The Illiad focuses on the choice that Achilles faces between a long, uneventful life and a short, glorious one. Achilles' rage is integral to the decisions he makes with respect to life and glory. Let's examine two instances of Achilles rage and how they affect his decisions. First, he refuses to fight for the Greeks after Agamemnon forces him to give up Briseis, his prize of honor. "'Yet now,' Achilles continued, 'you threaten to take away my prize of honor, which I earned and which the Greeks gave to me. Whenever I sack a town, my prize is my own. So now I will return to my homeland. I refuse to stay here, dishonored, on order to win greater wealth for you (129)!'" His rage indirectly causes the death of his friend Patroclus. Achilles' rage incites him to enter the battle to avenge Patroclus. "'I will go forth to slay Hector, who killed the man I loved. I will accept my fate whenever Zeus and the other immortals bring it upon me. Until then, may I win great fame and glory, and may every Trojan realize that the greatest of the Greeks no longer remains apart from battle'" (145). Ultimately, Achilles chooses to quench his thirst for revenge, defy fate, and garner glory in exchange for his life.
By telling the story of Achilles' rage, Homer adds to Achilles' glory by immortalizing him. Generations of people in the West have heard his story. By ending the Illiad abruptly, without a lengthy denouement, the listener is left with the memory of Achilles as a vengeful, conquering hero. This is Homer's tribute to a Greek among Greeks. As a modern, I would probably have ended the Illiad with the account of Achilles' death or the fall of Troy. While this ending might be more satisfying as a conclusion, it is less effective in glorifying the Greek ideal of a warrior.
Iliad I: Achilles and Glory
If, like Achilles, you could choose between a short life with eternal fame or a long life with no lasting recognition, which would you choose? Why?
I would rather live a short, glorious life than endure a long, uneventful existence. Gandalf's description of the effect of the Ring on mortals in the Lord of the Rings is a perfect example of the life I would like to avoid. "A mortal, Frodo, who keeps one of the Great Rings, does not die, but he does not grow or obtain more life, he merely continues, until at last every minute is a weariness." I couldn't stand to simply continue, and neither could Achilles. He needs something to live for. When Hector kills Patroclus, Achilles' only reason for enduring a safe, inglorious life was destroyed. Only then would he enter the battle to fight for the Greeks. "I will go forth to slay Hector, who killed the man I loved. I will accept my fate whenever Zeus and the other immortals bring it upon me. Until then, may I win great fame and glory, and may every Trojan realize that the greatest of the Greeks no longer remains apart from battle" (145). Achilles is unmoved by the opportunity to win fame for the Greeks in exchange for Agamemnon's gifts (140). He will only cover himself in glory to avenge his friend.
Works Cited
Rosenberg, Donna. World Mythology. NTC Publishing Group: Chicago, 1999.
Tolkien, J.R.R. The Fellowship of the Ring. George Allen & Unwin: London, 1954.
I would rather live a short, glorious life than endure a long, uneventful existence. Gandalf's description of the effect of the Ring on mortals in the Lord of the Rings is a perfect example of the life I would like to avoid. "A mortal, Frodo, who keeps one of the Great Rings, does not die, but he does not grow or obtain more life, he merely continues, until at last every minute is a weariness." I couldn't stand to simply continue, and neither could Achilles. He needs something to live for. When Hector kills Patroclus, Achilles' only reason for enduring a safe, inglorious life was destroyed. Only then would he enter the battle to fight for the Greeks. "I will go forth to slay Hector, who killed the man I loved. I will accept my fate whenever Zeus and the other immortals bring it upon me. Until then, may I win great fame and glory, and may every Trojan realize that the greatest of the Greeks no longer remains apart from battle" (145). Achilles is unmoved by the opportunity to win fame for the Greeks in exchange for Agamemnon's gifts (140). He will only cover himself in glory to avenge his friend.
Works Cited
Rosenberg, Donna. World Mythology. NTC Publishing Group: Chicago, 1999.
Tolkien, J.R.R. The Fellowship of the Ring. George Allen & Unwin: London, 1954.
The Iliad
The following summary is due to SparkNotes.
Nine years after the start of the Trojan War, the Greek (“Achaean”) army sacks Chryse, a town allied with Troy. During the battle, the Achaeans capture a pair of beautiful maidens, Chryseis and Briseis. Agamemnon, the leader of the Achaean forces, takes Chryseis as his prize, and Achilles, the Achaeans’ greatest warrior, claims Briseis. Chryseis’s father, Chryses, who serves as a priest of the god Apollo, offers an enormous ransom in return for his daughter, but Agamemnon refuses to give Chryseis back. Chryses then prays to Apollo, who sends a plague upon the Achaean camp.
