Final Exam - Week 18

Term explanation
1. Tragic flaw
The term hamartia derives from the Greek, means “to miss the mark” or “to err”. It is most often associated with Greek tragedy, although it is also used in Christian theology. Hamartia as it pertains to dramatic literature was first used by Aristotle in his Poetics. In tragedy, hamartia is commonly understood to refer to the protagonist’s error or flaw that leads to a chain of plot actions culminating in a reversal from their good fortune to bad. What qualifies as the error or flaw can include an error resulting from ignorance, an error of judgement, a flaw in character, or sin. The spectrum of meanings has invited debate among critics and scholars, and different
2. Catharsis
Catharsis is the purification and purgation of emotions—especially pity and fear—through art or any extreme change in emotion that results in renewal and restoration. It is a metaphor originally used by Aristotle in the Poetics, comparing the effects of tragedy on the mind of spectator to the effect of a cathartic on the body.
3. Deus ex machina
Deus ex machina is a Latin calque from Greek ἀπὸ, meaning "god from the machine". The term has evolved to mean a plot device whereby a seemingly unsolvable problem is suddenly and abruptly resolved by the contrived and unexpected intervention of some new event, character, ability or object. Depending on how it is done, it can be intended to move the story forward when the writer has "painted himself into a corner" and sees no other way out, to surprise the audience, to bring the tale to a happy ending, or as a comedic device.
4. Greek chorus
A Greek chorus is a homogeneous, non-individualised group of performers in the plays of classical Greece, who comment with a collective voice on the dramatic action. The chorus consisted of between 12 and 50 players, who variously danced, sang or spoke their lines in unison and sometimes wore masks.
5. Parable
A parable is a succinct, didactic story, in prose or verse, which illustrates one or more instructive lessons or principles. It differs from a fable in that fables employ animals, plants, inanimate objects, or forces of nature as characters, whereas parables have human characters. A parable is a type of analogy.

Some scholars of the canonical gospels and the New Testament apply the term "parable" only to the parables of Jesus, though that is not a common restriction of the term. Parables such as "The Prodigal Son" are central to Jesus' teaching method in the canonical narratives and the apocrypha.

 Essay
1. For the Greeks, the word ‘tragedy’ was used much as we use the word ‘play,’ but it does not carry the same implications of our modern word “tragedy.” Discuss the origin and situation of Greek Theatre. (p. 603)

The tragedy of Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides provide compelling stories about human relationships, whose absorbing, often violent or melodramatic plots invite us to think about profound issues, such as the nature of justice, the meaning of suffering, and clashes between family and state and between human and diving perspective. The city festival of Athens, at which all new comedies and tragedies were first performed, involved a mixture of things we usually regard as wholly separate: politics, religion, music, poetry, serious drama, slapstick, open-air spectacles, and dance.

2. Explain Aristotle's concept of mimesis. In what way is poetry imitative? Why, according to Aristotle are we naturally disposed toward imitation? Do you agree with his arguments?

Mimesis can be roughly translated as "imitation." We might say that something is mimetic if it is not, and does not pretend to be, "the real thing." A painting of a chair is not a chair. Poetry is imitative in that it describes events in the real world without pretending to be these events. No one watching Oedipus Rex  will think that they are watching real life unfold, but the performance will approximate something that could happen in real life. This is somewhat problematic, since the events in Oedipus Rex did not actually take place in real life. What is important is that, in some sense, they could have taken place. Aristotle claims that we are naturally imitative creatures and learn from imitation, and so we are naturally drawn to tragedy and other mimetic arts.

Midterm Exam - Week 9

Greek Name	Position(description, keywords)	Roman Name
Aphrodite	The golden goddess of Love and beauty	Venus
Ares	The god of war	Mars
Athena (Athene)	The virgin goddess of wisdom and invention.	Minerva
Demeter	The goddess of harvest	Ceres
Hades	The god of the underworld	Pluto
Hephaestus	The god of the blacksmith, husband of Venus	Vulcan
Persephone	The queen of the underworld	Cora
Poseidon	The lord of the Sea	Neptune
Artemis	The virgin goddess of hunting/moon, Apollo’s twin sister	Diana, Selene
Zeus	The lord of the sky	Jupiter

