Judith and Maidservant with the Head of Holofernes, circa 1625, is one of several paintings depicted by numerous authors about Judith, the fearless widow from The Book of Judith in the Old Testament. Artemisia Gentileschi herself painted four scenes of Judith’s story. Judith was an attractive Jewish princess, chosen by God, to save the Israelite town of Bethulia from an army siege commanded by Assyrian General Holofernes. Judith, accompanied by her maidservant, Ara, went to the campsite to find Holofernes and after using her seductive beauty, got him drunk and decapitated him with his own sword as he slept. Visibility in this painting is the spirit of the drama. The viewers are inescapably occupied in the action. The nervousness of the sight is contagious. The original work is located at The Detroit Institute of Art and measures 6’ ½” X 4’ 7 ¾”.…
The Open Boat by Stephen Crane is a story describing four men that are trapped together in a small boat or dingy. The men aboard the boat are a captain, a correspondent, an oiler, and a cook. The men were aboard a larger boat that crashed off the coast of Florida and are now searching for the safety of a light house they remember. After making a homemade sail and some brisk paddling they finally get near the coast. They spot some people and begin to signal for help but the people only respond with friendly waves. The tide is much too strong to swim to shore so they paddle back out to sea a ways and wait for it to calm. While waiting they get approached by a shark. The large fish circles in such a way that death searches for the next victim it will claim. The men keep rowing and head toward shore. Upon arriving a reasonable distance from the shore, the captain announces that when the boat is about to sink that they will all jump and swim for shore. The oiler, cook, and correspondent evacuate the boat and swim for the sandy beach. The captain stays close to the boat because his injury inhibits his swimming ability. They are having trouble completely the journey to safety when a naked man comes and helps the correspondent and cook on shore. These two men alongside the captain are warmly welcomed by many. The oiler, however, is only welcomed by a sandy grave. The four men each represent four different members of society. The captain represents the leaders; the cook the followers; the oiler the workers; and the correspondent the observers and thinkers. These men must learn to work together and thrive off of one another’s strengths and make up for the other’s weaknesses. Each of these men are very different but the fury of nature does not discriminate against any man.…
The last bell of the day rings, signifying that school is out. A girl, crouched in between a group of cute guys, slowly walks out of the classroom followed by a lonely girl desperately clutching at her school books to keep them from plunging to the floor. Outside as the popular girl waits for her ride home, still clasped between a sea of faces, she is slowly and unostentatiously confronted by the loner, tears streaming down her face, where she is shoved to the ground. The ruffian then runs off in a fit of panic .Not only is this scenario seen everywhere in the world, most people see it happen this way. What is it like to see this same scene from the bullies' perspective? The narrator of Beowulf and the character Grendel, in Gardner's Grendel, have totally different views of the same event. In Beowulf, the narrator tells the story in third person with Beowulf being the "good guy" and Grendel being the "bad guy" and vice versa in the story Grendel, told in first person with Grendel being the narrator. Furthermore, in most literature the author generally points out what is the "good" and what is the "bad", but after analyzing the different point of views in both Grendel and Beowulf, it is possible to see both sides…
Grendel is a monster, no matter what way he is described. A being that brings misery to all . This makes the next statement just captivating: the two Grendel’s in the poem of Beowulf and the novel Grendel, are two completely different beings. In the poem, Grendel is a mindless brute for a hero to slay; in the novel he interprets philosophy and is an unbiased mind viewing mankind .…
Every world has a monster - each unique in their own way. They come from different beginnings, possess different traits, and have their own desires. However, they share one similarity: perception. Regardless of crime or victim, monsters are always perceived with paranoia and fear. Little to no consideration is paid to the emotional and mental states of these hell-bound creatures. Condemned for life, cursed by god, these beings spend their days pathetically wallowing in their shameful existence, scornful of the present and hateful of past. Grendel, a lonely monster who despises the world as much as it despises him, is one such being. Leaving the ill-fated waters of his pond, Grendel plagues the world of King Hrothgar and the Danes. Coming every night, Grendel massacres Hrothgar's people in the Herot, a famous hall of music and riches. This murder and terror continues until the arrival of Beowulf, a warrior with the intents of defeating Grendel once and for all. Courageously,…
