Mythology & Folklore

I think I may want to focus on the Egyptian goddess Isis. I started at the  Wikipedia page  and from there I found a few stories I could use: The first story I found was in Ovid's Metamorphoses. Isis was still worshipped in Greek mythology and makes an appearance in the stories found in Metamorphoses. This would be a good story to use because it has that crossover element I like between Greek and Egyptian mythologies. The second story I looked at was the birth of Anubis, where the twin of Isis dresses up as her to seduce Set, and gave birth to Anubis. This is a classically dramatic story that you would expect from mythology, and I think that family dynamic would be interesting to look at. The third story I liked was the story of Isis and Ra. She tricks him into telling her his secret name, and therefore gains power over him. I like the cleverness she exhibits in this story and would like to focus on that somehow. Osiris, Horus, and Isis

Echo wept silently for days when her love, Narcissus, died and was transformed into a flower. As she could only repeat the last word she heard, she cried “Goodbye!”, for days on end as she grieved. And not a soul heard her cries, expect for one certain goddess. Nemesis, the goddess of revenge, the same one who had cursed Narcissus to fall in love with his own reflection, which led to his death. She recognized Echo’s pain but thought little of it. But as time wore on, she began to wonder who was this girl who continued to cry day after day for a man who lonely ever loved himself. She inquired and was told the story of how Echo’s voice was taken by Juno, wife of Jupiter. Nemesis’s interest was peaked upon hearing this. She had always had ill feelings toward Juno, whom she felt did not deserve the power she was given. So Nemesis saw an opportunity to do what she did best: help someone get revenge. Nemesis returned to the fountain where Narcissus had perished and picked t...

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...