The Magnificent Seven (1960) written by William Roberts takes the idea of seven great warriors in Aeschylus's Seven Against Thebes and creates a modern movie demonstration where these men face against immeasurable odds in order to reestablish power to the rightful leader. In both works, the previous leaders of the town are seeking men in order to fight for power of the town. In The Magnificent Seven, the town elder sends a few men from his town in order to find men to fend off the bandits that have taken control of the town by stealing their food. This relates to the plot of Seven Against Thebes, where Polynices travels to Argos in order to find men to regain control of Thebes that has been wrongfully taken control of by Polynices’s brother …show more content…
The youngest of the men then signals the alarm to call out all of the villagers. As the villagers arrive, the gunmen scolds all the villagers and tells them to not be afraid of them, but to rejoice their coming and treat them as saviors. This scene relates to the scene in Seven Against Thebes where Eteocles scolds the chorus for being afraid of the opposing army. In both works, the villagers are afraid of the seven and believe they may destroy the city. While in Seven Against Thebes, the seven newcomers are besieging the town, both seven are seeking to restore the proper ruler to the town and not to threaten the villagers. Although, a key difference in this scene is the person whom scolds the villagers. While in The Magnificent Seven, one of the seven scolds the villagers to accept the seven as their saviors, in Seven Against Thebes the leader of the occupying army, Eteocles, instructs the villagers to keep quiet because they are not helping the army. Although the speeches are different, both of the villagers come to the conclusion that the seven are not helping in the end, as in The Magnificent Seven the villagers allow the bandits to attack the seven and in Seven Against Thebes, the villagers believe the body of Polynices should not be buried because he attacked the
The opening events of the play Antigone, written by Sophocles, quickly establish the central conflict between Antigone and Creon. Creon has decreed that the traitor Polynices, who tried to burn down the temple of gods in Thebes, must not be given proper burial. Antigone is the only one who will speak against this decree and insists on the sacredness of family and a symbolic burial for her brother. Whereas Antigone sees no validity in a law that disregards the duty family members owe one another, Creon's point of view is exactly opposite. He has no use for anyone who places private ties above the common good, as he proclaims firmly to the Chorus and the audience as he revels in his victory over Polynices. He sees Polynices as an enemy to the state because he attacked his brother. Creon's first speech, which is dominated by words such as "authority” and "law”, shows the extent to which Creon fixates on government and law as the supreme authority. Between Antigone and Creon there can be no compromise—they both find absolute validity in the respective loyalties they uphold.
Have you ever noticed how all heros have some similar characteristics or adventures? In The Hero’s Journey it talks about the characteristics that heroes share. These characteristics are The Separation, Initiation and Transformation, and The Return. Beowulf, written in 410-1066 by an anonymous person, is an old epic poem that tells the story about a hero named Beowulf that comes and helps Hrothgar and his Danes fight an evil, demonic monster named Grendel. Ironman, directed by Jon Favreau, is a newer movie that tells the adventure about the hero named Ironman. In this movie Iron Man protects New York City from an evil menace named Obadiah Stane. As the main ideas of Beowulf and Ironman already sound similar, their journeys are similar too.
...is because it is told by Xeones at the beginning of the story. The soldiers eventually know that they will fight the Persian army but they do not know that three hundred of them will be responsible for eventually defeating the Persian Empire and saving their country.
The Author throughout the story expresses a few main themes because he has been through war and had a negative experience with it. He tried to show you the negative aspects of it, and that there is no point of it. Throughout the book, by using expressions of the characters, he points about the gruesome psychological effects of war. Paul is very similar to the author since he too loathes the very existence of war, and sees no point of it. He even asks why there is war, and no one was able to give a proper answer to him. Because both of these people have experienced war, they unwillingly who it horrors compared whereas other who have never experienced was, glorify the moment.
There is a major change in the men in this novel. At first, they are excited to join the army in order to help their country. After they see the truth about war, they learn very important assets of life such as death, destruction, and suffering. These emotions are learned in places like training camp, battles, and hospitals. All the men, dead or alive, obtained knowledge on how to deal with death, which is very important to one’s life.
The soldiers from this novel represent actual feelings about brotherhoods, misperceptions of war and the pointless fighting. They provide clear examples of these with their experiences from war. From sitting on their “boxes” and chatting, to the realization of a friend inside an enemy, these soldiers have been able to see the realities of war and have shared it with the rest of the world. People can now see how horrid it is to be in a war and now they try at all costs to prevent war. War is bad, that’s all there is to it. Not much more you can say about it except that. When viewing the death of innocent people, the question is asked once again, is it really worth it?
