The Return of Greek Mythology
Instructions This essay should be a 650-900 word essay focusing on the assigned readings from the course. It is due by 11:55 pm ET on Sunday of Week 8. This should be a close reading essay, and should use as evidence primarily passages from the work or works that you discuss. You may not use ANY outside sources without the instructor's approval. The essay should be in MLA essay format (see the sample essay here) and should have the student/teacher cover letter (which should answer these questions) as the first page. A works cited entry and in-text citations for each text discussed are required. Analytical essays should be focused on making a debatable claim about the work in question; creative essays should be focused on presenting a work or kind of work from a different angle. Informational essays or essays consisting of summary are not appropriate for either type of essay. Both types of essay should be supported with discussion of specific passages from the text(s) on which the essay is focused. The essay grading rubric can be found here for the analytical choices, and here for the creative choices. Choose 1 of the following topics from either the Analytical or Creative categories. For the analytical choices, be sure to write a thesis-driven essay in response to the topic. Creative choices should be written as narratives. The Return of Greek Mythology: The setting of “The Knight's Tale” is ancient Greece, and it may be tempting to compare this story to The Iliad. Think back to our Week 2 reading and compare the heroic ideals depicted in The Iliad with the heroic ideals depicted in “The Knight's Tale.” Can we read “The Knight's Tale” as being a direct reflection of the heroic ideals we find in The Iliad? Why or why not? Cover Letter Questions Please answer all of the following questions in paragraph form; give as much detail as possible to help me understand how you went about writing the essay. This will allow me to better tailor my feedback to help you. 1. What assignment prompt did you decide to respond to and why? 2. If the prompt allowed you to choose what works to write on, which work or works did you choose and why? 3. What do you feel are the strengths of your essay? 4. What parts of the essay do you feel are weaknesses or areas that could use more work? 5. Are there any particular parts of the essay on which you would like more feedback? Make sure to look at the sample essay and in the works cited to ONLY use the Ebooks that are posted. Just to make sure, the last time the instructor wanted the 3 point thesis statement at the end of the introduction and the beggining of the conclusion.
Professor:
Course:
Date:
Dear Prof.
In the assignment, I decided to respond to the analytical essay in the course readings. This choice was driven by the fact that, the analytical essay gave me the freedom to read the material and derive deeper meaning according to my understanding. Through the essay, I could show the reader certain elements in the two stories that not quite obvious, while at the same time indicating the similarities in the context.
Given that prompt allowed me to choose the material, I chose to go with the heroics reflected in both The Iliad and The Knight’s Tales. I chose these two readings as they have a level of resemblance that is incredible, even though the settings are quite different as well as the storylines.
The main strength in the essay is the fact that I was able to bring out some of the elements of the two stories which are not quite obvious to the readers. While the stories are quite different, they are a reflection of each other on the basis heroics displayed by the authors of the books. At the same time they are a reflection of the time that the stories were written.
Although I managed to bring out the similarities of the heroics code, it was not as easy. This difficulty was due to the fact that the stories have a lot of differences in their settings and themes. One has to look at the heroics in the stories from an observer’s point of view, to make admissible evidence.
One of the main areas that I would like some feedback is on the introduction. I would like to know if the reader’s attention is grabbed. I would also want feedback on the thesis statement, with close regard to the way it connects with the introduction and the conclusion.
Sincerely
Name:
Professor:
Course:
Date:
The Illad is one of the oldest works by Homer. The Greek poem underlines some of the major aspects of the Trojan War. As such much of the content and revelations are about the war and the heroes of the time with the great city of Troy. It is interesting to note that there is a close resemblance between The Iliad and The Knight's Tale. The latter is a story about the kind of life the knights had as they went about winning battles. A close look at the two reveals that there is a reflective element that breeds similarity. In the two pieces of literature, the readers are brought to the attention of the heroic icons, through the war and warriors that fought in the war.
It is clear that not all the warriors desire to have war on their land, but then it is one of the aspects that they do not have much control over. There is conflict everywhere and there is no place that one can call a safe haven. At the same time death at war is inevitable, as warriors have to kill their enemies and they themselves would have to endure death at the hands of the enemy. This is the way the wars have to be won. In the Iliad one of the elements of the war that comes out very clearly, is the fact that the warriors go to war for the honor. For one to be a warrior and be accorded honor, they would have to go to war (Silva, 155). They would also have to face the life threatening activities if they want to maintain their honor. When the warriors are faced with the option of staying away from great risk or going to war, they chose the latter a it is the only they can defend their honor among the warriors of the country and the people of the nation as well as the enemies. At one time Akhilleus is seen to warn Patroklos against attacking Troy, but the advices goes unheeded to. At the same time, when Poulydamas advices Hektor to try and lead the Trojan back to their city, where they would have a better chance of fighting their enemy. When both Priam and Hekabe try to insist to Hektor against fighting Akhilleus, this advice goes unheeded to as well. This underlines the fact that, the warriors believed that they had to face death at war for them to maintain their honor. At the same time, there is also the element of placing honor before the value of life (Silva, 174). Hektor feels that he has to fight Akhilleus regardless of the many options that he had of avoiding a situation where he would put his life in danger. Instead of talking things out...