Mythology and literature Essay Example for Free

Mythology and literature Essay The definition of mythology is deprived from the word myth. The word itself comes from the Greek word mythos, which means fable, legend or sagas. The word myth is a story that seeks to rationalize the universe and the world around us, passed down orally from generation to generation explaining religious origin, natural phenomena or supernatural event. Mythology is a collection of myths that concerns with cosmogony and cosmology, shared by a particular society at some particular time in human history. Literature is a body of written works of language, period or culture. Literature can be divided into fiction (e.g. fairty tale, gothic, saga etc) and non-fiction (e.g. essays, journal, science fiction etc). There are many distinctive natures of mythology and they seek to describe what a particular person or society believe during that period of time. Myths serves as an charter for their institutions, customs and beliefs. The typical mythology is the explanation of the universe and its ethology. Normally, the setting is set in a previous proto-world (simliar to the current world but also different) and they often revolve around non-human or extroadinary people such as god, goddess, supernatural beings (e.g. zeus, adam and eve, prometheus etc). These story explains why things are and how they became to be. It rationalised our way of thinking, reconcile us to reality and establishes our pattern of life. Apart from the explanation of the creation of the universe, mythologies seek to explain everyday natural phenomena. Certain myths explains way the sun exist and why there is night and day. Some explains the existance of seasons: Spring,Winter,Summer and Autumn while others shows of mother nature providing us with food and shelter. These myth suggest a way of understanding nature and organizing thoughts. For example, structualism recognizes different contrasting aspect (light and dark, good/evil) as centres to myths which charters for social order or value within a society (functionalism). Myth have been created by human beings for many reasons over thousands of years. They are an intellectual product of humanity and a rich resource for the ideas and belief of past generations. Their extroadinary and unbelievable aspect combined with the constant thought that there might be something out their is what keeps mythology functioning and is what keeps literature moving. There are also many differences between literature and mythology. For instance, they were used for different purposes and existed in different times. Myth several purposes, including to socially/politically control society (e.g. to spread a myth about something to control people, to scare people when facts were not available). Literature on the other hand, is more about persuading and informing people. There are also other benefits to mythology that cannot be achieved in literature, such as there is no boundary to the world, there is no such thing as false and there is low risk of anyone challenging your theory. The sets of beliefs also differ and the way they view the world differs. For example, literatures audience are educated modern people while mythologys one is from the old generation where there was not much information about the world and how it works. This would mean that the two different texts have different intended audience which would inevitably show why they differ so much. Both are products of humans but during different time frame. The arrival of the modern era would inevitably mean the death of mythology. The transformation from one to another was the belief that myth was useless, false and outmoded and that it did not work. Science (regarded as a fictional literature) was the objective explanation of how the world around us work while the subjective myth was about faith and believing something unfounded. Scientific rational thought was based on empricial knowledge, a priori (not falsifiable) and our way of thinking is based on facts. Myth is ultimately a different knowledge, an ideology, a set of belief. Systems of myths have provided a cosmological and historical framework for societies that have lacked the more sophisticated knowledge provided by modern science. Myth is related to science, however it only provide basis for a theory, not knowledge. For example the myth of how the origin was created would have lacked modern day rational scientific belief because they would prefer a more true, superior and more authority theory, which is the big bang theory. Our modern rational paradigm thought is based on observation. Scientific rational thinking is based on logic to solve or explain how the world works and as it becomes a part of our everyday thinking, mythology will be inevitable cast aside. Carl Jung invented modern scientific theory and for him, the world of dream, and myth represented the most fascinating and promising road to deeper understanding. The significance of literature in mythology as said We need the stories of myth to make sense of the confusion of our society and our own psyches. Myth voices the truths of our unconscious selves, and the gods, goddesses, and heroes of myth embody aspects of creativity, cleverness, grief, joy, aggression, and ecstasy. Carl Jung believes that even the most sophisticated and important literature requires some mythological aspect. (E.g. the Lord of the Ring depends on mythical characteristic to drives the ideas; horror movies have a message and some urban myth taps into childs fear of a bogyman under the bed) Northrop Frye criticises literature and states the importance of cultural myth underlying literature (E.g. Sea, land and sky, control, creation, decay, regeneration, our fear). Mythology evokes our sub-conscious mind (e.g. dream) which is employed by reference to mythology in literature. Frye states that mythology provided themes for some of the worlds greatest drama, and similar themes can be traced back to the Renaissance literature, through to Shakespeare (E.g. Hamlet, Midsummer Nights Dream) and finally to modern poetry and thus mythology plays a significance role with literature. One could even say that literature is based on mythology. Karen Armstrong book A Short History of Myth is about how literature and mythology were shaped by the problems of the society people lived in. Armstrong states that the existence of Mythology from an early period: Human beings fall easily into despair, and from the very beginning we invented stories that enabled us to place our lives in a larger setting, that revealed an underlying pattern, and gave us a sense that, against all the depressing and chaotic evidence to the contrary, life had meaning and value. With the coming of the great revolutions in human experience science was used to explain facts as opposed the theory of myth, which became useless, false and outmoded. Literature, which could explain things that was never thought possible, was regarded as the next step from mythology (from an uneducated society to a civilized society). The relationship between literature and mythology is one of similarities as well as differences. They are both important creation by human beings and will continue to play an important role in the intellectual world. Literature will always include some aspect of myth which will continue to shape our modern world like it did in the past.

