For those of you gone on choir and drama tours, I hope you are having a wonderful time.
For Wednesday, February 25th we discussed five characters. These included Helen, Menelaus, Agamemnon, Clytemnestra, and Iphigenia. Please review your handouts covering each of the characters. I have included an image of each character below, and the quotes that were chosen by the groups for each class. I would review the quotes for EACH CLASS, as doing so will give you insights into each character. The HOMEWORK for Wednesday was to read pages 185 to the last paragraph on 196 of The Iliad located in your textbook.
Cheers,
Crampton
Helen, "The face that launched a thousand ships."
B1:
1. "Then Priam brought Hector home, mourned in Troy as never another, even Helen wept. 'The other Trojans upbraided me, ' she said, 'but always I had comfort from you through your gentleness of spirit and your kind words. You were only my friend."
2. "The most fascinating things about Helen was her story. It was far better than she was. We do not see any real character development in her and have to regard her as a a pawn of the gods. The larger story is involved with the people around her, their rise and fall. She herself seemed oblivious to the horrors that surrounded her."
B2
1. "If only death had pleased me then, grim death, that day I followed your son to Troy, forsaking my marriage bed, my kinsmen and my children."
2. "Never set food on Mt. Olympus ...never! ---suffer Paris, protect Paris, for eternity....until he makes you his wedded wife---that or his slave. Not I, I'll never go back again. It would be wrong, disgraceful to share that coward's bed once more."
B4
1. "Aphrodite led Paris to Sparta, the home of a Greek prince named Menelaus. Helen, his wife was considered the most beautiful woman in the world. Paris fell in love with Helen and carried her off to Troy."
2. "When Menelaus returned home and discovered Helen gone, he called on the leaders of Greece, who had sworn to support him if necessary. The Greeks organized a great expedition and set sail for Troy. Their arrival at Troy marked the beginning of the Trojan War."
Menelaus, King of Sparta/Husband to Helen
B1:
1."When Agamemnon's leadership was jeopardized, Menelaus tricked Clytemnestra into trusting them with her daughter, Iphigenia, who was sacrificed to the gods so that Agamemnon might retrain command."
2. " Paris struck first, but Menelaus caught the swift spear on his shield then hurled his own. It rent Paris' but did not wound him. Menelaus drew his sword, his only weapon now, but as he did so it fell from his hand broken. Undaunted though unarmed he leaped upon Paris and seizing him...he would have dragged him to the Greeks victoriously if it had not been for Aphrodite saving him. "
B2:
1. "Menelaus and Helen received him graciously as their guest. The ties between guest and host were strong. Each was bound to help and never harm the other. But Paris broke that bond. Menelaus trusting completely to it left Paris in his home and went off to Crete."
2. "Later after Paris' death, the Trojans gave Helen to his brother Deiphobus, in whose house, on the night of the fall of Troy, Menelaus found her. He had meant to kill her on the spot, but her beauty and Aphrodite's power deterred him."
B4:
1. "Menelaus saw who was making the challenge and was as glad as a lion coming on the carcass of a wild goat....He stood and looked at his rival with contempt."
2. Same as the second quote for B1..refer to the second quote for B1.
The burial mask of "Agamemnon," found by Henrick Schleimann, while he
was doing excavation work at Mycenae
B1:
1. "When Menelaus' wife, Helen, was enchanted by Aphrodite and taken to the city of Troy by Alexandros, Agamemnon formed an army and sailed to Tory to retrieve Helen and her dowry."
2. "Agamemnon, in Greek Mythology, was King of Mycenae, and a commander of the Greek forces in the Trojan War. When the Greeks had assembled at Aulis for their voyage to Troy they were held back by adverse winds. Agamemnon had killed one of Artemis' sacred hares and the young; she was angry with Agamemnon's arrogance, so she caused the winds to blow unceasingly. To punish Agamemnon, she required the sacrifice of his eldest daughter Iphigenia. "
B2:
1. ""Agamemnon sent a letter to Clytemnestra and their child, Iphigenia, asking them to come and join them at Aulis, where Iphigenia he said was going to be married to the great Achilles."
2. "He insulted the goddess Artemis by bragging that he was a better hunter than she and by killing a sacred hare. As punishment, Artemis caused the winds to blow so hard that the Greek fleet could not set sail."
B4:
1. "Agamemnon had been forewarned about the danger of returning home with Cassandra, yet his pride blinded him and he thought himself invinsible. He was vulnerable because he refused to listen to Cassandra, so Clytemnestra killed him."
2. Same as the second quote for B2
Clytemnestra, Queen of Mycenae, wife to Agamemnon, mother to Iphigenia, sister to Helen of Sparta
B1:
1. " She saw no reason to explain her act or excuse it. She was not a murderer in her own eyes, she was an executioner. She had punished and murdered the murderer of his own child."
2. "Dark red stains were on her dress, her hands, her face, yet she herself looked unshaken, strongly sure of herself...It was his blood that stained her dress and face and she was glad."
B2:
1: Same quote as b1
2: Same quote as b1
B4:
1. Same quote as b1
2. "Here lies my husband dead, struck down justly by my hand."
Sacrifice of Iphigenia, daughter of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra
B1:
1. "When she came to her wedding she was carried to the alter to be killed by her father."
2. "She would only send a favorable wind if the king propitiated her by offering up Iphigenia, the most beautiful of his daughters, as a sacrifice to the goddess."
B2:
1. Same as B1
2. "Iphigenia was a tragic heroine. She was the first person to have her life flipped upside down because of the Trojan War and it was her death which allowed the Greek fleet to set sail for Troy. Iphigenia was extremely brave and she is the reason why the entire war was able to continue."
B4:
1. Same as B1
2. Same as B2
