Reflections and Close Reading

I'm well aware that I'm late in regards to posting what my final topic is, I published this before but I'm not sure why it didn't go through. My topic for the final will either be the first topic (pain and pleasure with the chorus) or the fourth topic (Philoctetes's body affecting his state of mind). Both topics are very interesting to me, and have a lot of evidence to back it up. Although I do feel as if there is more evidence in regards to Philoctetes, some of the actions the Chorus committed in Prometheus Bound are worth talking. They may not be obvious at first, but after carefully looking through small details one will notice what it is that they are feeling. I will probably stick with Philoctetes though, he is an interesting character to discuss. I will publish my other blog for this week some time tomorrow or Wednesday, I don't know why my blog didn't uploaded last week

I am interested in choosing topic 1 for my final paper. I'm going to discuss how the Chorus experiences pain and pleasure in their act of sympathizing with Prometheus and go more into depth about what Prometheus went through throughout the book.

In Prometheus, the Chorus’s desire to be informed of Prometheus and IO’s sufferings that were done Zeus derives from the individual self first then unforced by group thinking. The individual self  or humans, always have the need to know. Everyone wants to know the most they can as easy as they can, which is just by being told something. Each member of the Chorus individually wanted to hear the rest of their gruesome experiences and seemed to be feeling both pleasure and disgust. It is hard to really figure out what in us wants to always know things no matter how horrible they are, probably the feeling of getting an answer without having to do anything or maybe because we all have a sense that knowledge is power.

For the final assignment I am in doubt between topic number one and topic number five. I feel like I'm comfortable with these two topics. Topic number one has a lot to write about because the chorus has a big part in the book. Also there can be a big comparison between pain and pleasure that chorus experiences. Topic number five also is a good topic that you can go in depth to analyze Herald speech. He is a charismatic character and also different. There's so much you can write on the topic if he fulfilled his duty as a messenger, and give reasons what made him take the action he did.

For my final paper I will be choosing  prompt #1. In my paper I'm going to go into an in-depth analysis about pain and pleasure in the  Prometheus Bound. The tie it with the act of sympathy and sacrifice. I'm also going to talk about the pain   Prometheus went through through out  the book, and then tie that to how sympathetic the chorus becomes to his pain. The Chorus experiences pain by standing in with  Prometheus when Zues comes, also bring up points where they want to hear about the pain someones going through. Lastly i'll bring up instances where they sympathizer  feels pleasure in pain, also why is there pleasure in pain and suffering.

For my final paper, I am choosing prompt #1 because I would really like to go into depth about pleasure in pain being connected to the act of sympathy in Prometheus Bound. I would like to bring up the instances where the chorus is sort of showing that they want to hear about the pain someone has or is going through and why they do so. In doing that, I will tie is to pleasure, as well, and how that is connected. Then, I will tie both instances of pain/pleasure to the act of sympathy the chorus shows and why they seem to only do so with connected to pain and pleasure.

I am interested in choosing topic five for my final paper. I re read the first interaction between the Herald and the Chorus of elders, and visualized the Chorus trying to hint to the Herald that something was wrong, while he was completely unaware of all the signs.

For the winter assignments, im just going to have to reread the three stories that we have read to find 2 pieces of dialogues to talk about. For the final paper, I am thinking of chosing the first topic that the professor has gave us, because I feel that I can provide info on how people makes decisions through pain and pleasue. Maybe I might add some experimants that people have done to see how pain and pleasue changes a persons decision. I would use these reasearch paper to relate to the  act of sympathy in the Prometheus Bound.

In Prometheus Bound, one line that stood out to me was when Prometheus exclaims this statement  “Time in it’s aging course teaches all things” , after Hermes tells him that Zeus does not understand the word “alas” .Alas stands as the exclamation of pity, and this quote brings together the play's emphasis on friendship and time. Pity is sympathy with suffering friends, but Zeus does not know that feeling because he does not honor friendships. Prometheus's rests on the fact that in time Zeus's power will be challenged. This is interesting to me because there are some people that believe they are so powerful that they can beat time , when it is the opposite. Prometheus knows that time is stronger than Zeus.

In Prometheus Bound, one thing that truly strikes me is the ending, where we don’t know if the daughters of Oceanus will actually stand by Prometheus as they said they would. Yes, we are given the lines where they explicitly state that they will stand by Prometheus no matter what his fate is, however we, the audience, do not really know if they will. Even Hermes warns them of the calamity they will be caught in and says they should only blame themselves, yet the daughters still stand their ground, claiming how they hate nothing more than a traitor. I feel as if they do not truly realize the suffering they will endure and they are not taking what Hermes is saying into consideration. This is kind of a cliff hanger in a way because we are told one thing but it seems so off. Will they really stay? We as an audience really do not know. Endings like this is so irritating because it just makes me think and think of what really happens, despite what I  really  want to happen.

