King Arthur And Zeus Essays - Mythology, Fiction, Religion

King Arthur And Zeus Inside the compilation of mythical stories of King Arthur and His Knights of the Round Table, retold by Roger Green, and Heroes, Gods, and Monsters of the Greek Myths, two major characters in each story that could be expressed in similar and contrasting ways are Arthur, the king and head of the knights of the Round Table, and Zeus, the supreme leader of all gods and mortals. Similar resemblances that can be found in both is their shadowy lineage, their major mortal flaws, and their nature to journey on epic quests. Even though they were very similar in some aspects, the two were also very different in other means. Arthur is much more kind to his people and cares about them, while Zeus does not view his subjects as worthy of him and treats them unjustly. An additional difference is Arthur is more mild and not taking harsh action all the time, though Zeus is known for being severe. There are many similarities as well as differences that are attributed to these two mythical characters. Arthur and Zeus can be noted for their mysterious childhood and ways they were treated at infancy. Both had prophesies of prosperity that led them into adulthood. When Arthur was born, Uther Pendragon, the leader of the Britons, killed a man and married his wife, Igrayne. Uther and Igrayne had one child, but not much longer after it was born, Merlin the enchanter took him away. Soon after, the boy was placed in the arms of Sir Ector, a noble knight. Later, the youth pulled the sword out of a stone that proclaimed that he was the king of all Britain. This young man would later on grow up to be King Arthur. Not unlike Arthur, Zeus also had a unnatural background. Before Zeus was born, there was a prophecy that stated that Cronos, the king of all gods, would be overthrown by one of his sons. When Zeus was born, he was concealed from his father. As time went by, Zeus waged a war against Cronos and defeated him. Though Zeus and Arthur came from entirely different locations and times, their childhood's were related on account of both of them being hazy. Even though some might not consider either of the two "mortal", Arthur and Zeus had very notable human-like flaws. They both seemed to rush to judgements hastily, and were very passionate towards women. When Arthur hears about King Pellinore and how he is shamelessly killing knights, Arthur runs off to fight. Obviously, Arthur does not give himself time to think, and would have died if it was not for Merlin. Another example would be when Arthur runs off to the Castle of Tarn Wathelyne and pays no heed to Sir Gawain's warnings. King Arthur ends up being tricked by Morgana Le Fay and would perish save a horrid woman who forced Sir Gawain to marry her for King Arthur's life. Many times King Arthur would have been killed if it weren't for his friends such as Merlin and Sir Gawain. Zeus showed the same characteristic even though it played no part in death for himself. The mighty god jumped to his feet and killed when he found out that Ascelpsius was curing mortals headed to the underworld. Later, Zeus regretted his act of terror and brought Ascelpsius back to life. Passionate feelings for other women, and desire for romance were huge faults in Arthur and Zeus. Arthur's feelings for Guinevere led to the downfall of the Logres. At first, when Arthur saw Guinevere, he immediately fell in love with her. Through carelessness and desire for romance, Arthur neglected Merlin's advice of not marrying the queen. When Guinevere and Lancelot had an affair, a war started, and the realm was destroyed. In Zeus' case, the gods are not affected by romantic affairs, but the mortals they make love with are affected. Zeus approached many different gods or mortals, even though he is already married to Hera. Hera occasionally followed Zeus, and punished the ones with whom he had affairs. The mythical figures Arthur and Zeus both have major moral flaws: rashness and crave for passion. King Arthur and Zeus are best known for their epic quests and accomplishments. The two figures seem to be born for the reason to journey on adventures. At age sixteen, Arthur ruled as the king of all Britons. He immediately set forth to drive all of the Saxons out of the island of Britain. This could be considered his first major

