Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
The mystery of the greek underworld
Research paper on hades
Hades strengths and weaknesses essay
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: The mystery of the greek underworld
Fallen souls cried out, some with acknowledgement of their previous lives lost, others with worry for the vengeance to come. Overlooking the weeping souls, the imp Bizel walked through the twisted halls and natural hollows of the Underworld. Head down, tail and wings dragging, Bizel introduced himself before the supreme lord, Hades. Nervous, the frightened imp prepared to tell Hades what occurred. Sitting upon his shadowed throne, Hades gazed down at Bizel. The disappointment collected upon the dark lord's face would even make the most firm heart tremor. Moving his weight from foot to foot, his spiked tail left scratch marks where it struck the obsidian floor. The imp shivered under Hades examining look, anticipating judgment. The silence …show more content…
“Freeze!” ordered an officer. Bizel appeared on the surface world confused, never having set foot on the mortal world. A huge scorching ball hung in the sky, frightening the imp and irritating his light sensitive eyes. Bizel had heard stories of a burning orb, now he really gets to witness it with his own eyes. As his weak sight familiarize to the light, Bizel sought out a possible path taken by Cerberus. A sparking idea has occurred to the imp, if he found Cerberus first, he could use the beast to track down the soul. Shifting his stare to ground, Bizel located the hound’s fading paw prints. Following the naughty hound’s obvious trail (rotten trees, seared grasses, and a few dead creatures); the imp came upon the sheltered clearing in the woods that Cerberus had recently visited. Multiple voices had drifted from the other side of the hedges. Using his powers of invisibility, Bizel edged closer, listening to the …show more content…
Right here in our own neighborhood,” said a woman, dressed in a robe and hair curlers. “It’s just not safe anywhere these days,” replied another, cigarette hanging from her lips. “I heard that an abandoned dog interrupted the thieves,” said an elderly man. The first woman sneered, her hair curlers shaking, “The way I hear it, they had claimed it was some kind of monster. I don’t believe it though.” Blowing a puff of smoke, the other woman said, “Whatever it was, it scared them awful. They wet themselves.” All three people laughed. Bizel had heard plenty. Cerberus had exposed himself to mortals. Hades would be less than satisfied. Sighing, the imp sped off after the hellhound, hoping to catch him before any more innocent creatures were harmed. The sun continued to rise, painting the sky with blushes of pink and gold. The soul quickly made its way across the small forested park. Bright colors appeared though the trees. The soul continued flying onward into the brightly colored trees. A single female ran along a dirt trail, unaware to the
After Dante sees the Hypocrites, damned to walk under the weight of their deceptions eternally, he also sees that they are walking over a figure lying naked and supine on the ground. This is the High Priest of the Jews, Caiaphas, who led the Sanhedrin in condemning Jesus. He is now crucified in Hell, sharing in the pain Christ suffe...
The purpose of this essay is to tell the story of Minos and give a brief depiction of his duties from Dante’s Inferno. Being one of three main judges in Hades, Minos stood before the second circle blocking the way until he judged all that went through. “There Minos sits, grinning, grotesque, and hale. He examines each lost soul as it arrives and delivers his verdict with his coiling tail” (Ciardi 35). Upon entering the circle each sinner was to confess their sin to Minos and he would then give their assignment. Minos’s tail being wrapped around the sinners was equal to the number of the circle that they were assigned to.
trip to Hades or would not return from it. At this point of the voyage
In The Odyssey, the act of storytelling plays a significant role in revealing the story of Odysseus. Each storyteller reveals a part of the past of Odysseus and his heroic deeds. Each of their stories gives insight into what a hero should be, according to the standards of the Greek society, and they each reflect a different aspect of a hero. When pieced together, each story becomes part of a whole, however, each has a different function within the epic. Some may not contribute to the hero directly, but teach a moral or lesson to the audience listening to the story. The audience directed towards is the Greek society and the morals are taught by storytelling. By using storytelling, a hero is often created as the ideal and spread throughout the land to become a legend In The Odyssey, there are many storytellers that contribute to the creation of the hero, Odysseus. Storytelling within the story creates a fictional world in which the characters play in. We, the audience, are in the same position as character listening to the story first hand as well. Each story teaches a different moral aspect that the hero, Odysseus, has to the audience. Although The Odyssey is narrated through Homer, the poet, there are so many storytellers in the story, that the epic becomes a multiple narrative, encapsulating many different aspects of great archaic heroes. Odysseus is the one who reveals the most about his past and where he has been for the years between the Trojan War and the present. Helen and Menelaos tell the stories of Odysseus's tactile ways during the Trojan War and reveal a great hero to Telemakhos, Odysseus's unknowing son. The Sirens, beautiful as their song is, tell a profound story of Odyss...
