Medea Tragedy Essay

Most societies, both past and present, worship one or multiple deities. The powers and characteristics of these gods vary among cultures, and the personalities of one society’s deities directly influence the culture and beliefs of its people. The discrepancies between the religions of different civilizations can be observed through the literary works of their religion and mythology. The Judeo-Christian God, who is shown in the Bible to be absolute both in power and in judgment, is antithetical to the Greek gods, who are depicted as having human traits and flaws. In Homer’s Odyssey, many gods are shown to act on their own self-interest, keeping favorites among the mortals and conspiring against other gods. Zeus, however, is portrayed as just

Over the course of human history people have always believed in a supreme, divine being, or a god. Today’s society is no exception, there are countless of religions from Christianity to Hinduism. The archetypal theme of “respect for the gods” in both Homer’s Odyssey and the Coen brothers film O Brother Where Art Thou? shows similarities and differences between society's belief in a god in the present and during the time of the Ancient Greeks.

Ancient Greece is a place full of ,myths and legends. These myths and legends were created as an example for the people to live by. These myths and legends show the peoples cultures as well as their values. For example, Perseus was an important character in Greek mythology because he showed traits that were valued by the Greeks such as bravery and courage   The heroes in these stories had special births and were aided by supernatural beings in order to complete their quest.

In Medea by Euripides, Medea 's character flaw that ultimately led to her downfall is revenge. Medea 's husband Jason left her to marry a younger, beautiful woman. Medea becomes outraged, and all she thinks about is getting revenge. She kills Glauce, Jason 's new wife, and her father, Creon. She wanted her revenge to be perfect she even killed her own children to get revenge on Jason leaving her. Madea killing her own children made her feel powerful in a sick way. It 's almost like she wasn 't a mother to those children for a second. Madea is the one who suffered the most. Revenge got the best of her and now she has to live with grief for the rest of

Throughout Homer’s Odyssey and Iliad there is seen a play between the gods and mortals as they all take sides throughout the Trojan War and the homecoming of Odysseus. There is a role the gods play in how the Trojan War ends and while they can hinder fate, it is ultimately unavoidable and will happen. It is also seen that both the Greeks and the Trojans worship the many gods of the divinity of Jupiter and look to them for guidance in unexpected or dangerous situation. They pray and sacrifice to them in the hope their prayers are answered, much like done today with monotheistic religion of Christianity. The relationship between gods and mortals is one of fatherly love to his children.

The relationships between the Greek gods and mortals have always been complicated. The gods can be generous and supportive, but also harsh and destructive towards the humans. They claim to be all powerful beings with unlimited power and influence, but in truth, they are far more human than they are perceived. They meddle with human lives, not because they are wise, but because of their own selfish reasons. In Homer’s The Odyssey, gods like Athena and Poseidon interfere with humans to satisfy their own desires, showing that they are just as imperfect and flawed as the mortals that they rule over.

Where do myths come from? What is their function and what do they mean? In A Short History of Myths, Karen armstrong introduces the array of approaches used to understand the study of myths. Armstrong provides various stories about myth meanings and it functions in our lives by introducing different time periods. The concept of myth is central to all cultures because it lives in our stories and every culture in human history has created its own mythologies to understand how the universe works. Myths still have the same meaning no what matter how much people start to evolve and understand the way of life differently. In A Short History of Myth by Karen Armstrong, all of myths about heroes and deities struggling and fighting with evil creature

Ancient Greek culture is majorly influential in Western culture. Major works of literature, art, and political structure from ancient Greece remain relevant to modern Western society. However one can contrast these two societies by observing and valuing the art of ancient Greece. One can differentiate ancient Greek culture and modern Western culture by analyzing the treatment of religious figures, attitude towards emotion, and reaction towards nudity in each society.

Myths are not dissimilar to fairy tales, legends, and sagas, but its period is distinctly different from usual existential time. It is considered as an expression of childhood experiences, and it also explains the origin and meaning of the world. According to Long (1994), “The term mythology may describe a certain body of myths, for example, Greek, African, or Scandinavian, or it may refer to the study of myths” (p.694). These collections of narratives are superior when it comes to influencing different areas of knowledge. There are numerous types of mythology, but Ancient Greece is the one that has given an immense influence on modern society.

Greek mythology and religion were integral parts of the ancient Greek society. The Greeks followed a polytheist religion in which multiple gods represented various aspects of the nature as well as skills practiced by mankind. From myths we can see that the Greeks worshipped the gods in the myths as they believed that humans were created by gods and the gods still walked amongst them so this would significantly alter mankind’s

In the epic poem The Odyssey, Homer portrays Greek gods and goddesses as possessing human qualities and faults. Through their actions and emotions, Homer emphasizes the detrimental effects of lust, envy, wrath, and greed in ancient Grecian society. He also never fails to remind readers of the importance of respect for holy figures because of their powerful abilities to create chaos and wonder". Homer wants to prove that gods and humans share a variety of traits, and the only difference is that god don’t allow these flaws negatively to impact their society. To help further his argument, we can compare Greek gods and goddesses to that of Christianity. These almighty figures are the world’s greatest thing because they never harm humans, they don’t desire sexual needs from mortals, and they don’t expect endless gifts and sacrifices.

Imagine a world where a natural phenomenon, like an earthquake, occurs only because someone forgot to pray to Poseidon before bedtime. Back in the height of the Greek empire, this was very believable in the eyes of many. In the technological era, we all now know, and understand, that an earthquake happens when tectonic plates collide with each other. Holly Yan’s article, continues to tell about how today earthquakes happen, with scientific evidence and proof. She would also explain a theory on why their might be another big earthquake coming soon to California. On the other hand, in The Odyssey, written by Homer, there are many amazing stories about the sea god, Poseidon, shaking the earth in wrath of something that Odysseus has done, ashe tries to stop him from returning home to Ithaca. Not only where these stories fun to listen to, and used to have a good time, but they were also what most of the Greeks believe was happening in their world. Because back then the Greeks did not have the scientific advancements that we now take advantage of in today's day of age.

In ancient Greece religion was an important facet of everyday life as well as an essential aspect of warfare and battle. Soldiers in ancient Greece frequently sought support from the deities to ensure a safe and conclusive victory through ritual sacrifice. Sometimes warriors even had to sacrifice multiple times to ensure support, even if this meant postponing battle. Religion did not only dictate the time in which one could begin a battle, but times in which battles could not be fought at all, that is during festivals and religious games. Religion also dictated spaces in which battles could not be fought, in holy sites such as temples, and spaces in which battles should be fought, something that could be decided through the interpretation of religious prophecies.

Euripides’s play Medea consists of minor characters who spout wise and generalized statements about humanity as a whole. One of these statements, spoken by the chorus, is, “It is a strange form of anger, difficult to cure,/When two friends turn upon each other in hatred.” (pg. 17, 12-13). The claim is true about both the play—specifically the characters Medea and Jason—as well as all of humanity.

For human’s deities are omnipotent, authoritative, dominant and immortal. If there is a need for supplication due to conflict or complication, humans turn towards the divine. Within the Iliad there are various gods who scheme a very significant role in the war of Trojan. The gods are very present, always observing, influencing guiding and most importantly, interfering in the actions of the humans. Athena, Apollo, and Zeus are three very influential divines and their interactions with human characters, along with interference towards the warfare is seen throughout the Iliad.