Animal Imagery And The Classical Period Essay

Timothy Findley's The Wars describes the history of Robert Ross, a Second Lieutenant in the Canadian Army, during World War 1. The story of Robert Ross is a candid recollection of a young man coming of age in the midst of horror and confusion associated with the "war to end all wars". Presented in the form of an archivist trying to piece together the past from pictures and letters, the narrative account is full of rich imagery and deep meaning. The abundant animal imagery in the novel is used to parallel and reveal the character of Robert Ross, foreshadow the situations he finds himself in, and symbolize hope amidst war.

Part I: Women in Myth: 1). Myth Introduction, 2). Creation Myth, 3). The Olympian Goddesses: Virgins and Mothers, 4). Women in the poems of Homer, 5).

In The Iliad, Homer uses extensive figurative language to enhance the storytelling experience. While he uses intense imagery, multiple metaphors, and several similes, his most effective storytelling technique is his use of epic similes. Homer uses epic similes multiple times throughout the text—such as when he compares the Greeks to bees, the Trojans to sheep, and Paris to a stallion. Through these, he shows his support for the Greeks, and his belief that they are physically superior; his belief in the frailty of the Trojans; and his characterization of Paris as he races off towards the battle.

Don’t you love the idea that women are often portrayed as objects of sexual desire? In The Odyssey, written by Homer, men were put on a pedestal and were seen as the stronger gender. In the Ancient Greek society, once a woman became married, they would lose the little freedom they had and is under the control of their husband. The concept of gender roles was determined by the prevailing cultural norms. In addition, the way women are treated by men has an impact on the audience's view of women and men. Furthermore, the portrayal of women in The Odyssey not only shows how women are treated as an object in the culture of Ancient Greece, but it also reveals how the audience values women in the Greek Culture.

Robson also suggests that the use of similes throughout the poem holds an authority “I would be inclined to argue that these extended similes help to lend an air of authority since they are instrumental in persuading the audience that he has a detailed and subtle understanding of the events he is describing.” (Robson, 2014, p.253). The similes are used throughout the poem, portraying and describing events of the Trojan War, through Homer allowing him to display an “Authorial knowledge” (Robson, 2014, p.256). This again relates to the link between the authority held by the Ancient Greeks in their following and the belief of their historical past rather than myth or legend. These similes could have been lost in the translation of the Greek text along with the emotions expressed by its characters, but through careful translation the vivid imagery remains allowing the Iliad to be a canon of literature and Homer to be discussed still today, permitting authority to the

Homer’s two tales, the Iliad and the Odyssey, are both incredibly well known and widely taught across the world and at many different levels of education. Some call Homer the “greatest poet to ever live” and although this can be disputed his works truly speak for themselves and have braved the test of time quite well. This paper will cover who/whom Homer is as a person, or persons, and the time period of his writings, the truths versus the dramatizations of the Iliad and Odyssey, how the author’s perspective and writings portray ancient Greek culture, along with how the two of them interact with our culture today.

In The Iliad, Homer creates vivid imagery and scenes that attract and hold the reader’s attention for the entirety of the poem. He creates such imagery by means of his rich vocabulary and strong figurative language. However, it is through his utilization of extended similes that he is able to more accurately portray the scenes and people that would otherwise be incomprehensible to the reader by creating comparisons to nature. Using vivid imagery, Homer first describes how an ordinary fire tears though “a dry wood mountain” and “sets ablaze the depth of the timber” by the force of “the blistering wind” (Homer 20.490-94). This fire cannot be extinguished and mercilessly burns through all that it encounters.

The major principles and beliefs of Ancient Greece are grasped through their stories, those written by intellectual, philosophical men such as Ovid, Euripides, Homer, Sophocles, and many others. Their captivating tales consisted of tragedy, chaos, deaths, love affairs, and heroic deeds; however, they all had one minor flaw: the degrading attributes they gave to women, like that of infidelity and weakness. Their goals were to define men as heroic, value their strength and hard work, emphasize their status, and to imply a patriarchal society. However, blinded by these over-powering attributes, we easily disregard that women, too, in fact, showed signs of heroism and bravery. Their roles were essential, despite their depictions. Just like today, women were the reason for protection, affection, guiding, rationale, and of course, life.

Fiction helps introduce the lies and truths of other people’s minds, to help others learn about their own country, foreign places, and others eras. In addition, it often uses symbolism and imagery to allow people to know they are not alone in all the problems that human beings deal with, such as, with life and death, war and peace, or with love and rage. Knowing this helps a reader understand how Homer’s Iliad complicates the reality that comes with war, yet he successfully proves men cannot escape war because it is intoxicating and glorious. Homer creates the sense that war is an inevitable truth of mankind through his use of recurring imagery, by making his characters share the same tragic flaws, and by using other mythological stories to create parallels that correspond to this truth.

In the world of Ancient Greece, a large array of deities were worshipped. Each god had their own forms of identification in which they used to express themselves. This includes things such as personality, style, sexuality, and many other things. One of these forms of expression was gender. The Greeks seemed to focus more on the two typical genders, which are male and female. Some Greek gods seemed to play into certain gender roles, but others portrayed traits of the opposite sex. In this paper, I will be analysing the possibility that the Greeks believed the female and male genders were closely connected and that is why many of the gods are described with blended aspects of gender.

As said, in this paper we will examine the formulation of the female “Otherness” in Ancient Roman artistic representations along with literary sources, focusing on how women were represented and on how they were expected to behave through these male-designed

Across Greek Mythology, women are represented unusually. Diverse issues and problems haunt these women, pushing them to different extremes. In these myths, we often see women as either victims or the ones responsible for men’s demise. It could be argued that Greek mythology sheds light to every day female struggles, “even though so few options in life seem to have been available to Greek women the Greeks did not hesitate to give "equal time” to the description of the problems of human existence from a women’s point of view” (Lefkowitz, 1985 p. 215). Although we see women struggling with serious matters that affect their lives and those around them, it is important to understand that these women are written by men, it is men who are giving them

For this informative report I will attempt to point out the roles women and how they are viewed in ancient Greece. I will then show how these views are present in Homer’s "The Odyssey." How are women, goddess or mortal, conveyed in "The Odyssey?"

The role of women in ancient Greek life was insignificant compared to that of Greek men. A woman's job was to take care of the children and to cook and clean unless she had servants or slaves that would do it for her. Yet, in Greek mythology, women were often written as major characters. Well-known Greek plays contain many well-written, complex, female characters. Female individuals in Greek mythology were often seen as very powerful and fierce and were depicted by “her wits, her beauty, or her bad deeds.”

Gender inequality has been a controversial topic for numerous religions and cultures throughout history. Women were commonly regarded as the subservient gender, an idea that was no different in Ancient Greece. Throughout Greek mythology, women were considered inferior and troublesome symbols, while men were known for courage, leadership, and strength. While there is no argument of the flagrant sexism that is illustrated in Greek mythology, it can also be claimed that women were given a situated position of freedom, necessity, and power as well. Many popular Greek plays and myths contain several complexes and well described female characters. These goddesses themselves, partook the role of victim, heroine, and villain as it illustrated the diversity of characters in which women were portrayed and seen in both Ancient Greek society and mythology, allowing us to question “Were the women of Ancient Greek mythology equally represented as free and superior?” The creation of the Greek mythological universe, the creation of multi-gendered goddesses or deities, and the free and superior personalities accredited to women in Ancient Greek mythology to answer the question that women were fairly represented as powerful in Ancient Greek mythology.