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AGAMEMNON

lyounder01 — 2023-10-13 14:51:25 UTC

Aegistus has managed to get Clytemnestra to kill Agamemnon because he wanted revenge on his father and power for himself. In the play written by Shakespear entitled “Othello'', we can witness something similar happening: Iago, who is one of the characters as well as Othello’s companion, will manage to make Othello believe that his wife, Desdemona, is being unfaithful. During the entire play, Desdemona will try her best to prove to Othello that she is all about him and not at all about Iago. Othello on his side, will not believe anything she says while Iago is feeding him with lies. In both cases, we can witness Aegisthus and Iago doing the same thing, which is leading their close ones to believe something and take actions that will benefit them whenever it is done. Moreover, it is important to note that these people they are trying to manipulate are both considered in a higher position than they are, which is surprising because they are supposed to know better. I think that they are falling easier to the manipulation since in both plays love is involved and love is something that pushes us away from being rational: Othello loves Desdemona so he does not want to be hurt; Clytemnestra loves Aegistus, so she puts all her trust in him. Surely, Aegistus did get Clytemnestra to kill her husband and thought that he would be the one with all the power after that. In the other play, it is Iago who hates Othello because he chose Cassio instead of him, to become Othello’s lieutenant.

THE LIBATION BEARERS

lyounder01 — 2023-10-13 14:51:58 UTC

Orestes and Electra teamed up to kill their mother as well as Aegistus since they believed both were responsible for their father’s death. At first, when I saw that this was happening, I would have never believed that it was something that could be related to the real world; however, I was wrong. Children are actually able to kill their parents at a very young age and this is something I knew, but I was not sure to what extent it could go. If we think about it, it must be easier for children to make such actions while they are not fully grown yet and when they still are not conscious about what life is about: therefore, they are not able to understand the entirety of a situation. What is meant to be said is that when you are a child and if your parents do not satisfy your needs, no matter how meaningless they can be, the feeling of anger will rise fast in them and this is something that can go wrong. If time passes by and parents are not taking this feeling into account, it will end up growing in the children and they will not be able to separate their emotions from their actions nor find any clear thoughts. In this video, we can see that teenagers are killing their parents for reasons that are not worth killing them. But because they may have affected their children emotionally and did not really consider them, the children will act on revenge, which is  the feeling that has taken over. This is exactly what happened in the play, as we can see that Orestes has a lot of anger in him towards his mother, for not taking care of him.

OEUDIPUS

lyounder01 — 2023-10-13 14:52:10 UTC

Freud has made analysis about how sexual desires can cause psychic troubles. I thought that this was something I could relate to the play “Oedipus”, because Oedipus married his own mother, which means that he found her attractive as a woman. The fact that he did not know she was his mother plays a huge role in his decision, but I think that he felt worse when he knew that he killed his father unintentionally. According to Freud’s study, there is a possibility children hate their father because they can feel a sexual attraction towards their mother and they are mad about the fact that the father gets to be closer to the mother at a level that they can not reach being the child. I think that Oeudipus was lucky he did not have to deal with the truth during the entire time he was alive because that may have caused him serious mental issues that he could not be able to handle. Nevertheless, because he did not know the truth, it makes everything easier until the truth comes out. The truth will reveal a lot about him and will make him face another version of himself that he never thought he was. Finally, I believe that all of this reveals a lot about the way he reacted when the truth was revealed.

ANTIGONE

lyounder01 — 2023-10-13 14:52:20 UTC

“Antigone” is a play that I have been reading since high school and the more I read it, the more I understand the lesson behind it. Antigone is a very hard headed character that will do anything to achieve what she has in her mind. She is determined and she is not scared of taking actions for the sake of people that she loves. In her I could identify Skeeter, the journalist from the movie “The Help”. This latter has decided to expose white families and their actions towards the maids in a book that she eventually published anonymously. By doing this, she went against the laws that were still valid at the time, in which Black people did not have the right to say anything and they did not have a voice that could be heard. In these two women, I can see that they are not intimidated by threats that are coming from a higher position because when it comes to something that really matters to them, and if they think that a situation is unfair, they will take action to fix that no matter what the consequences are. They are also taking full responsibility in their actions.

