Greek Mythology in English Literature

Greek Mythology in English Literature

Thank the Greeks for their contribution to our entertainment in literature!

Sources

The End

• www.shmoop.com
• www.bartleby.com
• www.helliniccomserve.com
• https://frankensteinallusions. wikispaces.com
• www.dspace.library.uu.nl

Frankenstein

Poems

Ode to Nightingdale

Romeo and Juliet

Novels

• a poem by Mary Shelley
• There is an allusion to Prometheus. Prometheus is a Titan who stole fire from the gods. When this happened, Zeus would bind him to a rock where an eagle would eat his liver and then let it grow back at night. This is similar to Victor Frankenstein in that he learns the secret to life and gives it to mankind, while Prometheus learns of fire. They both must learn from their actions and everyone they love no longer associates with them. Also, Prometheus created manad Victor created new creatures.
• “I was like the Arabian who had been buried with the dead, and found a passage to life aided only by one glimmering, and seemingly ineffectual, light.” This is an allusion to Sinbad the Sailor who was marries to a beautiful girl in a land where if one spouse died, the other is buried alive with the spouse. Sinbad’s wife falls ill and dies, and Sinbad is thrown into the grave with few items. Fighting to stay alive, Sinbad finally finds and follows a light to an exit to this cavern.

Moby Dick

• a tragedy by William Shakespeare
• There is an allusion to Cupid, Diana, and Danae used when Romeo says: "Well in that hit you miss: She'll not be hit With Cupid's arrow; she hath dian's wit And, in strong proof of chastity well arm'd From love's weak chilidish bow she lives unharm'd She will not stay the siege of loving terms, Nor ope her lap to saint-seducing gold: O, she is rich in beauty, only poor, That when she dies with beauty dies her store."
• Cupid, son of Venus, is god of love. He's often referred to as a blindfolded, pudgy, infant and armed with a bow and arrow that struck people to make them fall in love.
• Diana was the goddess of the hunt, but no one could ever find her in the woods even though she was there. She actually turned one hunter into a deer when he spied on her while bathing. She was a virgin goddess so Cupid's arrow never struck her.
• Danae was a young woman whose father Acrisius had received an oracle that he would be killed by her son, so he hid Danae so that she could not have a son. Zeus liked Danae and "visited" her as a golden shower-how Shakespeare styles "saint-seducing gold. She became pregnant by Zeus and had a son named Perseus who would later kill Medusa and Acrisius.

This is a poem inspired by Greeks. The importance of the nightingale comes from its appearance in Greek myth, but the nightingale is actually only mentioned in the title. There are several other allusions to the mythology and culture of Ancient Greece in this poem. Examples are shown below:

• The nightingale alludes to the Philomel (Philomela), whose tongue was cut out to prevent her from telling about her rape, and who was later turned into a nightingale by the gods to help her escape from death at the hands of her rapist.
• Line 4 (One minute past, and Lethe-wards had sunk:)"Lethe" alludes to a river in the Greek afterworld, Hades. Those who drank from it lost their memory. In this line, opium causes the speaker to lose memory and consciousness.
• Line 7 (That thou, light-wingèd Dryad of the trees,) In Greek myths, a dryad is a female spirit attached to a tree.
• Line 16 (Full of the true, the blushful Hippocrene,) "Hippocrene," was the name of a spring that the winged horse Pegasus created by stamping its hoof into the ground. Drinking from it was supposed to give poets inspiration. The drink is described as "blushing" because of its red color.
• Line 32 (Not charioted by Bacchus and his pards,) Bacchus is the Greek god of wine and drunkenness. The speaker claims that his escape into the nightingale's world will not be because of drunkenness.

Greek mythology references were used heavily throughout the entire book. Shown below are only a few examples:

• Greek mythology was used in describing the tattooing on the Queequeg when saying "The counterpane of the patchwork, full of old little particular colored squares and triangles, and this arm of his tattooed all over with an interminable Cretan labyrinth of a figure." The Cretan labyrinth was the maze, which imprisoned the half-bull, half-human, Minotaur. This allows the reader to imagine this large, black harpoon with a "Cretan labyrinth of a figure."
• The Fates are mentioned when Ishmael says "I should now take it into my head to go on a whaling voyage, this the invisible police officer at the Fates, who has constant surveillance of me, and secretly dogs me, and influences me in some unaccountable way." The Fates are three goddesses who controlled life and human destiny. Clotho spun the thread of life, Lachisis determines its length, and Atropos cuts its off.
• "...And in the Greek mythologies, Great Jove himself being made incarnate in a snow-white bull." This refers to the Greek myth of Europa: Zeus puts Europa and swam off with her to Crete.
• "I have boarded the Argo-Navis" refers to the mythical ship in which Jason sought the Golden Fleece.

Twilight

Plays

Chronicles of Narnia

Influence Of Greeks

Macbeth

• Bella describes Edward as a statue of Adonis that comes to life. Adonis was the lover of Aphrodite, commonly known as Venus. Venus is the mother of Cupid in the myth of Cupid and Psyche.
• Both Cupid and Edward are described as extremely good-looking. E.J. Kenney describes Cupid in Apuleius when he writes "She [Psyche] saw a rich head of golden dripping with ambrosia, a milk-white neck...the god's body was smooth and shining and such as Venus need not be ashamed of in her son." Edward is said to have a sculpted chest, "scintilating arms" and skin that is "smooth like a marble" and glitters in the sunlight.
• Cupid and Edward are both immortal with Edward being a vampire. They both fall in love with humans. They both have a child part human and part immortal.
• Psyche and Bella are both mortal women who feel intimidated by their husbands, get seperated from their husbands, and work to get themselves back together again.

Many people mentioned in the Chronicles are inspired by Greek myths. A few examples are shown below:

• Mr. Tumnus is a faun, which is a man with goat ears and legs. He plays a flute-like instrument like the Greek god Pan, who was also a faun.
• Mythical gods such as Silenus and Bacchus are mentioned by Tumnus in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, and they, along with the River God, are characters in Prince Caspian.
• Centaurs, rowdy in Greek mythology, became the intelligent star-gazers who were greatly respected by everyone. Chiron, (the only true noble Centaur in the Ancient world), contain many great traits similar to Lewis's centaurs and was a great healer like Cloudbirth from The Silver Chair.
• The Nymphs, spirits from the trees and water, are mentioned in almost all of the Chronicles.
• In The Magician's Nephew, Aslan transforms Strawberry the cab horse into Fledge, the winged horse. This is very similar to the Greek myth of Pegasus.

• a tragedy by William Shakespeare
• There is an allusion to the three Gorgons when Macduff discovers that King Duncan has been murdered and he remarks "Approach your chamber, and destroy your sight/With a new Gorgon." To Macduff, this murder is not simply a crime, but as horrible as a 4th Gorgon. To understand this allusion, the three Gorgons are monsters with terrifying appearances, The effect of this allusion is that Macbeth's evil deed is made clearer to the audience.

Americans enjoy different types of literature today that Greeks created hundreds of years ago such as comedies, tragedies, fables, odes, and lyrics. Ancient Greeks wrote about invisible gods they believe created and controlled the world. Because of their imagination, Americans have been greatly entertained in literature in the forms of plays, poems, novels, and much more.

*This is a picture of the horrible appearances of the three Gorgons.