Frank O'Connor was born in Ireland in 1903 named as Michael O'Donovan. He took the name Frank O'Connor when writing to hide his talent from his employers. As a child, O'Connor idolized his mother who worked as a maid supporting the household. His father drank a bit too much an...

Aeschylus's plays "Agamemnon", "The Libation Bearers", and "Eumenides" were all based on one parent child conflict that gradually manifested into one the best-known curses in Greek mythology. Tantalus, one of Zeus's many sons, started this havoc when he attemp...

Jocasta is an integral part of the play, Oedipus The King, by Sophocles. Her actions and thoughts are essential to the reader as well as the characters within the play. In this passage, there are several themes and significant items that she is addressing. Jocasta is trying to help relieve Oedipus ...

Achilles was a warrior who was among the most powerful Achaean in The Iliad. He conquered men and helped to conquer many countries. He, in the midst of seizing Lyrnessus, took a trophy wife. Her name was Briseis and she was a fair-cheeked maid. Agamemnon, the commander of the chief, also takes Chrys...

The given extract is Hamlet's first soliloquy in the play. It is recited by Hamlet after he is told by Gertrude and Claudius not to return to Wittenberg for his studies, however to remain in Denmark. This soliloquy portrays a prominent difference to the previous scene, which features a control...

HADES "GOD OF THE UNDERWORLD" Hades (Pluto) was the God of the Dead. He ruled the kingdom of the dead which was also named Hades. He was the son of Cronus and Rhea (Titans), and the older brother of Zeus (the King of the Gods). In spite of Hades importance to the Greeks, they did not devote ...

The play opens with a scene in which Oedipus and Jocasta learn that Polybus is dead. Oedipus takes the news in of Polybus's death without showing even the slightest sign of grief. The moment actually becomes a near triumph, as Oedipus believes his doubts about prophecies have been confirmed. He...

The Greeks believed that the earth was formed before any of the gods appeared. The gods, as the Greeks knew them, all originated with Father Heaven, and Mother Earth. Father Heaven was known as Uranus, and Mother Earth, as Gaea. Uranus and Gaea raised many children. Amoung them were the Cycl...

Ancient world masterpieces that have survived until the present day have probably done so because of their ability to draw people. These great literary works explore different areas of the human experience, to help us understand the world and our lives. Many times, several different works will dea...

An epic simile (also known as a Homeric simile) is defined as an extended simile often running to several lines, used typically in epic poetry to intensify the heroic stature of the subject and to serve as decoration, according to the Encyclopedia Britannica. Epic similes can be found quite often t...

Oedipus the King, is a play in which its readers are presented with the relationships between Gods and humans. Throughout the play humans rely upon gods for support, guidance, and assistance. Humans have the knowledge that the gods are all knowing and powerful; yet they show arrogances, and cont...

Orestes was one of posterity of the house of Atreus. He also was the son of Clytemnestra and Agamemnon and the brother of Electra and Iphigenia. The main character of The Libation Bearers, the second part of Aeschylus¡¯ great trilogy, the Oresteia, Orestes was able to go through with his father¡Â...

Achilles As A Dynamic Character In The Iliad by Homer, Achilles is a dynamic character. A dynamic character is someone who changes from the beginning of a story to the end. Many events in this story influence Achilles to change. He becomes independent and also values people's feelings mo...

One might call Aeneas a "behind the scenes man" in the book, The Iliad. Though he was second in command for the Trojans, Homer rarely talked about the unsung hero. His childhood was different than most children his age. Without a dominant mother figure in his life, Aeneas learned his values and bel...

Oedipus the King had one of the worst destinies in all of literature. As a young man he learned of his fate to kill his father and marry his mother. Fleeing his family and seeking refuge from his terrible future in a distant state only brought about the actualization of the forecast. Unbeknownst to ...

The Riddle of DoomSophocles "Oedipus the King" is a tragic play which discusses the tragic discovery of Oedipus that he has killed his father and married his mother. The story of Oedipus was well known to the Athenian's. Oedipus is the embodiment of the perfect Athenian. He is self-confident, int...

After Diomedes wounds Ares, Ares immediately flies to mount Olympus to complain to Zeus. Zeus' original reaction (5.1027-1030) is to compare Ares to his mother Hera. Zeus shows his anger towards Ares vividly and also lends to his compassion as his father. Zeus is torn here; we can see his emotion...

The Sphinx and FateSophocles' Oedipus Rex is a tragic Greek play in which Oedipus Rex, the King of Thebes unknowingly follows his fate by killing his father and having children by his mother. Oedipus is self-confident, intelligent, and strong-willed. Ironically these are the very traits which bring ...

Sophocles' "Oedipus the King" is a tragic play which discusses the tragic discovery of Oedipus that he has killed his father andmarried his mother. The story of Oedipus was well known to the athenian's. Oedipus is the embodiement of the perfect Athenian. He is self-confident, intelligent, and strong...

Cassiopeia was the wife of Cepheus, the Ethiopian king of Joppa (now known as Jaffa, in Israel), and the mother of Andromeda. The queen was both beautiful and vain, and the story of how her vanity caused great distress is told in relation to the constellation Andromeda. After promising her daughter ...

Sophocles' Oedipus Rex (the King) is a tragic play that discusses the discovery of Oedipus that he has killed his father and married his mother. Oedipus is the embodiment of the perfect Athenian. He is self-confident, intelligent, and strong willed. Ironically these are the very traits which bring a...

Man of Admirable Feats In the epic tragedy, Oedipus the King, we see the example of a man whose life is already determined by his own fate. What more can we ask? How admirable is that? Who would not want to admire Oedipus? For instance, the man had his feet pierced together after he was ...

Oh, why do all the clues to who murdered Laius seem to lead to me? If I had known it was he I wouldn ever have been so stubborn, so pigheaded! I should have just moved over and let him continue on his merry way. Or no, better yet, HE should have moved over and let ME through! It serves him ...

Since the beginning of time, there have been questions about fate and destiny. Man has always struggled with questions of predestination versus the impact of his own actions. In present times this debate continues and the modern man seems no closer to discovering the answer to this ageless riddle th...

Oedipus the King According to Webster's Dictionary, fate is defined as "A power that supposedly predetermines what is to happen" (257). In the play "Oedipus Rex" each character is touched by fate directly or indirectly. The author of the play Sophocles pens the story of a man who was destine from b...