lyounder01 — 2023-10-13 18:52:48 UTC

Cassandra has been one of the characters that I will certainly remember when it comes to the play "Agamemnon" because she was able to make me reflect through her actions. As we all know, she can see in the future and at some point in the play, she was entering the house of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra and she could tell that she was going to be killed along with Agamemnon. What surprised me when she knew that was the fact that she accepted to be killed and did not try to escape her fate in any kind of way. This is something that relates to my beliefs as I am also a huge believer in fate. However, I feel like people believe in it only when the outcome is positive, which is the issue. Accepting our fate when something bad is happening to us is really difficult and this is when we tend to think that fate is not a real thing or we just decide to fight it, when it truly is real. As it has been explained in the TED talk, everything happens for a reason and it is all going to make sense at the end. When Cassandra accepted her fate, she chose the best decision for herself and for Agamemnon because she knew that nothing could save her from death. I believe that even if she tried to escape, that would be exactly her fate still and she would eventually end up dying at some point. Most of the time, accepting our destiny is the easiest option and this is something that takes courage to do especially when we are going through hard times.

lyounder01 — 2023-10-13 20:17:05 UTC

The oracle in the play that is informing Oedipus’ parents about their child is something I would compare to something that is happening in real life. In Nigeria, parents have abandoned their children because they have been told by people that their children will cause them bad luck. Surely, witchcraft is something that is still huge in Nigeria and people believe in it. In this case, parents decide to even abandon their children because they are going to bring bad luck for the family. This situation is the same that is happening in “Oedipus”, but it looks like their bad luck happened anyways even though they thought that they got rid of it. In the case of Nigeria, parents may have escaped it by living away from their children, but they have thrown their children away without even knowing if the information they have been told is true or not. If they choose not to abandon them, they can save them by bringing them to a religious place and asking for someone to save their soul; however, as I have seen in the documentary, parents still refuse to keep their children in their homes and would rather them to completely leave their lives.

lyounder01 — 2023-10-13 20:31:30 UTC

The sacrifice of Isaac is a very good way to illustrate what happened in the play “Agamemnon”. The fact that Agamenon killed his daughter before the Trojan war as a sacrifice can be mirrored through this painting. What is happening here is similar as we have Abraham about to kill his son Isaac, only to prove to God that he is a genuine and religious person. The motivations are completely different but I thought the action of Agamemnon could be illustrated through this painting as well, the only difference is the outcome of both stories. Also, the angel that is appearing on the right side made me think of what Clytmenstra would have done if she was present during the events; moreover, we can note that the angel stopped Abraham from killing his son which is what Clytemnestra would have done. If this case scenario happened in the play, I believe that the entire plot would have been completely different.

lyounder01 — 2023-10-13 20:46:37 UTC

Whether or not Antigone was doing the right thing during this play could be an entire discussion where people would be agreeing or disagreeing with each other. In my opinion, Antigone was on the right side when it came to claiming the rights that one of her brothers had applied to the other one too since they both died anyways. When talking about this, Immanuel Kant is a great example. This latter said: “Morality is defined by duties and one’s action in moral if it is an act motivated by duty”. So, here what we can understand is that all of us, as human beings, have several duties in our lives that we must fulfill no matter what. In Creon's case, he had duties as a father and he did not know how to manage that nor separate that from his personal feelings. I think that what is important when Immanuel Kant says this is that duties should never be mixed with emotions because they can challenge them and make us forget what is right. The fact that they can challenge them is not good because a duty is supposed to have a good essence: they are morals and they are our foundation. Because Creon was not able to do so, Antigone was there to remind him of what needs to be done and he did not appreciate this. The reasons why Creon would not complete his duties are not strong enough to justify his actions as the boys are already dead and there is nothing he can do to change that. Therefore, there is no need to dwell on hatred and he should have fulfilled his duties.

lyounder01 — 2023-10-13 21:03:02 UTC

Part of the reasons why Creon did not want to listen to what Antigone was thinking of doing is because she was a woman, and as we all know, women have always been struggling to make their voices heard. What Creon is doing is reminiscent of Codella’s tweet where he was attacking the former White House CIO because of what she was wearing. He was saying that her clothes are too distracting for him to be able to understand what she was saying. This is all to say that she is a woman and it is bothering him that she is being seen and expressing her words. This comes back with Creon as he was arguing with Antigone, he was making several statements about her being “just a woman” and him being the man, so she has nothing to say to all of this as well as he is the only one who has the right to decide.