Term explanation
1.      Homeric epithet

2.      epic poetry

3.      Achilles' heel

4.      invocation

Essay
1.   What role does fate play in the emotional and psychological effect of The Iliad? Why does    
Homer make his characters aware of their impending dooms?
            Most of Homer’s audiences were really familiar with the story that The Iliad tells because Homer was a bard who collected what he heard and gathered the information into a book. So, if he wanted to add something new, he still could not change how the story ends. Making the characters know their fates seems not dramatic enough to offer the effect of irony which shows people how those characters stumble toward the endings that they knew in advance. However, Homer did not sacrifice the drama; actually, this technique he used made the story much more stunning.
             Even if those characters knew their fates and tried to be careful, they still had no real choice and ability to change the whole situation. What they could do was head to those endings which was destined initially. It is kind of torture, isn’t it? Take Achilles and Hector for instance. Achilles knew that if he killed Hector, the next one who should die would be himself. Yet, their obedience to the fates which they already knew made them not only tragic but also emphatically heroic.
2.   How does Homer portray the relationship between gods and men in the Odyssey? What roles do the gods play in human life? How does this portrayal differ from that found in the Iliad?
              The gods and goddesses in The Iliad usually used their powers to change humans’ life such as Aphrodite made Paris and Helen fall in love and triggered the Trojan War and Apollo sent the plague to Agamemnon’s army. On the contrary, the immortals in Odyssey did not use their powers that much. Most of time, they were sort of spiritual guides and supporters who often indicates mortals some directions such as Tiresias told Odysseus that he would be back home eventually. Also, the actions of gods sometimes would still remain overworldly. In a sense, it was appropriate to shift in focus between the two epics.
               Based on different types of stories, Homer used different ways to tell them. The Iliad describes a violent and glorious war in which the immortals were really powerful and control mortals’ world and life. The Odyssey, on the other hand, relates to a twenty-year long journey and the gods and goddesses often provide some assistance and advice to humans as guides.

2016.1.6 - Week 17

A. Vocabularies to Know
1) fatality: a death caused by an accident or by violence, or someone who has died in either of these ways
2) parallel:  If two or more lines, streets, etc. are parallel, the distance between them is the same all along their length
2-1) parachute: a piece of equipment made of a large piece of special cloth which is fastened to someone or something that is dropped from an aircraft, in order to make them fall slowly and safely to the ground
2-2) paragraph: a short part of a text, consisting of at least one sentence and beginning on a new line. It usually deals with a single event, description, idea, etc.      parapara平行並立
3) allegory:  a story, play, poem, picture or other work in which the characters and events represent particular qualities or ideas, related to morals, religion or politics
4) passover: a Jewish celebration in March or April every year to remember the escape of the Jews from Egypt

B. Samson and Delilah
He then falls in love with a woman, Delilah, at the Brook of Sorek. The Philistines approach Delilah and induce her (with 1,100 silver coins) to try to find the secret of Samson's strength so they can get rid of it and capture their enemy. Samson, refuses to reveal the secret, teases her, telling her that he will lose his strength should he be bound with fresh bowstrings. She does so while he sleeps, but when he wakes up he snaps the strings. She persists, and he tells her he can be bound with new ropes. She ties him up with new ropes while he sleeps, and he snaps them, too. She asks again, and he says he can be bound if his locks are woven together. She weaves them together, but he undoes them when he wakes. Eventually after much nagging from Delilah, Samson tells Delilah that he will lose his strength with the loss of his hair. Delilah calls for a servant to shave Samson's seven locks. Since that breaks the Nazirite oath, God leaves him, and Samson is captured by the Philistines, who blind him by gouging out his eyes. After being blinded, Samson is brought to Gaza, imprisoned, and put to work grinding grain and making milk by turning a large millstone.

C. Dante Alighieri

Durante degli Alighieri , simply called Dante, was a major Italian poet of the late Middle Ages. His Divine Comedy, originally called Comedìa and later christened Divina by Boccaccio, is widely considered the greatest literary work composed in the Italian language and a masterpiece of world literature.
Dante has been called "the Father of the Italian language". In Italy, Dante is often referred to as il Sommo Poeta ("the Supreme Poet") and il Poeta; he, Petrarch, and Boccaccio are also called "the three fountains" or "the three crowns".
D. Purgatori

Purgatori is a fictional comic book character, created by writer Brian Pulido and artist Steven Hughes. A crimson-skinned, winged vampire goddess, she first appeared in Evil Ernie: Revenge #1 (October 1994), published by Chaos! Comics. She has since appeared in books published by Devil's Due Publishing (2005-2006). The intellectual property (IP) for future works was bought by Dynamite Entertainment in May 2010 and in March 2011, Dynamite Entertainment President Nick Barrucci stated in 2012 they will publish new series of both Purgatori and Lady Demon, but expressed a desire to not want to rush the roll-out of these Chaos! Comics revamps.

E. Dan Brown

Daniel "Dan" Brown (born June 22, 1964) is an American author of thriller fiction who is best known for the 2003 bestselling novel The Da Vinci Code. Brown's novels are treasure hunts set in a 24-hour period, and feature the recurring themes of cryptography, keys, symbols, codes, and conspiracy theories. His books have been translated into 52 languages, and as of 2012, sold over 200 million copies. Three of them, Angels & Demons (2000), The Da Vinci Code (2003), and Inferno (2013), have been/are being adapted into films.