After many Achaeans die, Agamemnon consults the prophet Calchas to determine the cause of the plague. When he learns that Chryseis is the cause, he reluctantly gives her up but then demands Briseis from Achilles as compensation. Furious at this insult, Achilles returns to his tent in the army camp and refuses to fight in the war any longer. He vengefully yearns to see the Achaeans destroyed and asks his mother, the sea-nymph Thetis, to enlist the services of Zeus, king of the gods, toward this end. The Trojan and Achaean sides have declared a cease-fire with each other, but now the Trojans breach the treaty and Zeus comes to their aid.
With Zeus supporting the Trojans and Achilles refusing to fight, the Achaeans suffer great losses. Several days of fierce conflict ensue, including duels between Paris and Menelaus and between Hector and Ajax. The Achaeans make no progress; even the heroism of the great Achaean warrior Diomedes proves fruitless. The Trojans push the Achaeans back, forcing them to take refuge behind the ramparts that protect their ships. The Achaeans begin to nurture some hope for the future when a nighttime reconnaissance mission by Diomedes and Odysseus yields information about the Trojans’ plans, but the next day brings disaster. Several Achaean commanders become wounded, and the Trojans break through the Achaean ramparts. They advance all the way up to the boundary of the Achaean camp and set fire to one of the ships. Defeat seems imminent, because without the ships, the army will be stranded at Troy and almost certainly destroyed.
Concerned for his comrades but still too proud to help them himself, Achilles agrees to a plan proposed by Nestor that will allow his beloved friend Patroclus to take his place in battle, wearing his armor. Patroclus is a fine warrior, and his presence on the battlefield helps the Achaeans push the Trojans away from the ships and back to the city walls. But the counterattack soon falters. Apollo knocks Patroclus’s armor to the ground, and Hector slays him. Fighting then breaks out as both sides try to lay claim to the body and armor. Hector ends up with the armor, but the Achaeans, thanks to a courageous effort by Menelaus and others, manage to bring the body back to their camp. When Achilles discovers that Hector has killed Patroclus, he fills with such grief and rage that he agrees to reconcile with Agamemnon and rejoin the battle. Thetis goes to Mount Olympus and persuades the god Hephaestus to forge Achilles a new suit of armor, which she presents to him the next morning. Achilles then rides out to battle at the head of the Achaean army.
Meanwhile, Hector, not expecting Achilles to rejoin the battle, has ordered his men to camp outside the walls of Troy. But when the Trojan army glimpses Achilles, it flees in terror back behind the city walls. Achilles cuts down every Trojan he sees. Strengthened by his rage, he even fights the god of the river Xanthus, who is angered that Achilles has caused so many corpses to fall into his streams. Finally, Achilles confronts Hector outside the walls of Troy. Ashamed at the poor advice that he gave his comrades, Hector refuses to flee inside the city with them. Achilles chases him around the city’s periphery three times, but the goddess Athena finally tricks Hector into turning around and fighting Achilles. In a dramatic duel, Achilles kills Hector. He then lashes the body to the back of his chariot and drags it across the battlefield to the Achaean camp. Upon Achilles’ arrival, the triumphant Achaeans celebrate Patroclus’s funeral with a long series of athletic games in his honor. Each day for the next nine days, Achilles drags Hector’s body in circles around Patroclus’s funeral bier.
At last, the gods agree that Hector deserves a proper burial. Zeus sends the god Hermes to escort King Priam, Hector’s father and the ruler of Troy, into the Achaean camp. Priam tearfully pleads with Achilles to take pity on a father bereft of his son and return Hector’s body. He invokes the memory of Achilles’ own father, Peleus. Deeply moved, Achilles finally relents and returns Hector’s corpse to the Trojans. Both sides agree to a temporary truce, and Hector receives a hero’s funeral.
Gilgamesh III: Pride
As a follow-up to DQ #3, please answer the following question: Have any of your strengths or skills mentioned in DQ#3 caused you to have excessive pride? Define pride. Also reference the Antaeus myth.
