Hermes in The Odyssey guided and aided Odysseus in his quest to save his men. But how exactly did this come about? Who is Hermes in The Odyssey? We must go over Odysseus’ journey and how he ended up on the goddesses’ island to understand this further. Hermes in The Odyssey As Odysseus and his…
Catharsis in Antigone seems to be absent to the untrained eye, but as Aristotle says, “Catharsis is the aesthetic form of a tragedy,” and nothing is more tragic than Antigone’s journey. The various deaths we’ve witnessed in its prequel and the twists and turns have left us all curious about the third installment of the…
The Odyssey ending the way it is is still heavily debated in the literary world, with various scholars discussing it. Still, to fully grasp the scholars’ heavy debate, we must go over the play’s events. What Is The Odyssey? The Odyssey starts after the Trojan War. Odysseus and his men are to head back to…
Hubris in The Odyssey and other Greek literature plays a vital role. In a way, Homer’s The Odyssey served as a cautionary tale to the ancient Greeks, warning them that the consequences of hubris could be devastating, even fatal. What is hubris, and why did Homer preach so powerfully against it? Read on to find…
The Antigone family tree is crucial to understanding what happens in the Greek playwright Sophocles’ tragedy Antigone. She is a member of the Royal Line of Thebes, and her family is the main subject of Sophocles’ plays in The Oedipus Plays; Oedipus the King, Oedipus at Colonus and Antigone. She is the daughter of Oedipus…
Achilles was a great hero in Greek mythology, the son of the mortal king Peleus and the Nereid Thetis. The Myrmidons, the people of his father well known to be fierce and fearless warriors. Thetis is one of the sea-nymphs who are a part of Poseidon’s entourage. With such powerful parents, Achilles was bound to…
Hades is a unique figure in Greek mythology, as he is the only one of the key entities in Greek mythology that is not a part of the Twelve Olympians. Therefore he does not reside in Mount Olympus, unlike other well-known gods and goddesses such as Zeus, Athena Apollo or Aphrodite. Hades lives where he…
In Homer’s Odyssey, setting determines many of Odysseus’ challenges and becomes a significant part of the tale as the characters and events. While the story involves a journey that lasted over 10 years, the tale is told during the last 6 weeks of Odysseus’ journey. After the fall of Troy, the story takes place when…
Proteus in The Odyssey had a small yet impactful part in the Greek classic. He, the Greek Sea god, had insurmountable knowledge and would only share his wisdom once captured. But why does he hide himself? What is he hiding? And is he truthful? To understand this, we must first go back to his first…
Antigone’s civil disobedience can be considered one of the play’s central themes, considering the Greek classic revolves around our main heroine’s defiance of civil laws. How and why would Antigone go against the governing body of her homeland? Why would she do such a thing despite the consequences of death? To answer these, we must…