Two old stories that played a significant role in fate are the Aeneid and Gilgamesh epics. In these literary works, the protagonists Aeneas and Gilgamesh are obsessed with uncertainty, so these epic stories accurately reflect the ancient culture and society. From the story of fate, we can see that the people who lived during this period were also worried about death and the future. The two stories show that both men and women are very conscious of their death and long to live forever in the afterlife throughout human life.
Fate/destiny defines when something happens in a person’s life. It can be a favorable historical situation, poverty, or the worst death. Destiny can also be determined by deciding your destiny. In the Aeneid and Gilgamesh epics, fate is a powerful force that shapes these two beautiful stories. Aeneas and Gilgamesh are both determined to achieve their destiny, regardless of the obstacles they encounter. In ancient times, fate was once predicted. It could not be changed, maybe God could extend the deadline, but in the end, it must happen as it was initially planned. Virgil has successfully used fate as the theme of Aeneid to show how the sealed fate must be fulfilled, and even attempts to divert it cannot be successful. For both stories, fate outlines the plot and its implications.
As for The nature of things, it serves as a basis for understanding epicurean physics and cosmology. According to Lucretius, the world is human and is entirely composed of atoms and emptiness. Every material thing is created from a combination of accidental atoms. Death is nothing but the separation of these atoms. In contrast to almost all other philosophers of the time, Lucretius opposed the existence of an immortal soul or the sacred Creator of the world. He also has a robust doctrine of free will, and the atoms that make up the world have their own choice, like everything else in the world.
Lucretius also examines the moral and political implications of these physical and cosmological views. Since there is no afterlife and death is nothing more than the dissolution of atomic bonds, we have no reason to fear death or the gods who punish us in the afterlife. Such an idea was inconsistent with all religious beliefs of the time. This also means that we have only this life to live. In stark contrast to the teachings of Stoic philosophers, we should have joy again. Epicureans were not hedonists in the modern sense, but they insisted on a hierarchy of pleasure, only natural and necessary, but happiness maximized satisfaction and minimized pain, that they insisted on doing. Lucretius also explains the formation of a society based on these teachings.
Apart from her fascination with the subject of love, Sappho has otherwise contributed to the practice of the musical genre. Her emotions, subjective experience, and her emphasis show a clear contrast between her work and her epic, liturgical, or dramatic poetry of the time. Long ago, poetry was performed in liturgy, rituals, or courts. It was emphasized and published in various ways. However, many of Sappho’s works are intimate, perhaps private, and aimed at a particular woman or friend. And their colloquial friendliness tone anticipates medieval and modern customs. Sappho’s text envisions a direct network of situations, as Troubadour meticulously notes the names of friends and enemies, and contemporary poets often claim the paradoxical meaning of Ephemera. Implies that can only appear through certain things. Unlike previous singers, who internalized the entire social group’s values and ideologies and remained anonymous, lyric poets, including Sappho, found the most accurate and most important source of personal experience.
Dido landed in Cyprus, kidnapped 80 virgins, offered a bride to Tyrian, and crossed the Mediterranean to Carthage, Tunisia. Dido traded with the locals and provided considerable wealth in exchange for what he could put in the bull’s skin. After agreeing to the business that seemed to her advantage, Dido showed how smart she was. She cut her skin into strips and placed them in a semicircle around the strategically placed hills, with the sea forming her opposite side. There Dido founded the city of Carthage, and she ruled it as her queen.
Virgil portrays her as a female partner on par with Aeneas. She is an enemy, a strong, determined, independent woman with a heroic dimension. Like Eneas, Dido fled her home because of a situation she couldn’t control. She led people out of the tires and founded Carthage. She represents the qualities of a leader that Aeneas admires and wishes to employ in the founding of Rome. She governs the Carthaginians in a fair and reasonable manner and keeps the peace. Dido’s character, like Aeneas’, represents the best of her varieties, the title thus fits her well.
Epics usually begin with the media’s res, which means “in the middle of things.” Iliad starts on the last day of a decades-long war on Achaean camps suffering from a mysterious plague. Homer does not provide a formal prologue explaining how and why the Achaeans came to this place and when the epidemic began. Also, he does not introduce the character. Instead, he goes straight to the poetic plot, a scene that catalyzes the debate between Achilles and Agamemnon:
Beginning, Muse, when the two first broke and clashed,
Agamemnon, the Male Lord, and Brilliant. Achilles.
This is because epics interweave many elements of mythology and folklore into one big story. For example, just as King Arthur’s legend and Bible story are known to the modern Western audience, the missing context of Homer’s opening scene was already known to his audience.
Iliad ends with Priam buying the body of his son Hector from Achilles and towing the body back to Troy. The sorrowful Trojan culminates in the hero’s funeral after a 12-day memorial process. In addition to emphasizing the memorial to the skilled hero, the ending of the Iliad also evokes expectations for what will happen after Hector’s death. However, the poem does not say it. The poet builds expectations through the arrangement between Achilles and Priam that the two troops will stop fighting as long as it is necessary to bury Hector. But after this, like this epic, there will already be a nine-year war.
Also, to emphasizing the memorial to the skilled hero, the ending of the Iliad also evokes expectations for what will happen after Hector’s death. However, the poem does not say it. But after this, like this epic, there will already be a nine-year war.
Achilles was initially defensive and angry, but he sympathized and warmed up when Priam told him to think about his father. Priam provides Hector’s body ransom to Achilles as an iris instruction to Priam. As a result of the event, Priam and Achilles build a respectful relationship with each other.
The role of the choir in Oedipus Rex is vital. They create an atmosphere and emphasize tragic plots. They also act as peacemakers, making the audience feel frightened and nervous. In a sense, the choir can be the ideal audience reaction to the work. The chorus and its songs and hymns help the audience better connect with the character and reveal the nature of the tragedy.
Sophocles uses the choir at the beginning of the piece to inform the public of the work’s status. From the very first chorus, we heard everything about the terrible devastation the plague caused in Thebes. Everyone is dying, and everyone is stressed. Choirs often occupy the ideal location for the audience. Sometimes this reinforces the existing pity and fear of the audience sitting in front of the stage through a critical verse. He explains the situation and evaluates the character as a good critic. If there are no other characters in the scene, the chorus fills the void in action. They add a melodic element to it.
According to Aristotle, a tragedy must be an imitation of life, especially in the form of a strict and self-controlled narrative. Oedipus is often presented as a perfect example of what Aristotle’s poetic tragedy should be. The reason is that Oedipus seems to have correctly incorporated all the concepts that Aristotle described as inherent in dramatic tragedy. These factors include feeling action, reversal and awareness, unity of time, purification and awakening from the emotions of compassion and fear, the existence of falsehoods, fatality in “heroes,” and the application of the law of probability.
Aristotle stated that the plot must include “a well-defined problem that the character can solve.” The main problem with Oedipus’ well-defined character problem is that he has to find a way to avoid the prophecy. His subsequent actions stimulated behaviors that later led to other issues. The plot is supposed to be time series, and the steps are performed inside and outside the stage. Events that occur outside the location are told in a story. Oedipus uses messenger to notify one of events that occur off-stage.