I define pride as the desire for fame, glory, or self-aggrandizement. The Homeric concept of hubris gives us insight into the dangers of pride. Dr. Rosenberg defines hubris as "excessive pride and arrogance" (122). Note the adjective excessive. Pride becomes a problem when it causes us to lose sight of our peers' humanity. This has been a problem for me in the past. As a fundamentally verbal person, I have sometimes used words to be excessively harsh. When others are less than tolerant with me it can lead to strained relationships. Antaeus never saw that his ability to draw strength from Gaea might leave him vulnerable. He was blind to the possibility of defeat. Like Antaeus, I sometimes forget that my greatest strength can also be my greatest weakness.
I define pride as the desire for fame, glory, or self-aggrandizement. The Homeric concept of hubris gives us insight into the dangers of pride. Dr. Rosenberg defines hubris as "excessive pride and arrogance" (122). Note the adjective excessive. Pride becomes a problem when it causes us to lose sight of our peers' humanity. This has been a problem for me in the past. As a fundamentally verbal person, I have sometimes used words to be excessively harsh. When others are less than tolerant with me it can lead to strained relationships. Antaeus never saw that his ability to draw strength from Gaea might leave him vulnerable. He was blind to the possibility of defeat. Like Antaeus, I sometimes forget that my greatest strength can also be my greatest weakness.
Gilgamesh II: Antaeus and Heritability
Antaeus (from the Heracles myth) receives his great physical strength from Gaea, his mother. What strengths do you possess? What skills or ability? From whom did you receive them?
Like Anteaus, who received strength from his mother, I received many gifts from my own parents. My father is a professor at Iowa State in Veterinary Medicine. He is a very clear, careful, and logical thinker. He is a disciplined, hardworking person who has a wide range of interests. Despite a demanding career, my Dad always made time for his family. I inherited some of his habits of mind, as well as his sense of the importance of spending time with the ones you love. For a scientist, my Dad is unusually verbal, a trait that his son also exhibits. I find great satisfaction in teaching and spending time in community with other artists and intellectuals.
My mother was always very available, nurturing, and amiable. She was a homemaker for most of her life and, indeed, made a very good home for my sister and me. One of the greatest gifts my mother gave me was a love of reading. I can remember many an evening when the whole family would sit in the living room and listen to hear read. My Mom also instilled in me the idea that other people were important and worth treating well. My mother’s relentless kindness is a habit I seek to incorporate into my own life. Like Antaeus, who “immediately became much stronger” (103-104) at his mother’s touch, my mother’s presence has been a great source of strength for me.
Like Anteaus, who received strength from his mother, I received many gifts from my own parents. My father is a professor at Iowa State in Veterinary Medicine. He is a very clear, careful, and logical thinker. He is a disciplined, hardworking person who has a wide range of interests. Despite a demanding career, my Dad always made time for his family. I inherited some of his habits of mind, as well as his sense of the importance of spending time with the ones you love. For a scientist, my Dad is unusually verbal, a trait that his son also exhibits. I find great satisfaction in teaching and spending time in community with other artists and intellectuals.
My mother was always very available, nurturing, and amiable. She was a homemaker for most of her life and, indeed, made a very good home for my sister and me. One of the greatest gifts my mother gave me was a love of reading. I can remember many an evening when the whole family would sit in the living room and listen to hear read. My Mom also instilled in me the idea that other people were important and worth treating well. My mother’s relentless kindness is a habit I seek to incorporate into my own life. Like Antaeus, who “immediately became much stronger” (103-104) at his mother’s touch, my mother’s presence has been a great source of strength for me.
Gilgamesh I: Gilgamesh's Courage
Does Gilgamesh's journey in search of immortality make him appear cowardly because he fears death, or strong because he attempts to change his fate?
Gilgamesh displays great courage in his quest for immortality. The fear of death is a universal obstacle for human beings. Gilgamesh refuses to accept his own mortality. Many of the people he meets on the way try to discourage him. For example, Siduri tells him, "So, Gilgamesh, accept your fate" (47). Gilgamesh just keeps going. He faces many dangers as he searches for immortality. He faces the tunnel of Mount Mashu and crosses the Waters of Death. While true immortality is denied him by the gods, Gilgamesh's courage is rewarded with a lesser kind of immortality, fame.
Gilgamesh displays great courage in his quest for immortality. The fear of death is a universal obstacle for human beings. Gilgamesh refuses to accept his own mortality. Many of the people he meets on the way try to discourage him. For example, Siduri tells him, "So, Gilgamesh, accept your fate" (47). Gilgamesh just keeps going. He faces many dangers as he searches for immortality. He faces the tunnel of Mount Mashu and crosses the Waters of Death. While true immortality is denied him by the gods, Gilgamesh's courage is rewarded with a lesser kind of immortality, fame.
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