Cannibals and Vampires in Aeschylus and O'Neill
Aeschylus and Eugene O'Neill have populated their trilogies with cannibals and vampires. Family members feed off one another both literally and figuratively. For the houses of both Agamemnon and Ezra Mannon, this bloodlust is insatiable and inherited, an inescapable curse. A family curse provides the dramatic force necessary to push characters toward pivotal actions and events. At the conclusion of both trilogies the curse is finally broken (or at the very least supplanted). While O'Neill and Aeschylus articulate the destructive and violent effects of the curse in similar terms, each playwright breaks the curse to achieve distinctly different thematic goals. The curse is described and decentered in order to be critiqued.
Both families attempt to consume themselves. A desire for revenge, to enforce a personal code of justice, carries the family curse from generation to generation. The house of Agamemnon is virtually born out of cannibalism. Tantalus, the founder of the house, is tormented eternally in Hades for feeding the gods the flesh of his sons Pelops. Much later, Agamemnon himself is held accountable for his father's cannibalism by Aegisthus. Aegisthus' desire for revenge is overshadowed only by Clytemnestra's thirst for her husband's blood. She speaks of his corpse as a sacrificial animal and likens his blood to wine. Compelled by Apollo, Orestes also carries the curse. He was fed by his mother's milk as a child but now he will only be satisfied with his mother's flesh. Only Orestes and Electra survive.
The Mannon family implodes, leaving only one survivor, Lavinia. The Mannon's self destructive hunger has a sexual tension absent in the Greek trilogy. This incestuous obsession reiterates the self perpetuating nature of their legacy of hatred and violence. They too feed off each others' suffering, yet there is an almost symbiotic need for each member to survive. More like vampires than cannibals, they drain their victims slowly over time. However, no Mannon thrives from this practice. As the action of the play unfolds Ezra and Christine are drained and cast aside. Their deaths, coupled with Orin's death which follows, bring greater suffering to Lavinia not release from responsibility as she might have hoped. Like Orestes she is both an agent and a victim of her family's curse.
Though achieved by different methods, judgment is passed in each play. The family curse will not claim another generation.
It is clear when reading the Aeneid that Virgil was familiar with the earlier works of Homer, The Iliad and The Odyssey. Virgil, more than just being aware of these earlier works, uses themes and ideas from these poems in his own. Far more than just copying scenes and ideas, Virgil expands and alters these themes to better tell his story, unique from the Greek originals he is drawing from. Virgil reveals what qualities he regards as heroic through the juxtaposition of Aeneas’ character and the negative aspects of the underworld. By looking at which qualities are esteemed and derided respectively, we can identify the qualities that Virgil would like to emphasize positively to his readers. Also, we can argue that Virgil is indeed trying to convey a particular set or morals to those readers. Beyond the underworld, it is possible to clearly identify these traits in the other sections of the poem where Virgil is borrowing and making his own alterations. Using these distinctions we can very clearly derive Virgil's morality from the poem, and see where Virgil's ideal characters veer away from the Greek ideal that came before.
The Nature of Gladiator Fights The Gladiatorial fights were noble in some ways, but in others seem to have the characteristics of the lowest form of entertainment. Gladiators were considered to fight with pride, they honoured their Gods with sacrifices and prayer for victory and they honoured their traditions and heritage, often being armed in weapons and armour, and having fighting styles originating from their country of origin. For example "the Gaul. " Glory and fame, were just two of the noble characteristics associated with gladiators, and they were dressed in the fashion of a noble soldier, often trained in the same way.
with you at all times. To become a Christian you must try and be the
and John 10: 43-44. He tells them "… if one of you wants to be great
Modern Day Disciples Following Jesus today is harder than it used to be, but modern day. disciples do not exist. Christians try to see Jesus in other people and they follow Jesus' example and teachings. An everyday Christian would try to see the good in everybody, try to forgive others when hurt or unhappy and apologise for things that they do wrong.
jeune Noir élevé par un Père Blanc a pris, l'habitude de tenir un journal. Dans le journal,
Menelaos' brother, Agamemnon, does not have a healthy family relationship. His family is held up to everyone as what a family should not be. It is ironic that the marriages of two brothers, Agamemnon and Menelaos, to two sisters, Helen and Clytemnestra, should be such exact opposite in their outcome. During his absence during the Trojan War, Agamemnon's wife, Clytemnestra, took a lover, Aigisthos. Upon Agamemnon's return, Clytemnestra kills him and his slave-mistress, Cassandra.
