Mythology & Folklore

The story I focused on in this unit was The Oracle of Apollo It's similar to the story of Narcissus in that both are beautiful but cannot marry anyone Interesting take on beauty by having her be jealous of her plainer looking sisters, like commentary on inner beauty  What did her father do to make the gods angry Maybe could be a commentary on marriage being the death of something, metaphorically Why red veil? Interesting to have a wedding that doubles as a funeral She is surprisingly willing to do it, to have a child that will ruin the world A story could be about what happens after they all leave her on the mountain alone, or a conversation between her and the last person to leave Psyche Bibliography: Cupid and Psyche translated by Tony Kline  link to online reading

The story I focused on this week and liked best was Narcissus: I like the concept of bringing in the goddess Nemesis, because she is without a doubt a vengeful goddess, while most other gods were usually not focused on revenge. The concept of prophecy could be interesting to play around with The story is very descriptive of the setting, like the setting needs to be as beautiful as the subject of the story He has never seen himself in a reflection, which is very interesting and could be a good plot point to considering in writing a story The idea of unrequited love when the person you love is yourself is very interesting, but also very sad in a way. He'll never have what he wants Maybe consider his life if he had never seen his reflection, or at least seen it later in life It's an interesting take on discovering the idea of self esteem and how one feels about oneself His death is an odd ending, becoming a flower instead of having a body Narcissus Flower Biblio...

The first story I was interested in was  Metamorphosis . There were not many characters, but I guess the story was simple enough that it didn't need many. The main event of the story was the girl coming to life, but if I were to rewrite it, I think I would go about it differently. it felt very one-sided in terms of the characters. The woman was purely what Pygmalion wanted her to be. I think there is rom for a much more interesting development of her character. The second story I liked was  The Three Roses . It was very similar to Beauty and the Beast, except he was changed by an act of violence rather than love. It was all very matter-of-fact, like no one had much choice in anything that happened. Mary had to go to the castle, and had to cut off the basilisks head, and then the prince had to marry her. I would maybe have put a little more emotion into it. Pygmalion

A lot of the units peaked my interest! I personally have always loved Greek and Egyptian mythology, but I think that to get the most out of this class, I should branch out a little! One unit that caught my eye was  Women Saints . I love a good story about a strong woman, so I think these stories would be right up my alley. A second unit I liked upon skimming the stories was  Grimm (Librivox) . This one had the most familiar stories, so I thought it would be nice to read some of the stories I'm already somewhat familiar with. The third unit I was interested in was  Dante's Inferno . I've always wanted to read this, so I figured now was as good a time as any! Cinderella