The story From the Great Above to the Great Below is a metaphor that represents an experience of betrayal which would benefit a person who is selfish. For example, Inanna goes to the underworld to accompany her sister since her husband has died but instead Ereshkigal forces Inanna to take off her garments until she is eventually naked and kills her. This is because Ereshkigal is jealous of Inanna for having the me and Ereshkigal believes that she has gone to see her in order to show off her royalness/power. This proves that Ereshkigal’s selfishness causes her to betray her own sister and she benefits from it because she gets vengeance and degrades Inanna. Another example is shown through Dumuzi and Inanna because when she tries to escape the …show more content…
She brought the art of women” and the list just keeps going. Also, she is praised by a lot of people. Inanna even has loyal followers like Ninshubur who “thr[ows] herself in the dust at Inanna’s feet,” Shara who “thr[ows] himself in the dust at her feet,” and Lulal who ‘thr[ows] himself in the dust at her feet” when somebody had to take her place in the underworld (69-71). However, looking at Ereshkigal, there is a much sadder mood that the writer sets up for her. Her domain is the place of the dead, she must be lonely, sad, and bored especially now that she has lost her husband. The only real person she has is Neti and Inanna but Ereshkigal does not see it that way because Inanna has so much more than her. Ereshkigal does not even have people willing to risk their life for her. Neti will probably not even risk her life unless she is told to. Ereshkigal also has the galla which are very loyal because “the galla, [are] demons who know no food, who know no drink. Who eat no offerings, who drink no liberations” however, they are demons with no emotions and feelings which really would not be able to relate to Ereshkigal (68). Ereshkigal is jealous of her sister because Inanna gets all this attention but she does not which is why Father Enki knows what to do when he finds out about Inanna being trapped in the underworld. He has two servants the Kurgarra and the galatur, …show more content…
The story is trying to show to the readers that when there is selfishness present, there is also betrayal because usually, people would put themselves first instead of others. However, when looking at the situation with Ereshkigal and Inanna, they both do not know the truth that they have for each other. For example, Ereshkigal does not find out that Inanna just wants to be a good sister for her and Inanna does not find out why Ereshkigal does not like her. They are back from where they have started but Ereshkigal now is not as lonely as she was before because she gets the attention she wants from the Kurgarra and the galatur. However, when looking at Dumuzi and Inanna it shows that most people would regret being selfish just like Inanna does when she has to face the fact that Dumuzi is now
Since the beginning of time, fairy tales, stories and legends have shared a common theme where good and evil are played against each other. In the story of “Beowulf”, translated by, “Burton Raffel”, there is a hero who plays as a good character, and there is also a demon who rules the dark side. The hero Beowulf, agrees to take a journey to conquer the evil monster Grendel. But when Beowulf is trying to defeat the beast, Grendel fights back, causing integrity and generosity to vanish. The common theme in various tales like in Beowulf is, good vs. evil.
“Glory, built on selfish principles, is shame and guilt.” A quote by William Cowper and his quote suggests that if you achieve glory but achieved it by being or making selfish choices you haven’t achieved true glory. It’s like the character brother from the short story, “Scarlet Ibis” written by James Hurst. Brother has a little brother named Doodle and Doodle was born with a heart condition and everybody thought he was going to die but didn’t. Initially everyone thinks doodles going to die. Brother doesn’t like doodle and Brother had even made plans to kill doodle. However Doodle lives and brother tries to change Doodle for his own selfish ways because he wants a brother to fit into society. Brother is embarrassed of Doodle. Consequently Brother pushes Doodle to his limit and Doodles heart fails and he dies. This shows that selfish choices can hurt those who care about you.
The way people act toward each other can cause betrayal to play a huge role in their actions toward one another, which is the first way in which betrayal is portrayed. For example, before they were born, “The twin argued inside of their mother’s stomach and fought about their birth.The right-handed twin wanted to be born the normal way, as most children are born, but the left-handed twin said no and said he saw light in another direction(Iroquois 41),” so the right-handed twin was born naturally while the left-handed twin ended up not being able to go the direction he saw light in was born through his mother’s armpit,
The choices we make define the destiny of our lives. Since the beginning of time, man has always been an imperfect being full of flaws. Man is faced with different situations that can end up bringing disgrace to himself and his family if the situations are not well handled. In the texts Book II of the Aeneid by Virgil, Antigone by Sophocles, Oedipus the king by Sophocles, and Book XXII from the Iliad by Homer; Creon, the Trojan people, Hector, Achilles, and Oedipus embody what can lead to a man’s downfall through their own choices. Through these texts we are able to learn from the mistakes people made in the past and lead good moral lives. The texts illustrate how pride, lack of empathy, and ignorance lead to the destruction of man.