To be a true disciple of Jesus one must not disown or deny Jesus but
Discipleship is the process of making disciples; students or followers of someone (Oxford Dictionaries, 2016). Although discipleship existed long before Jesus, the disciple-making process as expressed by Jesus is the most impactful example for Christianity. The following is an analysis of discipleship as it was applied to Jesus’ ministry, Jesus’ discipleship model in light of modern leadership theories, and a discussion of what can be gleaned from Jesus’ discipleship model.
The Meaning of Discipleship In this piece of coursework I will be writing about the meaning of
In Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Laertes and Hamlet both lose a father by unnatural and sudden death. The unnatural death of the father is brought on by someone close to the son. When Laertes discovers that his father is dead, he is outraged. When Hamlet learns from the ghost of his father’s murder, he weeps, and promises action, though he delivers none. Both Laertes and Hamlet grieve deeply for their fathers, but Laertes acts upon this grief while Hamlet carefully plots his revenge and waits for the perfect moment to avenge King Hamlet. Laertes’ unplanned action causes his death by his own sword, while Hamlet’s apparent inaction finally gets him the revenge that Laertes has attempted. Though Laertes’ grief at his father’s death causes his action, Hamlet’s grief for his father has more power.
whole life to God and the Church. This is one major Cost of being a
Similar to the Gospel of John the Epistles of John catalogues a variety of themes on discipleship. However, four main qualities of discipleship are highlighted in his letters, these are witness, obedience, chosen, and indwelling. These four qualities are announced in the first four verses of 1 John 1 by the apostle explaining how disciples of Christ are witnesses to the glory of Christ through their experiences of sight, sound, and touch (1John 1:1). While being able to experience the greatness of Christ is important to the reality of disciples, John exclaims that experience is not enough and one must publicly “testify to it” (1John1:2) and “proclaim to [the world] the eternal life that was with the Father and was made visible to us” (1John1:2). Witnessing to the faith is an important quality also presented in 3
Sophocles is perhaps one of the greatest tragedians ever. Sophocles said that a man should never consider himself fortunate unless he can look back on his life and remember that life without pain. For Oedipus Rex, looking back is impossible to do without pain. This pain stems from his prideful life. Oedipus is aware that he alone is responsible for his actions. Oedipus freely chooses to pursue and accept his own life's destruction. Even though fate victimizes Oedipus, he is a tragic figure since his own heroic qualities, his loyalty to Thebes, and his fidelity to the truth ruin him.
When Jesus called His disciples, His invitation was simple. He invited them to follow Him. The same is true today. In Matthew 28, Jesus gave His last charge to His disciples, and the charge was simple. He called his followers to go and make disciples. Much effort has been placed by Christians to fulfill this charge, commonly referred to as the Great Commission. Jesus chose to fulfill the implementation of the New Covenant through 12 men who He called, appointed, and commissioned, and he only had a few short years to prepare them for the task (Willson, 1990). His methods were unconventional and were revolutionary for that time. His disciples were to be trained extensively by Jesus, living with Him for three years prior to His ascension. He taught about servant leadership and its meaning for both the leader and follower Matt. 20:25-28). From the beginning, Jesus put in place a careful plan, and an examination of His actions in the Gospels showed that Jesus left behind the pattern to be replicated. His methods, which included the incorporation of three different levels of discipleship, included His interaction with Peter, His closest three (Peter, James, and John), and finally the group of 12. This paper identified and analyzed the three levels of discipleship Jesus modeled, these discipleship methods were then measured against modern leadership theories, and Jesus’s level of involvement and interaction with his disciples were critiqued in light of these modern theories in an effort to determine the effectiveness of this approach.