Author Archives: crystalmontalvo

Okay so I read Beowulf and it was an interesting story filled of testosterone and males fighting and monsters. Looking at the movie gave me better imagery for the thrilling adventure of Beowulf. However I couldn’t help but notice a slight difference between the movie and the story. One of the many differences could be seen when Beowulf goes to kill Grendel’s mother.

In the story when Beowulf goes down to the murky waters to fight Grendels mother.  Grendels mother lunges as him and brings him down to her court and other sea creatures attack him as well. Of course Beowulf  being who he is grabs a sword and slices the mothers neck. He goes back to land a hero.

What I thought was interesting was in the movie Beowulf, he is captured by Grendel’s mothers beauty.  She comes out and promises him so much and then they have a love scene. Which then leads to him having a son by her.  This redirects the whole story because later on in the movie the king commits suicide, when in the book he dies in battle.  The change of that one scene changes the whole story.  There is still a dragon that comes for the land however in the movie the dragon is portrayed as the son of Beowulf and Grendels mother. This takes the whole book out of content but I guess makes it seem a bit more interesting.

The story of Giglamesh doesn’t seem to have a particular female love interest as most of the other stories read in class however; one can tell the idea of a female’s love plays a key part in the epic. After all in the beginning Enkidu becomes civilized after laying with a harlot.  And then Giglamesh and Enkidus troubles begin with Ishtar the goddess of love.

In he story of Gilgamesh I found one part extremely interesting.  That part in particular is when Gilgamesh returns from the cedar forest with Humbabas head.  Looking at this great victory Ishtar the goddess of love seems to find an instant attraction to him. She then asks to be his bride. Something I thought was quite interesting seeing she is a goddess. In return Gilgamesh replies

“…your lovers have found you like a brazier which smoulders in the cold, a backdoor which keeps out neither squall of wind nor storm…and if I you and I should be lovers, should not I be served in the same fashion as all these others whom you loved once?”

I think this part intrigued me the most because although Ishtar is a goddess Gilgamesh is not only rejecting her but talking down to her.  Even though she is the goddess of love. Rejecting Ishtar’s love then becomes the turning point for the story ending in Enkidus death.  Denying Ishtar love ends with Enkidu life and yet laying with a woman is what really brought him to a civilized life.  That was just one thing I noticed in the story that captured my interest.

Another interesting story read in class was The Ramayana which was a epic poem which was much like a tragic love story at least for the Sita the main character. Story takes place in  the 14 century  starts off with a king who has four sons one of which is Rama. Rama who is portrayed something like the best man on earth was next to be on the throne however one of the king owed his wife kaikeyi a vow. She then asked for Rama to be sent away for 14 years. Although it pains the king he does it and Rama like a noble man does as his mother wishes.  Sita being the good wife she is goes with Rama .

Eventually King Ravana ends up kidnapping her for a long time, and Rama goes to rescue her. Throughout the whole time Sita only concern is Rama. Eventually she is rescued but Rama no longer thinks of her as pure so then sends her away. Even though she was totally devoted to Rama. She goes away and actually has his kids and teaches them that Rama is the best . Throughout the whole story I was just amazed on how much patience she had with Rama. Twice he makes her undergo test of her purity and she passes. Sita was not one of my favorite characters. She proves to be faithful and pure but I couldn’t help just feeling pity for her. A total opposite of Medea ( main character of another story read in class) . Made me wonder what would Medea do in  Sitas situation.

The story of Medea is one of my favorites that we read in class. Tale of a woman whose world comes to pieces when the man she has done everything for leaves her for a princess. Not only that but she is to be exiled from the country she lives in with her two children.  Reading other stories in class I defiantly expected her to fall apart into pieces, due to time frame and how women are usually portrayed. Sadly this story has a sick twist, which is why its still one of my favorites.

Medea is granted one day before she has to leave in exile and she takes that time to seek revenge. A plan of vengeance, which not only includes the murder of the princess but her children as well.  Although the loss of her children would be a heavy pain to her, she seems to be more satisfied with the fact that Jason would suffer the most.

One thing that I liked about this story was I couldn’t tell if Medea was a hero, or a villain.  In the beginning of the story one can sympathize with her.  She seeks revenge, which is quite understandable considering the amount of pain she is in because of her husbands betrayal. However, she ends up taking the life of her two innocent children in the process. However when reading and even seeing it in my school you have no choice but to admire her. She wont compromise herself, which gives her, I think a trait of a hero.  So one might say that she is a tragic hero. There is a balance of punishment and crime when it comes to her character. Medea own destruction of loosing her children is for the idea that the one who betrayed her would suffer the most, shows that a tragic hero would be the title that defines her the most.