Geraldine Brooks explores how ignorance, superstition and hysteria can be as fatal as any plague within her novel ‘Year of Wonders’. During the trying year of the plague superstition, ignorance, and hysteria took over the village, causing people to make irrational accusations, decisions and behave immorally, turning against each other. Brooks explores how the plague acts as a catalyst effecting each of the villagers differently on a physical and emotional level. The plague is defined as a large amount of insects or animals infesting a place causing damage, within the novel we see the villagers become these animals. Fear and anguish brought out some of the worst qualities in the villagers causing them to turn against one another creating anger, conflict and damage unto one another.
Everyone was shocked and thought it was the end of the world when the Roman Empire collapsed. Jerome, an important person in the early Christian church, wrote to his friend Gregory. Savage Nations invaded Gaul, thousands of men have been massacred. All the towns are empty. It was hard for him to talk without crying.
But after Candide, Jacques, and Pangloss ship off to Lisbon, Portugal, their hope is shattered. A great storm kills their entire ship full of people besides Candide, Pangloss, and a crewman who happened to push Jacques overboard. After the two characters struggle their way onto the shore of Lisbon, an earthquake happens. This section of the story is probably at the lowest part of Candide’s optimistic level. The Lisbon people soon have an auto-da-fé, where many people are tortured and killed.
Atreus himself was involved in the tragedy in which he murdered his brother’s children and served them up as a dish to eat. In the Ancient Greek world, this was seen as placing a curse of the house of Atreus which could provide an explanation to the events that occur within the play. Cassandra calls it the ‘house that hates god, the echoing womb of guilt’ which implies that there will always be terrible things happening there as the gods do not approve of it. This starts the argument that the characters have no control over their fate as Agamemnon was always going to meet a sticky end because of the
The people who fork through the trash symbolize that we may, one day pick at the remnants of our long lost culture, 'with an eternity in which to turn up some peculiar sensation'. Furthering this image of hell, Charon, “the demon with the long barge pole” from Greek mythology, is depicted as “a man, wiping his eyes”. The speaker alliteratively remarks, “Someone who worked here would have to weep,” highlighting the difference between reality, and hell, the speaker then comments on this image, “how can he avoid a hatred of men?” This comparison emphasizes the dark reality of the situation, leading to the downfall of humanity. Gray further extends the horrific experience to the reader
14553 prophecy road. Thebes, GR 12653 429 BC Dear Teiresias, We the people of Thebes come to you, in desire for your wise words of prophecies. The plaque has engorged our previously astounding city, forcing hunger, poverty, and bitterness on us. Our faces fill with somber and displeasure, as heart beats cease by the day. The murderer of our late and noble king Laius, must be found and torn to pieces in order for our suffering to lull.
As Hercules tried on the cloak, his body begins to burn immensely with pain. Knowing that he is near death he asks his friends to build a pile of wood on Mount Oeta where he would burn to death. Gilgamesh has come to realization that his selfish pursuit of glory alienates the gods which caused the death of Enkidu. After Enkidu dies, Gilgamesh pours out his grief to the tavern keeper: "After his death I could find no life, / Back and forth I prowled like a bandit in the steppe, . .” (Gilgamesh, lines 63-64).
Eric Bogle’s poem, The Green Fields of France, depicts the detrimental effects of war on individuals and the society. The use of hyperbole in, “The killing and dying was all done in vain…whole generation that were butchered and damned,” reflects how the society was ripped apart due to the death of loved ones, which lead to an unhealthy community. It further explains that families had to go through so much grief and anxiety for a war that did not achieve anything. Likewise, Bogle demonstrates the pointlessness of the war. “…Did they really believe that this war would end wars…it all happened again, and again, and again,” this use of rhetorical question and repetition emphasises the anti-war sentiment that both Bogle and Dawe capture.
Kevin_Hilliard Reading & Literature Part II Section 3, lesson 1 assignment 1 3/5/2013 The Masque of The Red Death In the year 2023, there was a plague so devastating that the world could not bear. The “Red Death” was so devastating, it destroyed half the population. This horrific plague contained the most horrific manifestations. The manifestations consist of sharp pains, sudden dizziness, and profuse bleeding at the pores with disintegration. Anyone that the plague came upon, caused reddening stains on the face and the body would appear, which caused the individual to be thrown in a secluded quarantine factory.
It is barbaric, awful and a terrible waste of human life. The rain is constantly flooding the trenches and turning the floor into mud, it is so bad that many of the men are getting open sores on their feet, they call it trench foot and they can hardly walk because of the pain. Life here is gruesome. Yesterday I saw my friend, Michael Phellps, die right in front of me because he had lost his gas mask and the enemy's gas was everywhere in the air. We couldn't do anything but watch him die, screaming for help.