Oedipus the King

                It is clear that Oedipus is not a superhero.  He is king of the Thebes and a victim of Greek fate.  In the play, Oedipus kills his father and sleeps with his mother.  There is so much dramatic irony in this play.  When Oedipus sends Creon to Apollo to investigate the cause of his kingdom’s suffering he returns and tells Oedipus that everyone is suffering because someone murdered the previous king.  Oedipus goes on to tell the people of his kingdom that anyone who aides the murderer will be punished. He curses the murderer not knowing until he talks to Teiresias that he is the murderer. Then he becomes more suspicious when Jocasta tells him of the prophecy Laius received. So this whole time he was cursing and speaking badly of himself.

                This play deals a lot with Greek fate. To the Greeks fate is something you cannot escape and when you to try to fight this fate it happens no matter what.  Oedipus’s fate was that he would kill his father and marry his mother.  I’m sure if most of us heard this about ourselves we would do everything in our power to fight it also. But when Laius tries to fight his fate as well he ends up twisting things and making it so it does happen.  When he pierces Oedipus’s ankles and leaves him on the hillside a man comes and saves Oedipus’s life and raises him as his own. Oedipus grows up to also heard the same prophecy as his parents and trying to fight this fate also he runs away from his adopted parents to run into his real father along the crossroads and kills him. He then goes on to marry his mother just like the prophecy foretold.

                 I looked more into the Oedipus Complex and I have to say it really is a disturbing way of thinking. Sigmund Freud came up with the idea that all men secretly want to kill their father and have sexual relations with their mother. Then on Wikipedia it said that even women fall into this way of thinking. I don’t know how true this is since Wikipedia isn’t a very reliable source but never the less he may have thought this.  Freud supposedly said that even women have a homosexual crush on their mother.  I’m sure most of us love our mother very much but I wouldn’t go as far to say that we would ever want to have sexual relations with our mom. That is obviously sick and wrong! I have no problem saying Freud is a crazy guy for thinking the way he did. Who would ever think this way without being crazy themselves?

Word Count: 449

Beowulf a Superhero?

In World Literature we are discussing the topic of superheroes. What are superheroes? And can your average person who does a great deed be considered a superhero? There is clearly a difference between a hero and a superhero.  A superhero is a hero that goes above and beyond what is required of him or her.  To be considered a superhero a superhero needs some kind of “super” power, they have to be courageous and have an antagonist.  Super heroes are typically well known and defend the weak in the name of justice.

What makes a superhero a superhero?

·         Super Power

·         Courage/ Brave

·         Beats Adversity

·         Defends the weak/Justice

·         Has values

·         Cause

·         Back story

·         A weakness/ Kryptonite

·         Publicly Known

In the poem Beowulf, the protagonist Beowulf seems to be a superhero but there is a lot of skepticism over whether or not he is. I believe Beowulf is a hero because he has most of the traits that a superhero consists of. Beowulf is courageous he shows no fear when he agrees to fight Grendel with no weapons.  Super strength is Beowulf’s “super” power he manages to rip off Grendel’s arm with his bare hands. No average man could do that. He has more power or strength than a normal man who could be considered a hero. Beowulf beats adversity by succeeding in getting rid of Grendel like he promised. He was doubted by Unferth but in the end he proved himself. After defeating Grendel Beowulf’s story was told by many throughout the land.  Beowulf doesn’t seem to have a weakness so far in the poem. He is very cocky and proud but for the most part he has a reason to be. Beowulf has defeated Grendel, his mother and a dragon. He like many other superheroes has to defeat a number of villains which makes them more publicly known and admired.To the Danes and maybe even the Geats Beowulf really is a superhero. He has done what the Danes and so many other people from other lands have tried to do for years in one single night. To the people of Heorot Beowulf has brought them justice and happiness.

A little off topic but after reading the first part of the poem it wasn’t clear to me if Beow and Beowulf was the same person. On page 1566 in our book the caption said that the person who wrote the poem jumped to the protagonist I’m guessing they made a mistake.  I’m pretty sure they aren’t the same person because Hrothgar was old by that time and his grandfather Beow would be dead or pretty old by then.  However when I compared the version in our book to another version online when they talked about Hrothgar’s grandfather his name was Beowulf. This just confused me.

Word Count: 474