While reading Prometheus, many things looked familiar, because to me it looked like what Zeus was doing was a system related to communism. By looking at things that Zeus didn't allow Prometheus and mortals to do, I picture Zeus as a dictator. In my opinion Prometheus did the right thing that he went against Zeus when he stole the fire. If we analyze it we can say that that was the start of a new era for people, because they learned new things that before they couldn't. They also realized that they didn't need to pray to God to make a change, but now that could do it by themselves.

One of the messages I received from Prometheus was that if one is to plan something, they should plan it as detailed as they can and have solutions of different outcome. throughout the entire play, I sensed that Prometheus was going based off a plan that he made. Although it seemed like he was regretting his actions, he still refused all the help he was offered. The pain he had to endure was not expected at all, meaning his plan was a little vague and the price for that is not having a solution to deal with the torture while staying within plan. But maybe that was his best plan which would contradict my claim here. for someone who can foresee, you can tell he has a plan.

I found it interesting that while all of the other Gods are upset with Prometheus for giving fire to humans, Hephaistos actually feels bad for him and doesn't really want to bound him to the rock but doesn't want to disobey Zeus as well. The fact that Hermes was sent to Prometheus for him to give information on Zeus amazes me. After all Prometheus has said about Zeus and done to defy him, it makes no sense that Zeus would think Prometheus will tell him what Zeus wanted to hear. Prometheus does not support Zeus. Around line 150 he even refers to Zeus as "this new Dictator of the Fortunate" and on page 84 he says "Zeus will learn eat a difference there is: between being a power and being a slave." Threatening him would do no good either because he most likely already foresaw that happening and would have been prepared for whatever came his way.

While reading Prometheus bound, I instantly noticed a parallel between Prometheus and Philoctetes. Both characters suffered some sort of punishment from a god: Philoctetes' wounded foot, and Prometheus who was bound to a rock as a punishment from Zeus. In another way these two characters are also similar by some sort of "power" they possess. Philoctetes had Heracle's bow which led to the victory of the Greeks during the Trojan War. Prometheus on the other hand had the gift of prophecy. Both characters came face to face with a god at the end and had strong traits of being stubborn. Yet, the two differ in the way that Philoctetes was easily persuaded by a god, on the other hand Prometheus stood for his beliefs and did not give in when Hermes demanded information for Zeus.

In the Philoctetes, we would discuss the mindset of Neoptolumus after he was abandond by his squad of soldiers after he was bitten by a venomous snake. Neoptolumus would begin to dispise the achaean army and would go mad after being alone in the forest for a very long time with venom in his blood. however when Odysseus would return to Neoptolumus with the achaean army, Neoptolumus would be happy to return to fight in the army after what they have done to him. I personaly wish to know more about Neotolumus history to know what type of person he was to better understand how he thinks and how he acts. There can also be the reason that Neoptolumus was so deprived of social interactions that he would follow anyone, just to have a type of social interaction.  

     As I read Philoctetes , I noticed a significance in certain objects which symbolized something important . The first object that stood out to me was the bow of Hercules. I think that the bow of Hercules is a weapon that represents power. While it was possessed by Philoctetes , it's power drew in Odysseus so he can return to Lemnos. Also, since the arrows never miss the possession of the bow prevents anyone from forcefully taking Philoctetes , which gave him a certain degree of power over Odyssesus and his will.

While reading Philoctetes there were two things that stood out to me the most. The first things would be the character of Neoptolemus. In my opinion he was in the middle. In one side he wanted to do what Odyseus told him, in the other hand I feel like the story of Philoctetes got to him. In my opinion Neoptolemus changed a lot as the play went through. the second that that stood out to me was when Heracles came at the end of the play. I believe that he should've appeared since the beginning when Neoptolemus told Philoctetes the real reason why he was there. In the end Philoctetes was already on his way to the ship, Heracles just incureged him more to go with Neoptolemus. But would it be the same if Heracles would've entered when Neoptolemus told Philoctetes to go with them.

As I read the Philoctetes, I was constantly wondering what Neoptolumus was going to do. I believe that it is evident that Neoptolumus disagreed with Odysseus from the very beginning. As soon as Odysseus granted Neoptolumus the permission to talk bad about him in order to persuade Philoctetes, I knew that Neoptolumus' true colors would be shown. In my opinion there was a lot of truth behind the bad things Neoptolumus was saying about Odysseus, and at this instant I feel that Neoptolumus' stance on this situation was already decided whether or not he knew it.

A theme in Philoctetes is is suffering, and victory. Philoctetes suffers from a wound on his foot throughout the play. He even goes back to Greece after being told if he's not there the Trojans will win. Hercules comes and tells Philoctetes that he will be cured and the Greeks will win the war if he goes to Troy. He went to Greece fought many Trojans and then his foot got healed. Hercules appearing in the play at the end was necessary in my opinion, Hercules helped push Philoctetes to go back to Greece to fight the Trojans  Also another thing is that a theme that I've noticed is fighting for glory, and immortality. Everyone wants to be glorified in these plays.

