How Herodotus Used Tone to Illuminate the Power Dynamics in His Book “The Histories”
3 pages single-spaced
For this literary analysis project, you are expected to develop an outline (think of an essay outline, but without the essay) analyzing the use of a particular craft element to illuminate a power dynamic within one of the travel writing texts we've read so far this semester. This project should contain a clear thesis as well as outside research to support its main arguments. You will organize your points into a thorough outline, as well as into a Google Slides or PowerPoint presentation, which you will present to your classmates.
You should analyze one of the following craft elements (if you have an idea that isn't mentioned here, please run it by me first): repetition, imagery, diction, dialogue, figurative language, foreshadowing, irony, tone, symbolism, POV, or allusion.
You should analyze a text from one of the following authors: Herodotus, Battuta,
Note: if the "power dynamic" piece of the prompt isn't resonating with you, it's okay to focus on a different function of the craft element you choose. But be sure you are able to describe clearly what function that craft element is accomplishing. (I.e., something more specific than, "the imagery makes the writing more visual." I recommend bringing your proposed thesis statement to mid-semester conferences so we can talk about it!
Your outline should be 3 pages single-spaced (not counting Works Cited page), and should include the following. I strongly recommend using bullet-points!
Basic identifying info: name, date, my name, class number and section.
A title: be creative!
An introduction:
Background information about your text: author, year of publication, topic.
A thesis: What is the argument you're making? Which craft element are you analyzing within the text, and in what way does the author use this craft element in order to demonstrate a relationship of power?
3 or more supporting arguments, each making a case for one element of your thesis. All of these supporting arguments should include the following:
Main idea
Supporting evidence (quotes and summaries from text)
Analysis of evidence presented (this may include quotes/summaries from other texts that inform your reading)
Transition to next argument.
A conclusion:
Remind us of your thesis and how you proved it.
Why is this important?
What are further areas of research or inquiry?
Works Cited page.
Course Name and Number
Professor Name
Paper Due Date
Introduction
Scholars in literature often use various tools to bring out aspects more clearly to their audience. That has been known to enrich literature for the many years that the discipline has existed. Such use of varying styles beautifies literature and helps in its growth such that the generations to come will find learning foundations and take literature to even higher levels. This essay aims to analyze how Herodotus used tone to illuminate the power dynamics conspicuously seen in his book “The Histories.” The essay will narrow down to the excerpt used in the semester. Herodotus wrote the books around 450 BCE, around the time he lived. At the time, the ruling regimes often orchestrated unmatched inequalities against their subjects, which the likes of Herodotus felt they should record such that the generations would get an idea of the past. The people confronted these regimes, and a range of wars followed, leading to changes that brought about inclusivity in the generations that followed, and some scholars today imagine that modern democracies were born of these efforts.
Supporting Arguments
* King Rhampsinitus bequeaths his sons
From the beginning to the end of the excerpt on Herodotus: The Histories read during the semester, there is the transition of power several times from Proteus to Rhampsinitus, to Cheops, to Chephren, and finally Mycerinus, with each of them possessing traits that varied in different magnitudes and affecting their subjects differently. All these kings had different tones in their dealings with the people, and the people themselves used varying tones among themselves, as will be seen in this work later. The tones often change to suit the issue at hand. In the first instance, a wealthy King, Rhampsinitus, realizes that he is nearing the end of his life. Therefore, he calls his two sons to instruct them on what he wants to be done about a range of issues surrounding his estate before appointing them Comptrollers and Royal Exchequer upon his death.
“Then he gave them clear directions concerning the mode of removing the stone and communicated the measurements, bidding them carefully keep the secret, whereby they would be Comptrollers of the Royal Exchequer so long as they lived.” (Herodotus 145)
The tone used in the above context is intimate and solemn. According to Singh and Leher (95), such tone is used when the context is passionate, confidential, and informal. Therefore, the king is passionately confiding with his children on what he wants to be done upon his death, and the element of power dynamics sets in that he is bequeathing them the power to use his estate as he was instructing them.
* Furious King Rhampsinitus after thefts in his apartments
However, an incidence of theft would happen in the king’s apartments a little later, and it was not clear who was orchestrating it. He realized that more money was missing every new visit and set up traps to capture the thieves. He succeeded as two brothers returned to steal, and when the first one entered, he was caught by the trap. They quickly agreed that his free brother would chop his head and leave with it to conceal their identities. That happened, and the king, who had shown a tone of intimacy before, developed a serious and heavy tone demanding that the body be hung outside and anyone seen mourning it brought to him.
“In this perplexity, he commanded the dead man’s body to be hung outside the palace wall and set a guard to watch it, with orders that if any persons were seen weeping or lamenting near the place, they should be seized and brought before him” (Herodotus 146).
A serious and heavy tone in literature is used to depict anger and frustrations (Gelfer et al. 191-216). The king is angry that one of the safest places in the land is prone to petty thieves, and he is right to feel so after the successive thefts of money were followed by the body’s theft.
* Thieves mother exercises power
Power dynamics are interestingly seen in the household where the two thieves had come from. When the other thief went home and confided to his mother what had befallen his brother, they at first agreed to be quiet and mourn privately. When the mother realized that his son’s beheaded body was being exposed at the king’s palace, she decided to exercise power over her surviving son with a threatening tone as she vowed to inform the king that he was the thief if he did not craft a pla...