The myths of David and Goliath and Odysseus and Polyphemos from the Hebrew bible and the Odyssey, respectively, are examples of the classic little hero versus large enemy story. From both the Hebrews and the Greeks we receive iterations of the same myth of how the gigantic antagonist belittles the seemingly frail young man simply because of his short stature compared to that of the antagonist’s, but in the end he is subdued by the young man with an uncommon method. Warrior Odysseus and shepherd boy David both encounter their own menacing giant, a Cyclops and the champion of Gath, who they bravely defeat which results in the increase of morale
Next, Polyphemus demonstrates hubris by believing that because he is a giant, he is unbeatable by anyone, even a god. This is shown when Odysseus meets Polyphemus and greets him with gifts, as it is a custom to show courtesy to hosts and guests alike, (unexpected or not). Failure to give gifts can lead to revenge from the gods. Odysseus tells Polyphemus this, but Polyphemus “would not let you go for fear of Zeus” because the Cyclopes “have more force by far ”. (205; 200) Polyphemus then angers the gods further by kidnapping and eating Odysseus’ men, both of which are considered extremely uncivil in Greek society. Polyphemus is so confident in his invulnerability he lets the men roam free inside the cave, a mistake that leads to his downfall.
Ancient and modern epics follow a very Western tradition by defining heroism as the accomplishments of individual heroes to further the good of the whole, which means some must lose if the hero or heroes are to win. In The Iliad, Achilles comes to his senses and leads his troops to defeat the Trojans. In The Odyssey, Odysseus returns to Ithaca after his long journey and restores order by defeating the suitors. In The Aeneid, Aeneas succeeds in foun...
“The Hills Like White Elephants” and “Babylon Revisited” are two different stories but still have many similarities. F. Scott Fitzgerald’s Babylon Revisited is a story that is very similar to what he himself went through in his life. Ernest Hemingway’s The Hills Like White Elephant is a story that has to do with the tough decision a couple will have to make that will either make or break their relationship.
Throughout the classical era, epics were commonly written narratives. They tell the stories of heroes and their journeys, and they were written with the intent to inspire the people who heard it and to display the beliefs of the writer and their people. A positive trait found in some epics is bravery. An example of this is found in the retelling of Theseus. When Theseus was on his journey to Athens, he came across a crew of bandits, and he killed them all, being sure to make sure that none of them were left to be able to ambush any other travelers (page 1029, Elements of Literature: Fourth Course - Theseus, Hamilton). Another example of bravery is seen at the end of the tale of Theseus, when he is merciful to the people of Thebes, and help
The Classical mythology contains tales and epics of the ancient Greek and roman literatures and myths. On the other hand, Homer’s two epic poems, the Iliad relates to the events of the Trojan War while the Odyssey details Odysseus expedition after the war. Homer’s epic poems, the Odyssey and the Iliad present a major part of ancient history as modern fictional heroic stories. In ancient Greek, heroes were humans who were depicted to possess superhuman abilities. A key example in the classical mythology is Akhilles who is later known in Homer’s Iliad as Achilles. Achilles is he greatest hero of the Iliad whereas Odysseus is the greatest hero of the Odyssey. The greatest heroes from classic mythology and the modern fictional hero’s stories are mortal, and subject to death. The Odyssey and the Iliad marks the beginning of modern fictional literature.
In the play the dominance of the gods is shown again and again. In the second stasimon after Tiresias leaves the chorus chants "Zeus and Apollo know, they know, the great masters of all the dark and depth of human life", reasserting the belief in the god's power. At the very opening of the play, the priest who converses with Oedipus says ". . . You cannot equal the gods, your children know that. . . ", proving again the Greek belief that the gods are the height of power. However, it is not only the people that revere the gods. After Oedipus blinds himself, Creon takes control of Thebes. When Oedipus asks to be banished, Creon replies "Not I. Only the gods can give you that", again acknowledging the higher authority of the gods.
The Epic of Gilgamesh parallels Biblical texts through the inclusion of the number seven. According to the Bible, God uses seven days to create the heavens and the earth. In this case, the number seven marks the beginning and end to creation. Similar to the Bible, the application of the number seven in The Epic of Gilgamesh marks the start and end to a journey. Gilgamesh and Enkidu seek the council of the goddess Ninsun before departing for the Forest of Cedar. While listening to Gilgamesh’s plans Andrew George translates, “Into the bath-house she went seven times,” (Tablet III 37). At the end of their journey, the Ishchalli tablet translates, “He [Gilgamesh] slew the ogre, the cedar’s guardian, the broken…As soon as he had slain all seven
Wicked, dishonorable, corrupt, villainous, malicious, and vicious all have one thing in common: they define evil. A person or a group of people that display these qualities are often to be defined as evil beings or creatures. Two people that have many of these characteristics developed within them are Iago from Shakespeare’s Othello and Lucifer from the Bible. Both Iago and Lucifer are developed with many “evil” qualities woven intricately into their character development. The representation of each “evil” characteristic gives them something they have in common allowing the description and portrayal of both Iago and Lucifer in literature show the audience they share common “evil” characteristics and that they lead to chaos and downfall.