Comparing Hurston’s Books, Seraph on the Suwannee and Their Eyes Were Watching God :: Compararison

Comparing Hurston’s Books, Seraph on the Suwannee and Their Eyes Were Watching God I found both books, Seraph on the Suwannee and Their Eyes Were Watching God to be very well written, yet I found it very ironic and almost funny to compare the two. Although it may not have been intentional, Hurston uses, what can be called, race reversals to describe Janie and Arvay. Janie is a not-so-typical black woman who is confident and while she is somewhat submissive to her husbands, she has more integrity than her white counterpart, Arvay. The text says when describing her unique beauty, that "the men notice her firm buttocks like she had grape fruits/ in her hip pockets; the great rope of black hair swinging to her/ waist and unraveling in the wind like a plume." Arvay, on the other hand, is "teasing to the fancy of many men," but she is described as, "pretty if you liked delicate-made girls/†¦ (and) could easily be overlooked." The irony of this comparison lies in the fact that unlike life during the time period that the story is written, Janie is seen as an icon of inner-beauty and strength; Arvay is cute, but she isn't as strong. In some of the other literature in this course and others, black women are written as strong characters, but many of them don't live the life that Janie lived. She appeared to have more choices than most and she acted upon her feelings rather than suffering in many cases. She falls in love with her last two husbands without feeling as if she were being raped or forced to do unnecessary things. Unlike her mother, grandmother and other black women, particularly slaves, she is given the chance to be feminine and complete her duties as a wife without subtle forms of torture. I feel that Hurston is using her imagination to "get back" at white women in a sense because she shapes Arvay's character as the one who is slightly oppressed. When the story begins, Arvay is upset with her sister because she "takes" the man that Arvay wants to marry. Because she feels that a piece of the life that she wanted to have (the life of a preacher's wife) is taken away from her, she tries to go into seclusion and ends up marrying a man that she persuaded to love. Her first time having sex with Jim is written as a near rape: "A tearing sound of starched fabric, and the garment was being dragged ruthlessly down her legs.

