Lysistrata

After reading a couple tragic Greek plays, I do not believe that the play Lysistrata can make me laugh. However, the play proves me wrong. This play is a total satire of the Pelopenesian War. These women are sick and tired of their men fighting in war, and so they decided to end it in a comical way. This play is an excellent shift from the Greek tragedy plays because there is no gloomy image of men fighting for power. I have many good laughs from reading the dialogue. The women's pledge during the beginning of the play is especially funny. Who would have thought that staying abstinence from sex is the key to bring peace? I thought that women use sex to get what they want. Another part that is funny in the play is the dialogue between these men and women. Their dialogue is like a debate between the two sexes where women are much strong-willed than men.

Besides the funny lines in the play, Lysistra is about women's will power. The person with the most drive in the play is Lysistrata. She is not married nor blunt comparing to the other women. Lysistrata is very cunning in her speech and does not show any sexual desires or flirt with men; and most importantly does not post any feminine weaknesses. An instance of her witty is when she instructs the wifes such as Kinesias and Myrrhine on how to have self control over sex. I like the way Lysistrata influences the wifes; the wife can tease her husband and not have any sex. I wonder if once the men is in the mood and yet he can not do anything, wouldn't he go crazy?

Anitgone

Antigone

The play Antigone by Sophicles is a tragic play about a series of event after king Oedipus finds out his identity. Oedipus blinds himself and is expelled from Thebes by Creon, Antigone’s uncle. Antigone accompanies her father during the exile while his two sons, Eteocles and Polynices fight each other to death for the throne. As a result, Creon takes over to rule Thebes and forbids the burial of Polynices’ corpse. According to Creon’s religious and political views, anyone who buries the traitor’s body deserves death. However, I find Creon’s decision as arbitrary and unnecessary. I support Antigone’s decision to bury her brother because she is brave, has morals, and stands for her actions.
Antigone is a brave person from the beginning to the end of the play. She buries her brother even knowing that the punishment will be death. An example of her bravery is when Antigone is captured and brought to her uncle, but she stays calm. She argues with her uncle that the law is not written, therefore, why should she not bury her family member.
Another reason why I support Antigone is that she has morals. Her loyalty to her family is seen from the prologue. She does not care if her brother is a patriot or traitor. They both deserve the same memorial. She also resists Creon’s power. To her a person with power and authority does not mean that they are righteous. Whereas when I compare Creon to Antigone, his loyal is directly towards the state. He puts his family second and serving the state as top priority.
I can see from Antigone and Creon’s standpoint. Creon wants to be a good ruler, but it is hard for him to please everyone. He can not keep his family struggle under control because he puts the state above all. Eventually, in the end Creon loses the respect from his family and faces his son and wife’s death. Antigone on the otherhand deals with three deaths at once. She wants them all to have proper burial as a sign of respect. Therefore, I support her decisions more than Creon’s.

The Old Testament

The Old Testament is a history of the bible. The text shows God as personal and omnipotent towards the world and his followers. God tests and also teaches his followers of their obedience and commitment of faith towards him. God's test teaches different lessons in life about what is right and wrong. Those that commit sins will rely on God to keep order. Those that does evil and disobey God will be punish as a consequence. Although the stories teaches morals and ethics in life, there are several stories in The Old Testament that I genuinely have doubts of. Two of those stories are Abraham and Job. Both stories are contradicting each other because Abraham does not questioned God's action at all while Job uses reasons to question God's action.
Abraham is contradicting with Job because he does not questioned God's action at all. When God tests Abraham's faith towards him, Abraham obeys by sacrificing his son Isaac. I strongly disagree with this test for faith because it involves murdering life. Yet, Abraham seems to be indifferent because he trusts God's words. There is a difference between faith and reason. He should question God as to why he should sacrifice his own son to prove his faith. Why doesn't God ask Abraham to sacrifice himself instead of his son? Isn't God playing with Abraham's mind when God knows that Abraham is loyal to HIM? In this case, Abraham should not put God first because it is uncharacteristic to murder one's son. It is extremely irrational to do such action.
Unlike the story of Abraham, the story of Job has a different kind of test towards his faith for God. He is tested by Satan when Satan takes his possession, family, and wealth from him. Satan also makes Job sick. I have always believe that Satan exist in the world to create harmony among good and evil. Yet, Job does not cursed God or say bad things about God. Instead he questions if God is really good or bad. I agree with Job's questioning because he is a good man. Why should a good man be put on such dreadful tests. Isn't the first test of killing his servants and children good enough to test for his faith? Why should a good person such as Job suffers so much? His children, wife, animals, and possessions are all taking away from him. Why would God allow such things to happen?

