There are different versions of the Greek myth of King Minos by Panocles. The Coop Theater Company performed the most famous version at the Black Box Theater on October 28. Writer, Director David Watkins, Jr.'s adaptation of the Greek myth of King Minos and the Minotaur was great. Watkins produc...

ROLE OF THE CHORUS In both of the plays Electra and Medea the chorus has a large part in terms of interaction in the play itself. The chorus offers advice to the characters of the play throughout their many times of turmoil. The chorus becomes the opposing view of Anaxagoras' theme of "Nous". The c...

Throughout Euripides' tragedy The Bacchae, there are many themes and symbols that allude to a deeper and more philosophical meaning to the play. This play is extremely complex, in an attempt to break it down symbolically, it can be argued why the symbolism and themes presented are philosophi...

Sophocles uses a mixture of both visual and emotional imagery to create the morally questioning, Greek tragedy 'Oedipus Tyrannus'. He presents the audience with an intense drama, which addresses the reality and importance of the gods that the Greeks fervently believed in. The play also forces th...

In the play, "Oedipus the King," Oedipus, the main character, hurtles towards his desolation. Oedipus's ignorance, pride, and power lead to his destruction. Sophocles, the author of Oedipus the King, shows this by moving the main character through the stages of a tragic hero. Oedipus moves from...

The play A Mouthful of Birds by Caryl Churchill and David Lan is loosely based around the themes explored by Euripides in The Bacchae. Both plays share similar themes and issues, yet contain many contrasting characters and circumstances due to the modernisation or appropriation of The Bacchae into a...

Use of Irony in "Oedipus Rex" Many sources tell us that Sophocles wrote more then one hundred plays, but only seven of them have survived the centuries in their entirety. Certainly the best known of his surviving plays is "Oedipus Rex." The plot of the play hinges on the element of irony. I...

Defining a Tragedy Defining, a Tragedy Greek philosopher Aristotle proposes components of an ideal tragedy in his work, Tragedy and the Emotions of Pity and Fear. According to Aristotle, there are six components of a great tragedy: plot, character, thought, verbal expression, song, and visual adornm...

The story of Oedipus, one of the first examples of a literary tragic hero, is of a man plunged suddenly from prosperity and power to ruin and disrepute. We see him at the height and the depth of his worldly fortunes. Oedipus, whom in the first scene the Priest calls "the first of men," to whom all...

In Sophocles’ Greek tragedy, Antigone, two characters undergo character changes. During the play the audience sees these two characters’ attitudes change from close minded to open-minded. It is their close minded, stubborn attitudes, which lead to their decline in the play, and ultima...

Text-Based Argument #1: Sophocles' Oedipus Tyrannus Sophocles' Oedipus Tyrannus is a story in which a city (Thebes) and its people have a problem and ask their King (Oedipus) to solve the problems, which face them, and get life back to normal. The people in Thebes (like many people when they ...

The Character Change of Oedipus The character Oedipus in Sophocles' drama Oedipus the King goes through an unfortunate but necessary character change. From a prideful, heroic king at the beginning of the play, to a tyrant in denial towards the middle, and finally to a...

For centuries, the struggle between fate and the freedom of the human will has been a point of discontent among many scholars in the area of philosophy and Greek literature. In the works of men like Homer, Euripides, and Sophocles there is an emphasis on the role of prophetic beings and the inabilit...

When discussing the relationship of ancient gods and humans, one must first explore the nature of the divine and human behavior. A unique attribute of ancient mythological literature is the application of anthropomorphism in regards to the divinity. The human-like characteristics given to each etern...

When one thinks of a god, an almost immediate association with powers and miracles comes to mind. Gods are portrayed as almighty beings who contribute to historical events ranging from uncontrollable earthly forces to the outcome of a treacherous battle. We know much today of legends and myths becau...

During the time in Ancient Greece, pottery was an important part of life and society. The making and painting of pottery was a major art in classical Greece. Potters worked as professional craftsmen in family groups and were considered in high esteem in cities like Corinth and Athens. Most resear...

In determining the role of the Gods in The Odyssey, by Homer, one must ponder where Odysseus would be if the Greek Gods did not exist. If it weren't for Athena, daughter of Zeus, would Odysseus still be able to overcome the challenges he faced from Poseidon (the God of the Sea), Helios (the sun god...

A man tries to be the one who drives the course of his life, to fight against what gets in his way, and to create something beautiful with the pieces of his world. But being able to succeed in such tasks is never a simple thing in the classic Greek world of Homer's Iliad. Though there are exception...

Hospitality is a key concept in The Odyssey. In the ancient world, travelers and strangers were to be given hospitality with no questions asked. A visitor to a palace would receive immediate hospitality, as a host knows that there is a possibility that it might be a god. In The Odyssey , hospitali...

The Aeneid is a poem of parallels and contrasts. This is because Virgil crafted his epic as a means of placing the Romans above the Greeks on the literal level. It was often understood that while Rome had a far superior military, the Greeks had a far more evolved sense of Art and the more sublime a...

When we look at Greek Mythology we often run into the gods of that era. Sometimes they are merely backdrops to the human element of the story but in stories such as The Odyssey the gods play a prominent if not vital role to the central themes of the story. Fate has a place in the Greek world but i...

Cassandra was the daughter of Hecuba and King Priam, the rulers of Troy during the Trojan War according to Homer's Iliad. Cassandra was a beautiful young woman, blessed with the gift of prophecy by Apollo, who was infatuated with her. Unfortunately, she shunned Apollo at the last minute and he adde...

Sophocles wrote one of the most enduring plays in history, Oedipus the King. This drama has lasted longer than many plays half its age. What makes this play so important? A human is trying to change his fate by refusing to understand the power of Greek gods. Thesis: Arrogance, pride, and blindness p...

Glory and War Locked In Forever Battle Rage-Goddess, sing the rage of Peleus' son Achilles, murderous, doomed, that cost the Achaeans countless losses, hurling down to the House of Death so many sturdy souls, great fighters' souls, but made their bodies carrion, feasts for the dogs a...

The Greek Gods in Homer's The Odyssey and the God of Abraham in the Bible both play the feared and respected role of the master while the humans act as their subordinates. Although the Gods are similar in their master-servant relationship with humans, their nature and moral values differ sharpl...