When one gains power they sometime change the person they were because they love the feeling of supremacy and control they receive. Inanna, also known as Ishtar, came to the mighty warrior, “her brother” , Gilgamesh two times, in two different stories, each time looking for something that he possessed. However, this goddess, of Heaven and Earth, was depicted as two different figures when she asked for the mighty Gilgamesh’s assistance.
This story contains an almost equal balance of good and evil, though it also raises questions of what is truly good. It blurs the line between good and selfish or thoughtless. Characters’ actions sometimes appear impure, but in the long run, are good.
The relationship between good and evil is generally morality against immorality and has a major role in the novel. An action that is life preserving and sacrificial is believed to be “good” in our modern society. King Hrothgar’s wife, Wealtheow, is a complete representation of this concept. When tensions run high between the two kings, King Hygmod offers his daughter as “Wealtheow, or holy servant of common good” to King Hrothgar to preserve their peaceful environment (Gardner 100). King Hygmod’s description of her as a “servant” exemplifies the sacrifice of her personal life for assistance in maintaining peace between the two kings. On the other hand, degradation and hurt and overall suffrage created by one’s activity determines the denotation of the word “evil.” This idea is best resembled by Grendel’s feelings toward a statement made by the Dragon he meets on his journey. He is shocked to find that the dragon “could lie” and “that [h]e was evil enough” to do so (Gardner 71). The lie is what degrades Grendel as a person and he interprets as evil. These antithetical opposites of nature are connected because of their strong ef...
...e Winter’s Tale, The Great Gatsby and The Remains of the Day one of the most significant lessons to be learnt is that anyone from the jealous king, to the hedonistic socialite, to the strictly dutiful servant can suffer at their own hand and fall victim to the flaws of their own character. It is a universal phenomenon, which was originally defined by Aristotle, which is consistent from the plays of Shakespeare to the works of contemporary authors.
The next two themes are interelated, Betrayal and Revenge, with Greed and Glutony.THe gods punish those who show greed and glutony, but that does not mean that they cannot be punished as well. A prime example of this is when Posiedon is out feasting among the 'sun-burnt' races that were deemed to be his own. While he was feasting, Odysseus escaped the island of Kalypso, something that Poseidon did not like and was to late to stop from happening. While he was being gluttanos and eating all that food, Odysseus had escaped. Another example would be the murder of Agamemnon. Agisthos was greedy and wanted money and status, as well as Agamemnon's wife and Agamemnon's wife betrayed Agamemnon when she went off with him and even more so when they both killed him. However, the theme of Betrayal is often closely followed by the theme of Revenge. Agamemnon's son, Orestes, would go back and avenge his father's death, killing Agisthos and his mother even though later on in greek mythology he knew he would be punished for killing her.
story as the corruption of evil takes a prominent role in the story of the two children. The
At first it is seen as a story about man and the evils he can do, yet
Silko counsels that the story's potential for good or ill should not be easily discounted or dismissed. She seems to understand all too well that human beings house both virtuous and vicious impulses; our stories are infused with both the sinister and the sublime. There is a unifying, mythical or archetypal realm which exists just beyond the scope of individual consciousness. Stories are tethered to and wound around this insubstantial place, and the power of each story is firmly rooted in this connection.
The Great Chain of Being is defined as the order within a country which implies that every person and object is designed to play a role in the chain. Challenging this established order is the ultimate act of betrayal. In Shakespeare's tragedy King Lear, betraying the order within the kingdom is mandatory for a character who is not possessed with power to obtain leverage. As a result, the cause of betrayal leads to a disruption within various relationships such as with an individual, as well as with society and with oneself. In King Lear, Goneril and Regan betray the natural order in response to their upbringing which in result affects the relationship between each other. King Lear’s descent from the chain, due to the acts of betrayal committed
For example, Macbeth was an honorable Thane of Glamis. He was a valiant fighter who had protected his country of Scotland well, but he wanted to be king. His "vaulting ambition" caused him to kill King Duncan, which ended up in his fall. Aristotle's tragic hero has a tragic flaw, or harmatia, that is the cause of the downfall. Macbeth's vaulting ambition, though it is what brings him to his height of power, is also what leads him to his downfall.
Here is a story where Oedipus the King, who has accomplished great things in his life, discovers that the gods were only playing with him. He has everything a man of that time could want; he is king of Thebes, he has a wonderful wife and children, and great fame through out the lands. He has lived a good life, but in the end everything is taken from him.