Beowulf, an epic poem written in England in the 8th century, introduces us to a character known as Grendel, a vicious beast who terrorizes a village in Denmark. In 1971, an American author named John Gardner reintroduces the character, this time re-telling the story from the monster’s point of view. In both stories Grendel is portrayed in many similar, but also many different ways.…
Two valiant heroes each looked up to by their cultures with strength beyond measure and tremendous power. The two predominant characters in this essay are thesues; a great hero to Athens and Beowulf; the renowned hero who fights the troll like monster Grendel. His mother Aethra raised Theseus. Indoctrinated that his father was the eminent Poseidon the god of the sea. When Theseus turned the age of 16 his mother explained to Theseus he was the child of Aegeus the king of Athens. Aethra instructed Theseus to lift a large rock over his head, after which Thesues came upon a sword which starts him on his adventure to find his father and return the sword. Beowulf was a prince of the Geats who went on an endeavor to Hogarth to slay the monstrous creature Grendel that prowled about the great hall of heorot after nightfall. Beowulf appears to be a strong brave character who does not change throughout the story and remains a robust leader from the beginning to the end. Thesues enters the story as an innocent young boy who quickly becomes a narcisstic, pitiless leader. Both Thesues and Beowulf are similar in the sense they are both brave, although both have many contrasts, Beowulf had knowledge of his noble birth, Theseus did not. Throughout this essay the understanding that both these two known heroes have many similarity’s as well differences.…
Beowulf was written by an unknown Anglo Saxon poet from 700 A.D. and has been passed on ever since then. The story has been said to have taken place in 500 A.D. It is about a Kingdom called Denmark ruled by King Hrothgar whom is said to be a good ruler. The kingdom has been cursed for hundreds of years by a monster named Grendel. Every time the people of Denmark gathered in the hall of the kingdom Grendel would hear the music of god and it would hurt his ears because he was a Son of Cain. Then one day Beowulf King of Geats, comes to the Danish Shore and without fear stands up to guard and boasts about himself and explains to the guard that he is there to defeat the monster that has cursed the land. There are two different stories to the tale…
What makes Beowulf so dishonest? To start with Beowulf was sent to the land to kill Hrothgar’s evil son Grendel. But Beowulf was so caught up in trying to be “heroic”, he started lying to Hrothgar’s soldiers and how he slayed 39 sea monsters! Batman never lied to the people on his conquers, but Batman never backs down from the bad guys. Heroes can be brave, courageous, and bold, but true heroism is best defined with bravery, courage, strength, and also with a little bit of risk taking.…
The similarities and differences within Beowulf and The Canterbury Tales are quite evident after reading both texts. Both authors, Beowulf, by Anonymous and The Canterbury Tales, by Geoffrey Chaucer use literary devices to convey their message in each poem. There are similarities and differences within characters, tone, images and symbols. Beowulf and The Canterbury Tales are two similar poems but are written with different styles and literary devices.…
After thinking about the past years of my life I have found few major moments of joy; which just goes to show how rare they are and that if we do not recognize them they will just fly on by. Occurrences such as these are something that need to be held on to and cherished, and that is just what I have done.…
When it comes to a hero, what does it take? There are many different versions to this word but when it comes to being an epic hero it takes some serious criteria. Both Beowulf and Oedipus could be considered a hero. They save people and do things for the greater good, but are the considered to be epic? Oedipus was determined to help the people of Thebans out of their troubled state after the outbreak. His compassion and his drive to help and protect his people is especially what makes him a “heroic figure.” “hence, you do not wake me from sleep. But know that I have been weeping much and wandering many roads of the mind, and that which my inquiry found our only cure I have done, for I have sent Creon… to Apollo’s home in Pytho, so that he learns what I should do or say to save the city.” (70-77) But as we look through…
Within both, Grendel the novel and Beowulf, there are a large number of differences between the main character. Grendel in the novel is portrayed as a more complex character than in the epic poem, Beowulf, because of his ability to comprehend the world, seek out companionship, and because he is able to transform as a character throughout the book.…
Lehrer, John. “Much Ado About Something.” The New York Times. New York Times, 11 June…
9 berries, 3x2 mL of juice and 3x1 mL of wine were used for PTR-MS analyses and for ENOSE analysis.…