This week I’ve been reading Tanglewood Tales, and for this essay I’m going to talk about how the Greeks way of thinking of themselves affects their stories.
In all the stories that I’ve read there is one recuring thing, Giants, scary creatures, and strong heroes. I think that the Greeks saw themselves as the strongest humans. In “Dragon’s Teeth” when the character planted the dragon’s teeth in the ground mighty soldiers came up, ready to fight. Maybe this is how the Greeks wanted to be portrayed? But later in the story when the main character threw a rock into the midst of them they started fighting each other, assuming that their neighbor threw the stone. Only the strongest of the men survived. Does this show survival of the fittest? Or does it show how violent the Greeks can get?
In all the stories the heroes try to prove themselves by doing something dangerous, or something that is considered impossible to earn respect. Is it showing that the Greeks need to prove themselves? Most characters have bad tempers too, like in “Dragon’s Teeth” the king outcasts his sons to go find his kidnapped daughter. His sons were only boys! In “Pygmies”, the pygmies scared out Hercules after he killed Antaeus, their brother. What does this show?
I’m thinking that the Greeks either thought of themselves very highly, or the writers have an amazing imagination. I hope you like this weeks essay.
WB School Blog 