Gigamesh

Gilgamesh
The epic of Gllgamesh, which is translated from oral storytelling to narrative, is a biblical story about the flood in ancient Mesopotamia. There are many translated versions of the epic, but the ones that we view in the text are the Standard Version. This version tells about the prologue of Gilgamesh, his friendship with Endiku, his adventure in the Cedar Forest, and the search for immortality. The epic of Gilgamesh is especially interesting to read because Gilgamesh starts out as a bad ruler, but he acquires wisdom after encountering Endiku and journeying towards immortality.
As discussed in class, Gilgamesh is the ruler of Uruk who endows great strength, beauty, and courage from different Gods. Even though Gilgamesh has all the superior traits, I do not see him as a good ruler. He is brutal toward his people: he puts his men into hard labor and takes any women as he pleases. Gilgamesh is also arrogant to think that there is no other to match his strength. However, Endiku, the person who is godlike, is conditioned by a prostitute to be civilized challenges Gilgamesh’s strength. Eventually, Gilgamesh fights with Endiku and wins. From winning the fight Gilgamesh gains a new friend from the challenge. Their challenge seems crucial, but is other challenge such as fighting Humbaba in the forest necessary? Is it worth it for Glgamesh to kill Humbaba, an innocent creature, to gain fame among his people?
After many journeys with Gilgamesh, Endiku stashes with the Goddess of love, Ishtar. Endiku is cursed by the Gods to die a slow death from offending Ishtar. This makes me think that the Gods must be fickled and moody. Gilgamesh realizes that even a godlike person like Endiku cannot escape death. Consequently, Gilgamesh journeys to discover immortality from Utnapishtim. However, his journey turns out to be a failure.

Ancient Egyptian Love Poem

When I think of Ancient Egypt, words such as the Nile River, pharaoh, pyramid, afterlife, and civilization come into mind. However, there are not many words that I can describe what their everyday life by. What are people's attitudes toward life? But most important of all, how does people express their love in a relationship? I am surprised to see that the Egyptian poems express all sorts of love possibilities. The author's expressions are passionate, smooth, and erotic. From reading the Egyptian love poems I feel that love does not change at all over the years.
Today in class, I get a grasp of what Ancient Egyptian love poems are like. We read a text in class by George A. Barton from wikisource about several different poems. The poems include both male and female speakers. Even though the speakers have different poems, I am confused at first to classify which author is which. Every of their poem is well connected to each other. An example of a poem in the text is "Love of you is mixed deep in my vitals". (pg 52) The author describes love as, "Love of you is mixed deep in my vitals, like water stirred into flour for bread, Like simples compound in a sweet-tasting drug, like pastry and honey mixed to perfection." Can you classify if the author is a male or female from those verses? My guess is the author is a female speaking because the author uses food and pill to compare their love.
By reading the text, I see many similarities between Ancient Egyptian poem and modern American poem. Both types of poem use similes and metaphors. Another example of the poem that uses simile is in line 7-9 of part I: "For heaven makes your love
Like the advance of flames in straw, And its longing like the downward swoop of a hawk."
In this figure of speech, he is saying the love is quick and fast. In line 10-13 of part II show the use of metaphor. The lines are as followed: "Disturbed is the condition of my pool. The mouth of my sister is a rosebud. Her breast is a perfume." In line 10, "disturbed is the condition of my pool," the author is describing his state of mind for the women that he loves. He also uses metaphor to compare her figure. Overall, I thoroughly enjoy reading these love poems in class. Those poems provide different perspectives from male and female speakers and how the individual sees love.