Alfred Lord Tennyson version of "the Rape of Europa"

"Or sweet Europa's mantle blew unclasp'd,
From off her shoulder backward borne:
From one hand droop'd a crocus: one hand grasp'd
The mild bull's golden horn."

I found this stanza at http://www.victorianweb.org/authors/tennyson/palaceofart/19.html. This is what is said about the stanza by Tennyson on the website:

One can make several obvious points about this stanza, which presents Tennyson's rather mild version of the myth of Europa and the bull. First, it obviously offers an oddly tranquil, undisturbing version of the myth in which Zeus in the guise of an animal rapes Europa in both classical senses of the word, since rape meant both "to snatch or kidnap" (as in the Roman story of the rape of the Sabine women, when the founders of Rome kidnap and marry local women), and "to violate sexually." Second by not focusing on the story's obvious violence and bestiality, Tennyson can also make it his second example of erotic love (after Indian Cama). Finally, it represents an example in classical mythology of what will later become a central concern of the poet, especially in In Memoriam 95: the meeting of the divine and the human, the supernatural and the natural.

Images of the stories Mr. Sexson wants the class to focus on

The rape of Io(25) After Jove rapes her she is turned into a cow by jealous Juno.


Story of Syrinx(31), first instance of frame narrative


Europa(71), She is a beautiful girl taken into the sea by Jove against her will when she is misled to think he is a bull.


Arachne(177), She is turned into a spider


Pygmalion(335) After believing women to be whores he makes a statue of his ideal woman and falls in love with the lifeless figure. Venus grants him his wish of making the statue come to life.


Pythagoras(515) He is a blind man that has knowledge unknown to immortals. He believes that eating meat is bad because you could potentially be eating your kin considering souls travel from body to body, human and animal.

Alpheus

" ' "I was," she says, "one of the nymphs who live in the Achaean woods. I was intent on tracks and trails and setting hunting nets- no nymph had greater passion for such tasks. I never wanted to be known for beauty- I thought my courage was conspicuous but all my fame was or mere lovlieness...
One day...I made my way back from the forest...That day was hot-but twice as hot for me: the hunting had been hard, and I was weary, I came upon a stream. Unmurmuring and unperturbed it glided, crystalline- so clear down to the riverbed that one could count each pebble there. That stream was so transparent that it did not seem to flow...I bathed my feet, then I went in up to my knees. But now I wanted more cool water: I undid my dress...I strike those waters in a thousand ways, dividing, joining, splashing as I play" (170)

The story of the nymph Alpheus most resembles my life story. She is the nymph that enjoys recreation which is my greatest passion. While some see me as a pretty girl, sometimes I wish that my feminine image could be washed away, and in return be praised for the activities I partake in.
When i'm in the wilderness I often find myself describing crystalline water just as Alpheus does in her story. During the hot summer days while i'm out hiking or climbing I often find myself submerging my own body in bodies of water. The nymph does a great job of making the water sound tantalizing and inescapable.

BACCHAE

Dionysus (dye-oh-NYE-sus). Roman name Bacchus. See The Olympians for more information and another picture.
Dionysus was the god of wine, the son of Zeus and Semele, and the rescuer of Ariadne after she had been abandoned by Theseus. Dionysus also rescued his mother from the Underworld, after Zeus showed her his true nature as storm god and consumed her in lightning. It was Dionysus who granted Midas the power to turn whatever he touched into gold, then was kind enough to take the power back when it proved inconvenient.




In the story of Bacchae Dionysus wants everyone in the Greek city of Thebes to recognize him as god. He rightfully claims that he is the son of Zeua and Semele, who is the daughter of Cadmus, the founder and former ruler of Thebes. However Cadmus gave the rule of Thebes to his grandson Pentheus whose mother is Agave, Cadmus's daughter.
Dionysus grants delight of wine without pain to the rich and poor alike. All he wants is for the people of Thebes to recognize him as god. Pentheus refuses to do so believing that Dionysus is a hoax attempting to start a revolution.
The women go mad and are driven into the hills by Bacchus.
In the end Agave, driven by Bacchus, or Dionysus kills Pentheus after he is convinced by Dionysus to dress as a woman in attempt to spy on the women in the hills.
TRAGEDY: Agave and Cadmus are exiled from Thebes.