lyounder01 — 2023-10-13 21:27:58 UTC

In this play, Oedipus will have pride that is not well placed and that seems to have taken over other traits that he may have. Surely, this all begins because he is a king and this fact plays a huge role in his pride. Moreover, we must remember that Oeudipus had a fate that the oracle predicted for him. He thought it was something that he was able to escape; therefore, this gave him even more confidence about who he was because the way his life was going was giving him the impression that he succeeded in escaping it. Since he was pretending to be this person he is not, Oedipus has created an identity that is not his true self and we can tell that he is lacking in self- awareness. All of this coming together just shows that he is a person with a lot of pride and we can see that this trait did not play in his favor.

lyounder01 — 2023-10-13 21:34:41 UTC

The title of this play is really interesting because it does not directly resonate with the context of the play itself. However, I feel like during this play, Electra as well as the chorus have been the ones mourning the death of their king, Agamemnon. Surely, Electra has been the one performing the libation bearer at the tomb of her father and this is the reason why I chose this picture. I feel like this picture of a veiled woman in black would represent how Electra was feeling during the entire play as she was mourning her father, while everyone else was preoccupied with revenge. Additionally, the chorus has also been reminding us about Agamemnon's death and mourning him.

lyounder01 — 2023-10-13 21:45:43 UTC

This quote by Martin Luther King fits well as a lesson to what has happened during “The Libation Bearers”. Whenever we find ourselves in darkness, we can not put ourselves into an even darker place because that will never be the solution. In this case, Orestes and Electra are the ones concerned since they are being motivated by the death of their father to do bad actions that will surely not bring him back and they were about to put themselves into very bad situations. Instead of answering the wrong with the wrong, they should have known better, which is complicated to do when something tragic happens to someone that was related to us, but they will eventually realize that it was not the best option for them to seek revenge. I understand the fact that they wanted to seek justice for their father, but they should have done it in a better way that would not require any violence and they should have reflected more about the consequences of their actions.

The Odyssey

lyounder01 — 2023-11-28 22:14:51 UTC

When thinking about the Odyssey now that I have entirely read it, I feel like it is a play that I would compare to the concept of " an escape room", but in this case a lot more challenging and real. Surely, Odysseus along with his crew have been through a lot: they had to go through a lot of different islands and places to be able to get back home. In every single place in which they stopped, there was something that would either keep them for a long time there or something that they had to run away from. The fact that they had to confront something at every single place they have been to is the reason why it made me think of an escape room, which is going from room to room after you have solved the riddle of the room. However, I would still say that Odysseus has been through much more than just solving riddles as he also lost some of his crew members along the way and actually risked his life the entire time. In some escape rooms, you can also lose one of your friends on the way to be able to get on the next room, which is very similar.

The Aeneid

lyounder01 — 2023-11-28 22:15:11 UTC

This quote from Maya Angelou explains a lot about how heavy bearing stories that only you know must be and how challenging it can get sometimes. In this play, Aeneas is the leading character but he is also taking a lot on him since the fall of Troy. During his journey, we can see that he has been struggling finding a balance between his personal life and his duties as a leader, but this is not something he explicitly mentions nor mentionned at all. He also gets into small conflicts with his own family in addition to all the hidden thoughts that affect him. Although he might hide a huge part of himself, he does not hesitate to always rely on fate, which I believe was his way of deciding between the personal needs and the duties whenever it was too much.

Ovid

lyounder01 — 2023-11-28 22:17:54 UTC

The concepts of passion, love and desire have never really been considered a “normal” topic of conversation in our society, which has made authors like Ovid memorable for what they did since he was able to talk about it explicitly even though it was not tolerated. I would like to compare this fact to the trilogy that everyone knows about and that is known around the entire globe, “Fifty Shades”.  This trilogy deals with the same issues that Ovid is talking about in his poems and is putting it out in the world through a visual perspective which can be more triggering than words written down. Either way, I think that both of these oeuvres have had the ability to normalize subjects that we avoid talking about in our society that in fact needed to be more exposed. Talking about something that is part of our nature and that we will have to accept either way must be done and rejecting it will not make us feel any better. I would also like to add to that the fact that people are willing to talk about the subject and the proof is how famous the movies were as soon as the first one was out; however, they choose not to because of society.