F. Plagues of Egypt

The Plagues of Egypt , also called the ten biblical plagues, were ten calamities that, according to the biblical Book of Exodus, the God of Israel inflicted upon Egypt to persuade the Pharaoh to release the ill-treated Israelites from slavery. Pharaoh capitulated after the tenth plague, triggering the Exodus of the Hebrew people. The plagues served to contrast the power of the God of Israel with the Egyptian gods, invalidating them. Some commentators have associated several of the plagues with judgment on specific gods associated with the Nile, fertility and natural phenomena. According to Exodus 12:12, all the gods of Egypt would be judged through the tenth and final plague: "On that same night I will pass through Egypt and strike down every firstborn of both people and animals, and I will bring judgment on all the gods of Egypt. I am the LORD."

G. Fable

Fable is a literary genre: a succinct fictional story, in prose or verse, that features animals, mythical creatures, plants, inanimate objects, or forces of nature that are anthropomorphized (given human qualities, such as verbal communication) and that illustrates or leads to an interpretation of a moral lesson (a "moral"), which may at the end be added explicitly as a pithy maxim.

A fable differs from a parable in that the latter excludes animals, plants, inanimate objects, and forces of nature as actors that assume speech or other powers of humankind.

Usage has not always been so clearly distinguished. In the King James Version of the New Testament, "μῦθος" ("mythos") was rendered by the translators as "fable"[1] in the First Epistle to Timothy, the Second Epistle to Timothy, the Epistle to Titus and the First Epistle of Peter.

2015.12.30 - Week 16

A. Vocabularies to Know
1) Protestant: a member of the parts of the Christian Church which separated from the Roman Catholic Church during the 16th century
2) catholic: including many different types of thing
3) christian:  of or ​belonging to the ​religion ​based on the ​teachings of ​Jesus ​Christ; used to ​describe a ​person or ​action that is good, ​kind, ​helpful, etc.
4) catholic vulgate  including many different types of thing; is a late fourth-century Latin translation of the Bible that became, during the 16th century, the Catholic Church's officially promulgated Latin version of the Bible.
5) mon  (monarch: a king or queen), (monarchist: a person who supports the system of having a king or queen)
6) sodomy the ​sexual ​act of putting the ​penis into another person's ​anus
7) Fall: to fall and land with your face down; to suddenly go down onto the ground or towards the ground without intending to or by accident
8) fragment: a ​small ​piece or a ​part, ​especially when ​broken from something ​whole
9) fig leaves: the type of leaf sometimes used in paintings to cover a naked person's sex organs
10) scarecrow: a model of a person dressed in old clothes and put in a field of growing crops to frighten birds away
B. Psalm 23     A psalm of David.
1. The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing.
2. He makes me lie down in green pastures,
he leads me beside quiet waters,
3. He refreshes my soul. He guides me along the right paths for his name’s sake.
4. Even though I walk through the darkest valley,[a] I will fear no evil, for you are with me;
your rod and your staff, they comfort me.
5. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.
6. Surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
C. My sister's keeper

My Sisters's Keeper is a 2009 American drama film directed by Nick Cassavetes and starring Cameron Diaz, Abigail Breslin, Sofia Vassilieva, and Alec Baldwin. Based on Jodi Picoult's novel of the same name, My Sister's Keeper was released in the United States, Canada, Ireland, Mexico, and the United Kingdom on June 26, 2009.
D. Noah's Ark

Noah's Ark is the vessel in the Genesis flood narrative by which God spares Noah, his family, and a remnant of all the world's animals from the flood. According to Genesis, God gave Noah instructions for building the ark. Seven days before the deluge, God told Noah to enter the ark with his household and the animals. The story goes on to describe the ark being afloat throughout the flood and subsequent receding of the waters before it came to rest on the Mountains of Ararat. The story is repeated, with variations, in the Quran, where the ark appears as Safina Nuh. The Genesis flood narrative is similar to numerous other flood myths from a variety of cultures. The earliest known written flood myth is the Sumerian flood myth found in the Epic of Ziusudra. Searches for Noah's Ark have been made from at least the time of Eusebius to the present day. There is no scientific evidence for a global flood, and despite many expeditions, no evidence of the ark has been found.
E. Free will

Free will is the ability to choose between different possible courses of action. It is closely linked to the concepts of responsibility, praise, guilt, sin, and other judgments which apply only to actions that are freely chosen. It is also connected with the concepts of advice, persuasion, deliberation, and prohibition. Traditionally, only actions that are freely willed are seen as deserving credit or blame. There are numerous different concerns about threats to the possibility of free will, varying by how exactly it is conceived, which is a matter of some debate.
F. Prometheus
Prometheus is a Titan in Greek mythology, best known as the deity in Greek mythology who was the creator of mankind and its greatest benefactor, who gave mankind fire stolen from Mount Olympus. Prometheus sided with Zeus and the ascending Olympian gods in the vast cosmological struggle against Cronus and the other Titans. Prometheus was therefore on the conquering side of the cataclysmic war of the Greek gods, the Titanomachy, where Zeus and the Olympian gods ultimately defeated Cronus and the other Titans.