IRONY
When Pentheus is killed his body is spread all over the place. I was under the impression that every man is entitled to a proper burial after reading Antigone.

"no one should ever be above the law, neither in though nor action"(36), but it's clear here that Dionysus is going above the law. Mabey he is above the law because hes mortal.

Images from the story of Salmacis and Hermaphroditus

This story of Salmacis and Hermaphroditus is one of an ignorant boy scared of love. His temptress is a bit too much for him and although the boys believes he is alone Salmacis spies on him bathing. The way the boy is described is sensual and is a great image of a virgin boy not yet exposed to the tragedy that is life.

I chose this image that is found in book IV in Ovid's Metamorphses.
This image struck me because Salmacis cannot resist this boy she has been spying on. She tells him that he will be hers whether he likes it or not. Then she cries to the gods and they answer her plea by binding the two together so one cannot tell if the figure is male of female.

comedy

Comedy is the release of emotion that makes fun of sacred institutions. Comedy is shamless and important. Greek comedy deals with community, believeing the individual to be unimportant compared to the group they make up as a whole. Today comedy is different from the comedy written by Aristophanes which we call 'old comedy.' Old comedy is revolting, disgusting, hilarious, and deals with death and rebirth. New comedy accounts for 99% of comedy. It has a common plot where the boy wants a girl but cannot get her, but captures her heart in the end. Today it is rare to see old comedy. One example of old comedy in today's world is a recently-made movie called "Little Miss Sunshine."
Today I think comedy oversteps it's boundaries. Instead of being funny, it is instead crude, and often times goes too far. An example of this is the movie Borat. Sacha Cohen goes to great lengths throughout this movie to offend a number of people. Although I have not seen the movie, I refuse to do so because it sounds so degrading and senseless to me. There is a difference between humor and crap, and I believe that Borat is more along the lines of useless material that people waste their time viewing.
I'm sure many people enjoyed Borat but i'm simply not a fan.
I suppose that is another way to view comedy. It doesn't neccesarily need to accommodate everyone. Instead, certain groups can take the material they are presented with and view it from different aspects depending on their backgrounds and the culture they are emersed in. What one person finds hilarious another will find appalling.
In the comedy Zoolander, Ben Stiller plays a male model who is dumb as a brick. Through depicting the life of 'Derek Zoolander,' the audience gets to laugh at models who play a small role in society. Models are always in the back of the public eye and people secretely scorn them for failing to be the brightest crayons in the box. This movie makes it okay to laugh uncontrollably at the frail state male models are in at all times.

Victorian England

In the Victorian times throughout England women were finally given the chance to get outside of the home. Many women began to recieve equal educations to that of men. Some women became authors. With this new empowerment, women decided to refrain from marriage, but as Walter Besant says in The Queens Reign "women might postpone marriage but nature and instinctive yearing for love will prevail."

Sarah Stickney Ellis said that men close their ears to the voice of consciousness because they have too much pride. However in Victorian times it was a woman's job to place morals within her husband. Although the husband didn't realize it a lot of the decisions they made were made with their wives opinion in mind.

Coventry Patmore said that "if a man fails it is the womans fault." This applies to Lysistrata. Women have the obligation to keep their men in check. If woman don' do this then society as they know it will crumble.

Women in Victorian England were not as ruthless as the characters in Lysistrata. Many women published their names under that of a males. They were not using excessive sexual language. They were fighting for their rights in a subtle manner to change the way their society was moving in which mirrors that of the women in Athens.

Lysistrata

In this play Lysistrata is a woman living in Athens that is fed up with war because she never gets to see her husband. She also thinks war is unnecessary. She gets a group of women together to purpose a plan to deny the men of Athens sex. The women are very hesitant because they LOVE sex. Eventually she convinces these women though. The play is baudy and crude at times but great. I never knew that comedy like this existed in such ancient times. The translator Sarah Ruden went to great lengths to bring the same elements of Greek humor to this play.

In the end the women win when the men from Sparta, and Athens come together realizing that their differences aren't that great. The realize that both parties are tolerable, and that they actually enjoy the company of one another.