We have finally finished Philoctetes, and while everyone is mainly focusing on Phil's experiences, I wanted to focus on Neoptolemus. In case if some aren't aware, Neo is the son of Achilleus. Because he is the son of Achilleus, a lot is expected from Neo. Not only does Neo have this duty to protect his reputation, as well as his father's, he also has this obligation to follow his superior's commands. We just finished The Iliad, so we all know how much of a savage he can be in battle as well as his glory from that battle. It is no shock that Neo had a lot on his mind, he was clearly torn from following his duty and protecting his friend. On one hand, he wanted to follow Odysseus' orders to take Phil back to the battle. Yet on the other hand, Neo wanted to keep his promise to Phil. I feel like what Sophocles was trying to do was to teach his readers the valuable lesson of obligation, duty, emotional conflict, and decision making. Neo is clouded by glory, and loyalty a...

One point that I have yet to wrap my head around in  Philoctetes is the moment Heracles comes into the storyline at the very end. At first, I did not think much of it, however I was a little confused. Why would a new character show up at the very end of a story? For what purpose was Heracles added into the very last scene for with his lengthy speech for Philoctetes? I still have absolutely no idea. I thought that it was to kind of reassure Philoctetes, giving him a sense of hope that the gods were actually listening to him and that his pain was not ignored, however I think I was wrong. I don’t find any reason for Heracles to kind of just show up out of nowhere, when it is clear that just because Philoctetes agreed to leave the island and save the Greeks, he will not really change his mentality. The pride he had before, he probably will still have. Moreover, this scene was sort of out of place, and did not make much sense to me. 

In Philoctetes, I was able to see a different outcome than what I had thought when first reading the story. It seemed so evident to me that Neoptolemus would undoubtedly go through with the original plan, despite all the doubts and dislikes he had about doing it. It was obvious that Neoptolemus was not, in any way, happy about practically tricking Philoctetes, knowing that he is vulnerable, injured, and left there for years with scarce food and water. I truly thought that it would just be an easy task for Neoptolemus, however the moment he was given the bow to admire and hold, I knew that it would not be as easy as I predicted. You could sense Neoptolemus’ indecisiveness when he is given the bow and arrow in his hands and surprisingly hands it back to Philoctetes.  In this moment, Neoptolemus could have taken it and ran, especially while Philoctetes was in extreme pain, however he didn’t. It was something that I did not expect, but I enjoyed the fact that a character could so...

Philoctetes has let his pride get in the way of being healed and in the way of making a great name for himself because of past betrayal. In my opinion he pretends to be unaware of the damage his pride is doing. He wants to remain unchanged and have everyone feel sorry for him. It doesn't look like he's learned a lesson or lost his pride, more like he swallowed his pride for this event and will soon regurgitate it and go about his life the same as before. Now "learning" that patience and prayer can be used to get him out of tough situations and to always fight, it gives off the illusion that he's made a change when he's saying goodbye to the land.

 I don't believe Philoctetes missed out on a lesson in this story, in fact I think its the lesson we wanted him to learn that he missed out. We all learn something after doing something. In Philoctetes' case, he might have lerned that patience and prayer can get him out of though situations or to always fight. However, the lesson we wanted him to learn was how too much pride has negative consequences, basically to be aware of his pride. Also, I believe the claim that Philoctetes did not learn a valuable lesson can very much vary from a religious person and people who are more into reality or social interactions. A religious person would say Philoctetes learned a valuable lesson, hope, faith etc. A person who thinks more like a sociologist would say Philoctetes missed the valuable lesson, pride.

Odysseus is coming off as a jerk in this play. After leaving his fellow comrade stranded on a island alone for 10 years to suffer... he wants to return to take his only prize and possession away from him.  The bow was Phils only way to capture food, and Odysseus gives him the worse ultimatum ever. Either go to troy and help them (boo) or stay on the island to basically die. 

As of now, I'm almost done with Philoctetes. This play so far is very tragic, with the constant lying and the fear of trusting someone without any kind of betrayal. It really makes one wonder who is a true friend, who is faithful, and who is malicious. Philoctetes only trusts the young Neoptolemus, he still doesn't trust the older comrades since he still has trauma over being betrayed and abandoned in a cave. With his constant struggle of trust, it made me see just how deep his (Phil) wounds are. To see Neoptolemus follow Odysseus' cruel orders of deceiving and lying to Philoctetes, it really painted an image of what people would do to gain glory. At the end of the day, It is honor that every character wants, no matter what the cost is.  This ultimately shows readers in the modern day what the world in Homer’s time was like, what was labeled as “important” and what a common goal was for everyone.