The allegory of the cave

lyounder01 — 2023-12-06 16:13:07 UTC

I think “The allegory of the Cave'' has made me think about the topic of aliens that has gone viral for a few months because their existence has been confirmed. People will have their own opinions about aliens and will believe in their existence or not. I think this is a good comparison with the allegory of the cave because in this latter, the men who are chained only have either perspective of what life is and if someone comes and tells them there is more than what they see, they will probably choose not to believe that person. In the case of aliens, because we are so used to seeing human beings everyday, we would never think about living with aliens on planet earth, but how do we know that if we only have our daily perspective? Furthermore, there were stories about people testifying the existence of aliens and how they saw them. Those testimonies have not changed much on people’s thoughts and they will simply not believe those people, which in "The Allegory of the Cave” is something that happened, since the other prisoners were still skeptical about what the free prisoner was telling them.

lyounder01 — 2023-12-06 16:35:48 UTC

Odysseus has been one of the most stubborn heroes I have ever seen and I think that he is very similar to Thor since this latter has a lot of pride and ego, just like Odysseus does. Indeed, Thor has shown us that he is capable as a hero and he has the required qualities to be one, but the fact that people let him know that will lead to the rise of his ego and pride. Thor also has a protective side when it comes to his friends and he might be very hard to convince when it comes to making decisions about something that will affect his closed ones. Odysseus is the exact same way in that sense as he will also be very stubborn, has a lot of pride because he is in control and he is smarter. He will also show loyalty to his close ones and commitment, even though sometimes it might just shows stubbornness.

lyounder01 — 2023-12-06 16:48:47 UTC

Finally, I would like to compare a moment of this play, which I thought was very interesting, with the sirens. During this moment, Odysseus was told not to listen to them because they have the power to control and enchant men with their voices; nevertheless, Odysseus perceedds to let his greed take over and not listen to what he was advised to do. The fact that he did not want to miss out on the experience of the sirens simply shows how greedy we are as human beings. I think that this is something that I can relate to the real world. He was told that those voices were amazing and he did not want to miss the experience, so he put himself, as well as his companions, through a potential danger only to satisfy his own desires. I think that this is something that we do, as human beings; being selfish in the worst way possible only for us to have the best experience and not missing out. This is not something we constantly do, but we surely do have movements where we fear missing out on something so bad that we are putting ourselves in danger as well as people surrounding us. Therefore, this could be a lesson.

lyounder01 — 2023-12-06 20:44:43 UTC

“The Stranger'' from Camus is a book that I would compare Aeneas’ journey to, as the protagonist of this story, Mersault, is experiencing isolation because he cannot fit into the rules of society as well as the rules people are supposed to follow. Aeneas during his journey also had to go through a lot of questions related to the meaning of life as well as destiny and the fact that he seemed to question himself about that can be related to the fact that Mersault also was reflecting on that side of his life. Because they both did not feel like they belonged to a certain society, they have both experienced the feeling of being isolated either in society in general or during his journey, when it comes to Aeneis.

lyounder01 — 2023-12-09 21:13:42 UTC

Because the whole purpose of Aneas’ journey is to basically create a new home for his people and because he is so devoted to that mission, I thought I could relate this to the real world by comparing it to the concept of humanitarian actions/ missions. Surely, I know that being a humanitarian is a really hard work that will call for sacrifices and choices that we did not ask for, as well as obstacles that we need to face even though we did not need them. But in this case, it is their duty to face every single challenge just like Aeneas did for his people because that is the duty of leaders. During his journey, Aeneas will discover a lot of things and will experience another perspective of what life can be not only for him but also for people around him. Humanitarian actions are also about getting yourself involved into a world that you are not used to and a world that is different from the one that used to surround you. The only goal is to first serve people who are in need and eventually that experience will be beneficial for our own selves.