Representations of Love in Much Ado About Nothing

Explore representations of love in Much Ado About Nothing In Much Ado About Nothing, Shakespeare uses literary structures such as doubles and opposites in order to emphasise the plays main themes and ideas. McEachern claims â€Å"It is undoubtedly the most socially and psychologically realistic of his comedies, in it’s portrait of the foibles generosities of communal life. † (McEachern, 2006, 1) One main theme I want to explore is love and how Shakespeare represents this in Much Ado About Nothing. The two main genres in Shakespeare’s dramas are tragedy and comedy. Tragedy always ends in death and comedy always ends in a marriage. Although Much Ado inevitably ends in marriage, it differs from some of Shakespeare’s other romantic comedies as his other comedies usually portray love in a much more unrealistic way. â€Å"Much Ado About Nothing is best known for the ‘merry war’ between one of it’s two couples, and an oxymoron could also describe this comedy’s identity as a whole. Shakespeare offers a play of light and dark, of romantic union wrested from fear and malice and of social harmony soothing the savagery of psychic violence† (McEachern, 2006, 1) In Act 1 Scene 1, Don Pedro, prince of Arragon arrives with his bastard brother Don John, and his two friends Claudio and Benedick. It is in this Act that Beatrice and Benedick first meet and the war of wits begin. Leonato states â€Å"There is a kind of merry war betwixt Signior Benedick and her [Beatrice]; they never meet but there is a skirmish of wit between them. † (Much Ado, Act 1 Scene 1, 520) Although their words seem quite hateful to one another, at the same time it may also come across as flirtatious. Before Beatrice even meets Benedick, she expresses her distaste for him, however, she talks about him in such great depth it is almost more like an obsession than hatred. Benedick teases Beatrice by saying â€Å"I am loved of all ladies, only you excepted: and I would I could find it in my heart that I had not a hard heart; for, truly, I love none. † (Act 1 scene 1, 521) to which Beatrice replies â€Å"A dear happiness to women: they would else have been troubled with a pernicious suitor. I thank God and my cold blood, I am of your humour for that: I had rather hear my dog bark at a crow than a man swear he loves me† (Act 1 Scene 1, 521) By using the characters of Beatrice and Benedick, Shakespeare mocks the conventional type of love, romantic love, which is expressed by Hero and Claudio. This is also an example of how Shakespeare uses doubles in his play, as he uses the two couples to express two types of love. One being more realistic, that of Beatrice and Benedick, and the other being the more unrealistic, over the top romantic love expressed by Hero and Claudio. Even though the plot is largely based on Hero and Claudio’s relationship, the witty banter and seemingly unromantic relationship between Beatrice and Benedick seems much more interesting to the reader and we are more interested in how their relationship will develop. It is this relationship that seems much more believable compared to Claudio and Hero’s fairytale love at first sight. It is through contrasting these two different types of love and through the different use of language that Shakespeare can mock the conventional romantic love. Claudio uses a totally different style of language to Benedick when they both speak of love. Benedick is highly cynical and negative about love where as Claudio is more pretentious and elaborate when he speaks about Hero, for example when he says â€Å"Can the world buy such a Jewel? † (Act 1 scene 1, 522). This language is completely different to the way that benedick speaks to Beatrice as the first thing he says to her is â€Å"My dear Lady disdain! Are you yet living? † (Act 1 scene 1, 521) Benedick also speaks of his frustration of Claudio’s eloquent language when speaking of love as he states â€Å"He was wont speak plain and to the purpose, like an honest man and a soldier†¦his words are a very fantastical banquet, just so many strange dishes. (Act 1 Scene 3, 529) This however is quite hypocritical of him as in Act 4 Scene 1, Benedick confesses his love for Beatrice and states â€Å"I do love nothing in the world so well as you: is that not strange? † (Act 4, Scene 1, 541) to which Beatrice responds â€Å"I love you with so much of my heart, that none is left to protest† (Act 4, scene 1, 541) This shows how dramatically their relationship has changed as the witty banter and insults have turned into confessions of love for one another. It is often difficult to understand and accept the love between Hero and Claudio as it is so unrealistic. They fall in love with each other before they even truly get to know one-another, which therefore makes their love and marriage seem quite false and shallow. The fact that Claudio does not question Don John when he professes that Hero has been unfaithful, yet instead believes his word to be true, questions whether the love he has for Hero is sincere. Surely Claudio would confront his future wife before coming to any sort of conclusion, however, even her own father believes this to be true and states â€Å"why she, oh she is fallen/ into a pit of ink, that the wide sea/ hath drops too few to wash her clean again,/ and salt too little, which may season give/ to her foul tainted flash† (Act 4 Scene 1, 540) Another aspect of the play that makes Hero and Claudio’s love very unrealistic is hero’s willingness to forgive Claudio after his bold accusations of her infidelity. If his love for her was as strong and powerful as he made out, he would be more trusting of Hero in the first place. However, she seems to disregard this and does not question his behaviour, but instead is willing to carry on with the marriage. Bibliography McEachern,  Claire. Much Ado About Nothing. 2006. the Arden Shakespeare Shakespeare, W. The Complete Works of William Shakespeare. 1996. Wordsworth Editions Limited

The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde And Guy De...

One of the most powerful assets employed in any genre of literature, transformation serves as one of the most important devices in uncovering the underlying significance of a story. Although transformation is a frequently used element, its versatile function creates a unique point of inquiry for each different story. In the case of both Robert Louis Stevenson’s â€Å"The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll Mr. Hyde† and Guy de Maupassant’s â€Å"The Necklace,† transformation centers the story providing unique insight into nineteenth century class relationships and fears of social degradation and degeneration. Through the employment of vivid imagery and detailed physical contrasts, each story explores a distinctive transformation in an effort to capture†¦show more content†¦While both Utterson and Jekyll are honorable and respectable gentlemen belonging to the sophisticated upper class, Hyde, in contrast, is associated with the working class and the poo r as is attributed with an uncivilized disposition. A character who is â€Å"not easy to describe,† Hyde is characterized as having â€Å"something wrong with his appearance,† noting several malformations such as his â€Å"pale and dwarfish† stature (Stevenson, 37). As a figure who is â€Å"hardly human,† Hyde represents the degenerated form of Jekyll and his lower-class status emphasizes his supposed susceptibility to inhumane behaviors (Stevenson, 43). As the working class was seen as more primitive, the concern of the vulnerability of this class caused many to fear the poor were more prone to violent impulses. Hyde’s place in the working class replicates these fears because as Jekyll becomes Hyde, he not only degrades in physical appearance and moral standards, but he degrades in social class. Through this, Stevenson directly connects fears of degeneration to the lower class and calls into consideration the role of class relationships beyon d the context of the story. By raising these concerns, Stevenson arguably criticizes the role of class in devolutionary theory as being influenced by perceptions of class. In other words, through connecting these physical