Skip to main content

Who's Pulling the Strings Here?- Rachael Gregson


 The war and its wounds run deeper than we think. I mean, yes, we are reading about the feud between the Trojans and the Greeks, but the opposing side is really not portrayed in a way that opposing sides are usually written. They are written as people, the same as the Greeks, and the real war being between the gods and acted through mortals as their puppets. This can be seen in how the two armies go about fighting; it gets to a point where they are so desperate to stop the fighting that they don't even have a preference as to who wins anymore. They just absentmindedly declare a truce and pray that the side in the wrong would be killed and their women raped if cease-fire ends-whoever that is meant to be. When conflict does resume once more, both sides suffer terribly. Both sides by the end of it also seem to lack emotion, as if a force bigger than themselves has all the strings pulled. Pandarus fires toward Menelaus only because of Athena's influence, and no ones makes decisions solely based off their judgments, just like Helen goes back to bed with Paris only because of her fear of a goddess. If you look closer, the war isn't even between men.It's between the gods. They are the only ones taking pleasure out of the war, and it's something that Hera and Athena can hide behind to settle things with Zeus. It's just unfortunate that the humans serve as their pawns. 

I commented on posts by Jamie and Ian. 

Comments

  1. ClaboAugust 24, 2020 at 4:12 PM

    I completely agree with you and had the exact same thoughts as I was reading through the books. It seems as if the gods are more invested in the wars than the Greeks and Trojans. Maybe its because of their immortality and they are just trying to find a way to entertain themselves at the expense of the people. It is very unfortunate for the humans, but that is what happens when you live in a world where the gods are mostly self-serving.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hailey MorganAugust 24, 2020 at 4:29 PM

    Homer definitely emphasizes the inherent humanity of the warriors on both sides of the battle. In fact, when reading, it quickly becomes almost impossible to pick a favorite between the Achaeans and the Trojans since neither is truly represented as being the enemy.

    Because both armies are essentially under the control of the gods, choosing a side to root for becomes ultimately tied to which deity you would prefer to win the war.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Word Painting in Vesta—Lily Caswell

  Word painting in Weelkes’s As Vesta Was from Latmos Hill Descending is quite interesting. And because that is a really long title, I’m calling it Vesta from now on. Word painting is basically when the melody matches up with the lyrics. So in Vesta, when it says “ascending” and “descending”, there are obviously scales going up and down. The madrigal was written for six voices to sing unaccompanied, so when they start to come together, it matches with the lyrics; so if the lyric says “two by two”, there are only two voices; “three by three” there is another voice added, and so forth. All the parts combine in exclamation before Vesta before it is left “all alone” to the highest soprano. All the way to the end of the piece, word painting continues when shouts of “Long live fair Oriana” with the bass sustaining long notes. Word painting in and of itself is a highly interesting topic because a musician takes the words of a poem or a sonnet and writes a melody line that pertains to cer...
4 comments
Read more

Welcome to Honors! (Please Read This)

     Welcome to Honors! My name is Abbie Hedden and I serve as President of Honors. Jamie Peters is our Vice President, and Caroline Tucker is our Secretary. I look forward to getting to know all of you in class during this upcoming year! There are a few things you need to know about Honors.      There are no quizzes or tests in Honors. Grades are provided based on attendance/class participation, blogs, explication papers, and the research paper. The papers will be addressed at a later date, as they aren't due until later in the semester. However, there is a blog post due every week. Bearing that in mind, here are the requirements! Criteria Blog posts are due Monday at 11:59PM , and comments are due Tuesday at 9:29AM . DO NOT BE LATE ON ASSIGNMENTS. Points WILL be deducted from late assignments! Be sure to have your name in your Blogger profile Blog posts should include at least one to two paragraphs on that week’s reading assignment.  Blog posts shoul...
Post a Comment
Read more

Topsy Turvy Day—Lily Caswell

  I cannot remember how old I was when I watched T he Hunchback of Notre Dame  but I was at least 8 or 9. I didn’t realize until probably a couple of years ago that the song  “Topsy Turvy” and the corresponding event was actually based on a real festival. The Feast of Fools was usually held on January 1 though it could have also been held on the 6 th  or the 13 th  of January. It was portrayed as a parody of Catholic feasts. Church bells were rung improperly, songs were sung out of tune, and the celebrants “wore strange garments and masks, and used puddings, sausages, and old shoes as censers.” (Seaton, p 77) In the song “Topsy Turvy”, it says “It’s the day the devil in us gets released / It’s the day we mock the prig and shock the priest / Everything is Topsy Turvy at the Feast of Fools… And it’s the day we do the things that we deplore ‘ On the other three hundred and sixty-four.”  I commented on Haylee Lynd’s and Jamie’s posts. Sources: https://www.brita...
1 comment
Read more