to Hades to visit his father. During his stay, he talks to a large number of
Numerous lively heroes ventured into Persephone’s clutches with the hopes of beating death, yet she explains that despite their god-like strength they too will die. Two such heroes were Theseus and Pirithous. When Theseus and Pirithous attempted to kidnap the Queen of the Underworld she enticed them to sit in the chair of forgetfulness where their flesh fused to the cushions and refused to relinquish them (Taylor 268). Persephone appears many times to offer food, drink, or rest to weary heroes in the underworld in order to trap them there forever in the same manner that Hades tricked her (Taylor, 268). Because of Persephone and Hades’ antics many people hated them as gods, but Persephone’s cruelty serves as a reminder that while death is necessary it is not always kind. In the same manner that Persephone accepted her fate, mortals must also accept their own imminent
At the outset of Dante’s “Inferno,” he is introduced as a man lost in a sinful forest of his own creation. He is, by all accounts, beyond saving. Even Beatrice, in conversation with Virgil, states that, “[Dante] is, I fear, already so astray / that I have come to help him much too late” (ii.65-66). It is only through the compassion and the divine pity of Beatrice, and the more active role taken on by Virgil—who is also shown to have “felt compassion for [Dante’s] pain", that Dante is provided an opportunity to regain a pious sense of self, and in doing so increase his odds of salvation (ii.50). This basic human conception of pity and empathy dominates a great deal of Dante’s interactions in the underworld. He begins his descent consistently overwhelmed, at first weeping in response to the “sighs and lamentations and loud cries […] echoing across the starless air” (iii.22-23).
When Dante and Virgil reach the gate of Hell, Dante is overcome with fear upon reading the inscription above the gate and hearing the screams and lamentations of those inside. He reacts to the inscription by crying out, " ‘Master,’ I said, ‘these words I see are cruel.’ " (III.12). By this he shows his fear of the unknown because he does not yet know exactly what he will witness during his descent. One of Dante’s truest display of fear occurs upon reaching the vile City of Dis. When the "fallen angels" deny the travelers access through the city, Virgil, usually unflappable, even appears shaken up. Understandably, this does not help Dante’s nerves at all. He actually makes a side comment to the reader declaring the terror he felt after the angels had defied Virgil’s request saying: "And now, my reader, consider how I felt / when those foreboding words came to my ears! / I thought I’d never see our world again!" (VIII.
Across these three works Satan was transformed from a seductive, but flat, character, to a suffering monster, to a complex, multidimensional antagonist. Within the Christian world, Satan provides an interesting representation of evil. He can be used to demonstrate the charms of sin or its consequences. The these three works demonstrate a changing and increasingly complex understanding of evil and sin.
Dante’s Inferno presents the reader with many questions and thought provoking dialogue to interpret. These crossroads provide points of contemplation and thought. Dante’s graphic depiction of hell and its eternal punishment is filled with imagery and allegorical meanings. Examining one of these cruxes of why there is a rift in the pits of hell, can lead the reader to interpret why Dante used the language he did to relate the Idea of a Just and perfect punishment by God.
After drinking deeply, he realizes that the water must have been drugged since he immediately loses consciousness again, and later, when he is again awake, there is a sulfurous light which reveals that the walls are one-half their original size. Logically, he tries to determine how he originally made such an error. He knows that he is in the same place because of the horrible, dismal circular pit. But to his horror, he is now completely bound head and foot, except for his left hand up to his left elbow. He is bound to a "species of low framework of wood." Looking upward, he sees a huge razor-sharp pendulum swinging in an arch, criss-crossing his body. Turning to survey the rest of the vault, he sees enormous rats running across the slimy floor. After watching the rats for about thirty minutes, he again looks at the pendulum and is horrified to realize that the sweep has increased considerably and even more disturbing, it has descended. Now he "can no longer doubt the doom prepared for [him] by monkish ingenuity in torture." The sweep of "the pendulum was at right angles [and] was designed to cross the region of the heart." The vault and the bottomless pit are just as horrible as the very pit of hell itself might be. It seems as though it is days before the pendulum comes so close to him that the "odor of the sharp steel forced itself into my nostrils," but eventually it does, and when the
In conclusion, a great deal of tension and contrast between “dark” and “light” in The Inferno helps us to explore Dante’s self portrait—he fears dangerous desires and sinful darkness, but shows much courage and hope towards life since he nevertheless follows his guide Virgil to dive into horrible Hell. As shown in Canto I, such emotional reaction to dark and light symbols lays a great foundation for developing Dante’s broad and universal traits as his journey progresses.
He had heard of stories of how the voices of the dead were enough to cause the living to go mad with insanity. The force of the impact of his own head to the floor caused his own small frame to constrict and before anyone in the room could call for help, Hercules had stopped moving.
... ice pack pressed to his neck. Three of the disenchanted beasts had pursued my father into the house and the crashing sounds were those of the ensuing chase and massacre in the living room.
Throughout studying many myths, I came up with many new observations. Many questions came into my mind about these myths. Greek mythology takes us back to a time when people had a connection with nature and when nature played a major role in people’s lives. The religious beliefs of the people who wrote the myths are found in the background of these myths; however, they are not to be read like religious texts. The myths try to offer explanations of “how”, which makes us think deeply about the purpose of these myths and the questions they draw to our minds. According to the myths we studied in class, the world created the gods, not the other way around. The gods were always created in the image of man, which shows how much men were important in their society. Furthermore, many of these Greek myths show us the difference between the views of the Greek then and our view towards many aspects of the society, including nature. Monsters appear in Greek myths and have different representations and roles. Greek mythology reflects a view of the Greeks towards the world and how certain aspects of their lives are similar and different to modern society.