What Do Frank and Rita Learn from Each Other Essay Example

What Do Frank and Rita Learn from Each Other Essay Example What Do Frank and Rita Learn from Each Other Paper What Do Frank and Rita Learn from Each Other Paper Essay Topic: Literature I think education is a part of life that everybody goes through. Its how the world gains knowledge and everybody deserves to have a proper education, which involves going to a school and learning different subjects in a classroom with a teacher. My view of education does seem to differ to Russells definition. His definition of education seems to be a way to differentiate the social classes of the world. A chance for the posh people to show how superior they are to the lower class. He is implying that anyone that is poor cannot have had an education. This does seem to be true according to the play but maybe Russell was not picturing reality when he wrote Educating Rita. His definition of education is not apparent in the reality that I live in so I cannot identify with him. To me, education is and always will be the gaining of knowledge, being taught and finding out about life. Our first impressions of Frank are rather negative, it is clear that he has a drinking problem and is obviously dissatisfied with his life. We learn from him that he is divorced and his present relationship is not an idealistic one. He is quite disrespectful and longs to have more free time to sit in the pub and drink. Examples of these are things like, Strange hours for this Open University thing. They expect us to teach when the pubs are open. (1. i) Jubilantly he moves to the Dickens section and pulls out a pile of books to reveal a bottle of whisky (1. i) These examples show how he relies on his drinking and would rather be at the pub than anything else. Our first impressions of Rita differ quite significantly to those of Frank; her use of language is coarse and does not have the ability to express literary concepts on anything but a basic level. Things that dont really matter like wearing the right types of clothing and the right type of wine preoccupy her. Thats a nice picture Its very erotic Theres no suppose about it. Look at those tits. (1. i) Ritas language here shows how direct and naive she is. Most people would not come straight out and say something like that but she does not see the vulgarity of the way she speaks. At first Frank does not want to teach Rita, he tries to stop her from coming to him for tutoring. Go back to what you do like and stop wasting my time. You go out and buy yourself a new dress and Ill go to the pub. (1. ii) This proves how Frank sees Rita as a waste of time and does not want to teach her. Rita has exactly the opposite reaction to Frank, when he tries get rid of her she becomes adamant about the fact the he is her tutor. This is because she likes him and what he does; she feels she can learn a great deal from him because of the social class he is in. She also does genuinely like him for his personality, which makes here even more determined to stay. Wait a minute, listen to me. Listen: Im on this course, you are my teacher an youre gonna bleedin well teach me Youre my tutor. I dont want another tutor. (1. ii) She is not going to leave him because she definitely wants him as a tutor. The first major learning point for Frank is accepting Rita and finding out that there is more to life then literature and poetry and his mind is opened by Rita and becomes less of a literary snob. He also later on tried to dissuade Rita from becoming so literate in what she has learned because Frank sees it as a turn for the worst for her. Rita also begins to learn things from Frank; the first major learning point she took was that to be able to get the education she wants she needs to change her colloquial dialect to a more formal language. This helps her become able to stress her point within an essay, by impressing an examiner rather than using a vulgar language. F: No, Erm assonance. Well, its a form of rhyme. Whats a whats an example erm -? Do you know Yeats? R: The wine lodge? F: Yeats the poet. (1. i) R: It was crap. F: What? R: I thought it was crap! F: Crap? And who are you citing in support of your thesis, F. R. Leavis? R: No. Me! F: What have I just said? Me is subjective. (1. ii) Along the way Frank and Rita learn a lot more from each other. The next point Frank learns is that education can quash a person. He realises or thinks that if Rita is successful in learning everything (which is what she wanted in the beginning) then it will spoil what is so special about Rita. For instance the way she just comes out with things, says what is exactly on her mind, she will start to say less about what she thinks, try and make it into a more posh point of view. Frank may even be scared that Rita will become a literary snob like he was in the beginning. F: (appealingly) Rita, stop it! R: But Frank, I have to persevere in order that I shall. F: Rita! Just be yourself. R: I am being myself. (2. ii) Rita is also learning along with Frank. But she learns that to cope with having an education and being exposed to all these literate, upper class people she needs to change the way she talks, in accent and the vocabulary she uses. Although this may not actually be correct, she does learn it and perseveres with changing the way she dresses. She feels she no longer fits in with the people around her and quits her job, because the conversation lacks somewhat in education. She feels she needs to change the people that are around her and then try to fit in with the new people she has become acquainted to. R: Thats why I couldnt stand being in a hairdressers any longer; boring irrelevant detail all the time, on and on Well, Im sorry but Ive had enough of that. I dont wanna talk about irrelevant rubbish anymore. F: And what do you talk about in your bistro? R: Everything We talk about whats important, Frank, and we leave out the boring details for those who want them (2. iv) Frank has learned a lot from Rita throughout this play, and I think the most important point he has learned is, it doesnt matter who you are or where you live, everybody deserves an education, and it can change you for the worst. It doesnt make you a better person or more superior to anyone else, you are just the same apart from having a larger vocabulary. In the end, everyone comes down to the same thing, has the same needs and longs for the same things! F: Oh Ive done a fine job on you havent I This this clever, pyrotechnical pile of self-conscious allusion is worthless, talentless, shit and could be recognized as such by anyone with a shred of common sense Oh, I dont expect you to believe me, Rita; you recognize the hallmark of literature now, dont you? I think that the most important point that Rita learned in this play is that you have a choice in life. You dont have to be stuck in somewhere you dont want to be. You can change your life to how you want it to be. Although it might not be what you expect, it ends up how you wanted it to be and that is your own choice. R: It might be worthless in the end. But I had a choice. I chose, me. Because of what youd given me. I had a choice. (2. vii) I do think that Frank and Rita benefit from having a relationship with each other. They both open their eyes to how they each live, and learn to accept things that has contradicted points that they thought were true their whole life. Frank manages to stop drinking, nearly and Rita is where she wants to be in life. They helped each other get to that stage and although Frank still relies on Rita to be there she does not actually need him anymore. A final benefit that Frank receives is quite comical; a haircut. This is great because it finishes off the play with a light note. I think that Russell is trying to show that in his play Frank and Rita learn exactly the same thing, people are all the same, and most of the things you know will end up being useless and empty. They both learn this in a different way. Rita becomes educated, and learns that it is not up to what it is made out to be and Frank learns this by meeting Rita, the lower class girl. If you base your life around literature completely you will end up being a very dull person with an empty life.