lyounder01 — 2023-12-09 21:47:53 UTC

I believe that comparing Ovid to Beyonce will be a good idea in this case since they are both expressing themselves about the same topics but in different ways. Desire and sexuality are the topics they both have in common and the song written by Beyonce called “partition” is a great example where she talks about a very passionate relationship between  two human beings, just like Ovid did in most of his poems, especially ‘Metamorphoses’. I believe that what is interesting here too is the way they are both sharing about the subject through different arts but that can also be related to the fact that they are not part of the same generation: Ovid is

Sappho

lyounder01 — 2023-12-09 22:02:35 UTC

Talking about Sappho reminded me of another song by Beyonce called “Formation”, which is a song celebrating women empowerment as well as sensuality and independence. This song has a really deep meaning to it and it encourages women to never be afraid of assuming who they are and who they want to be. She also uses a cultural context that might differ from Sappho, but this does not take away the fact that they are both talking about the same subject. In her song, Beyonce challenges societal beliefs on women: what they should look like or what they should do, which is the exact same thing that Sappho is doing in her poetry, which I thought was a very interesting comparison. Moreover, the fact that they are talking about the same subject shows that it is still a topic that needs to be addressed even today.

lyounder01 — 2023-12-09 22:11:39 UTC

What Sappho has done in her poetry can be one of the outcomes of what the LGBTQ+ movement is nowadays. Surely, this movement represents everything a society hates and has been a constant battle for years now, that people were always scared to face. I would like to compare Sappho to this movement/community, that would have been part of, to show that we have been a long way dealing with the emancipation of people when it comes to their sexuality, and even though today it is still a fight, but the progress is there and the more it is talked about, the more are the results.

lyounder01 — 2023-12-09 22:24:56 UTC

Lastly, I would like to compare Sappho with the iconic figure of Grace Jones, a Jamaican-American singer, actress and model that was able to break stereotypes and introduce the world to an expression of sexuality through art and fashion. Sappho has done her job in expressing and embracing sexuality between two people sharing the same gender, but Grace Jones was able to bring that further and represent each LBTQ+ individuals of the community as well as the androgynous figure. Comparing both has given me two different perspective of what these two figures were able to do during their own time, what challenges they faced and how it has an impact nowadays in that field.

lyounder01 — 2023-12-09 22:55:40 UTC

Michelangelo has been one of the most important figures when it comes to the renaissance period, and one of his work which is called “David” can be a good connection with the work of Ovid as at that period of time, nudity was not as common as it is in our society now. Surely, the fact that Michalngelo was able to expose such work was a huge step and it is also a way of showing how desire and sexuality does not have to be related to the body directly. For instance, in Michelangelo’s case, he is not associating sexuality nor desire, to his work at all, which is a really creative way of showing people that desire is not always related to the body nor nudity. What I wanted to show here is how his work has helped break a common thought that everyone had and that now has changed, which can also create a new lens to Ovid’s work as well as his work.

lyounder01 — 2023-12-11 20:03:18 UTC

All of this talk made me link the text of “The Allegory of the Cave” to the concept of existentialism because it made me think about the actual meaning of life and what everyone else thinks of it. Maybe my definition of life will not be the same as my friends. It also made me question the perspective that people have when it comes to  leaving life, my own perspective and ask myself if there is more that I actually do not know, when I think I know everything and if all of this is true. It also made me think about how we ended up defining what we are living now and how we manage to convince ourselves that this is real life and nothing else. I think “The Allegory of the Cave” explains this in some ways and it is giving us advice basically saying that we should never settle for what we know, always be open to discover more and seek beyond what we see as well as what is given to us.

lyounder01 — 2023-12-11 20:04:02 UTC

All of this talk made me link the text of “The Allegory of the Cave” to the concept of existentialism because it made me think about the actual meaning of life and what everyone else thinks of it. Maybe my definition of life will not be the same as my friends. It also made me question the perspective that people have when it comes to  leaving life, my own perspective and ask myself if there is more that I actually do not know, when I think I know everything and if all of this is true. It also made me think about how we ended up defining what we are living now and how we manage to convince ourselves that this is real life and nothing else. I think “The Allegory of the Cave” explains this in some ways and it is giving us advice basically saying that we should never settle for what we know, always be open to discover more and seek beyond what we see as well as what is given to us.