Skip to main content

No, I Am Not Talking About Barney. -Brooke

 I find it interesting how books and movies have used dragons as the antagonist, and I really wonder why dragons are the most or one of the most chosen creatures to be the antagonist. Of course, dragons are epic and beautiful creatures, but what makes people find them so fascinating...? I have heard that each people group have great legends of dragons roaming through their country, so I find that could be a possibility why we use them in so many of our books and movies.  

One reason I believe dragons are commonly used is because they are supposed to represent Satan. Time after time in Beowulf, the Danes talked about Grendel in such a negative connotation like he was at Satan’s level of sinfulness. Here is one example on page nine (102-107): “Grendel was the name of this grim demon haunting the marches, marauding round the heath and the desolate fens; he had dwelt for a time in misery among the banished monsters, Cain’s clan, whom the Creator had outlawed and condemned as outcasts.” I would be angry if a dragon was trying to steal my treasure too, but I find it so interesting how Seamus Heaney portrays Grendel as the villain.  

Why do you think dragons are commonly used in books and movies as the antagonist?  

I commented on Clabo and Caroline's blogs. 

Comments

  1. Caroline TuckerFebruary 15, 2021 at 10:26 PM

    I agree with you on your idea of why dragons are always the antagonist or villains. I believe they make great villains because it is easy to make a dragon greedy, selfish, and isolated. These qualities make a great villain in a hero based story like what we are reading. However, dragons also make great good guys or heroes. I find it fun when I read a book where dragons are not evil but are caring and thoughtful creatures that want to do good.

    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

Honor and Gain; Which Do You Seek?

 Pericles.... thanks? I can only imagine that's what the family and friends were thinking after they heard his historic funeral speech honoring the departed. What do I mean? Well, Pericles briefly mentions the men who have fallen at the beginning of his speech, but then goes on to discuss how great Athens is, and how the contributions the city has made to the world are unmatched.. why? I understand that he is also commending the citizens of Athens and empowering them to continue to make their city greater, but I thought this was supposed to be a funeral speech about dead war heroes, not about Athens. Another thing I found interesting is what Pericles said on page five about honor: "For it is only the love of honour that never grows old; and honour it is, not gain, as some would have it, that rejoices the heart of age and helplessness" (Thucydides, page 5). Have you ever watched a show or movie, or read a book, about a duel between two men? There is always an unspoken agre...
Post a Comment
Read more

Aristotle Might Not Like Me...Or Jesus//Haylee Lynd

      Aristotle says that the man who does not get angry at the things he should be angry at "is thought unlikely to defend himself; and to endure being insulted and put up with insult to one's friends is slavish" (Aristotle 41). While he states that passivity is preferred to excessive anger, he still gives great criticism to it.  In contrast to Aristotle, the man who Christians believe to be the most just is Jesus who states in Matthew 5:39-40, "...do not resist an evil person. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other also. And if anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, hand over your coat as well." Essentially, arguing that one is not to respond in anger when insulted or hurt, to not defend one's self. Most individual's are unable to achieve this. Our natural instinct is to defend ourselves, especially in physical cases. However, Christians strive to be like Jesus in this way. I would also argue that it is a very admirable wa...
2 comments
Read more