Literature of Europe and the Americans-UIUC

Texts Read: Add Summary Below Each

Gilgamesh-Author Unknown
Characters
Gilgamesh- Fifth King of Uruk; arrogant and boastful
Enkidu- Close friend to Gilgamesh; uncivilized wild man turned into civilized and sexual human
Humbaba- demon who guards the forest; head is taken as a trophy by Gilgamesh and Enkidu
Shamhat- Temple prostitute who seduces Enkidu
Enlil- god of earth wind and air
Ishtar- goddess of love and fertility. and war
Ninsun- mother of Gilgamesh. goddess. wife of Lugulbanda
Lugulbanda- Third king of Uruk
Shamash- sun god, brother of Ishtar
Anu- father of the gods
Summary
The story begins with Enkidu in the forest. A man sees him and is afraid so he goes to the king, Gilgamesh, and asks for a prostitute to seduce the beast. Enkidu lays with the girl for seven? days, and then the animals reject him so he becomes a man.
Gilgamesh is the King of Uruk and he is 2/3 God and 1/3 man. He built a wonderful kingdom, but was a horrible king because of all the bad things he did to people. The Gods saw this and presented Enkidu.
Enkidu and Gilgamesh meet and they fight. After the fight they become best friends, and go on a journey together where they fight lots of gods. After they kill a bull, Enkidu gets sick and dies, which makes Gilgamesh very upset, and he grieving, and then starts to worry about his own death, and wonders how he could live forever.
Gilgamesh goes on a long journey to find the key to living forever. He meets many people, each helping him in one way, but all telling him that living forever is not a good thing. Gilgamesh though, learns of a story about a man who was granted eternal life, and how the God wanted to get rid of man kind, but this man built a boat and his family and "seeds from every animal" where to be on the boat.
Gilgamesh meets the God that granted eternal life before, and says that if he wants to live forever he should be able to stay awake for a week, but he should fails. The wife tells Gilgamesh of a plant that restores youth, and Gilgamesh finds it, but before he can eat it, and snake gets it while he is camping.
Gilgamesh learns that he cannot live forever, but mankind will.

Epic of Creation
Summary
Talks about the sea and different water, and how they were all together at one time. Also mentions that land emerged from mud. (only need to know first 20 lines)

Genesis
“Cain and Abel”: Abel and Cain make sacrifices to God; Abel’s sacrifice is a lamb (because he is a shepherd), and Cain’s sacrifice is fruits and vegetables, because he is a farmer. Because God approves of Abel’s sacrifice, but not Cain’s, Cain kills his brother out of jealousy (AKA “Cain killed Abel with the leg of a table”). Later, God asks Cain where his brother is, and Cain answers, “Am I my brother’s keeper?” Naturally God finds out what Cain did, and He tells Cain that no matter where he goes, he will have a mark upon him which will allow anyone who comes across him to kill him (if I remember correctly). It makes it so anyone who sees him will NOT kill him “Then the Lord put a mark on Cain so that no one who found him would kill him”
“The Flood”: Ten generations after Adam and Eve the world becomes evil. God wants to destroy mankind, but Noah obtains God's favor, and God speaks to him about a special covenant for him and his family. He tells Noah to build an ark large enough to store Noah, his family, and a pair of every kind of animal. God sends a great flood to destroy mankind. It rains for 40 days and then the earth is submerged in water for over a year. God tells Noah that he will not destroy mankind again if they follow certain rules.

Theogony-Hesiod
Summary
Greek Mythology. Didactic and instructional poem describing the origins of the cosmos and the complicated and interconnected genealogies of the gods of ancient Greeks, as well as the stories around them.
Organized as a narrative that tells about the creation of the world out of chaos and about the gods that shaped the cosmos. lists the early generations and genealogy of the gods, Titans and heroes since the beginning of time.
Example from text (for identification):
[Prometheus Steals Fire]
"And said, 'Most glorious Zeus, greatest of all
The gods who live forever, choose your share, whichever one your heart leads you to pick.'
He spoke deceitfully, but Zeus who knows
Undying plans, was not deceived, but saw
The trick, and in his heart made plans
To punish mortal men in future days.
He took the fatted portion in his hands
And raged within, and anger seized his heart
To see the trick, the white bones of the ox.
(And from this time the tribes of men on earth
Burn, on the smoking altars, white ox-bones.)

Work and Days-Hesiod
Summary
First example we have of Greek didactic poetry (emphasizes instructional and informative qualities). It embodies the experiences of his daily life and work, forming a sort of Shepherd's calendar, interwoven with episodes of fable, allegory, advice and personal history
The poem revolves around two general truths: that labour is the universal lot of man, but that he who is willing to work will always get by
"Five Ages of Man"
Golden Age-in which men lived among and freely mingled with the gods, and peace, harmony and abundance prevailed
Silver Age-in which men lived for one hundred years as infants, followed by just a short strife-filled time as grown adults, an impious race of men which Zeus destroyed because they refused to worship the gods
Bronze Age-in which men were hard and violent and lived only for war, but were undone by their own violent ways, relegated to the darkness of the Underworld
Heroic Age-in which men lived as noble demigods and heroes, like those who fought at Thebes and Troy, and who went to Elysium on their deaths
Iron Age-Hesiod’s own time, in which the gods have forsaken humanity, and in which man lives an existence of toil, misery, shamelessness and dishonour
Example from text (for identification):
[The Ages of Man]
"Far-seeing Zeus then made another race,
The fifth, who live now on this fertile earth.]
I wish I were not of this race, that I
Had died before, or had not yet been born.
This is the race of iron. Now, by day,
Men work and grieve unceasingly; by night,
They waste away and die. The gods will give
Harsh burdens but will mingle in some good;
Zeus will destroy this race of mortal men, […]"

Odyssey-Homer
Characters (I got the Character info. off of Sparknotes. It's all 25 of them)
Odysseus - The protagonist of the Odyssey. Odysseus fought among the other Greek heroes at Troy and now struggles to return to his kingdom in Ithaca. Odysseus is the husband of Queen Penelope and the father of Prince Telemachus. Though a strong and courageous warrior, he is most renowned for his cunning. He is a favorite of the goddess Athena, who often sends him divine aid, but a bitter enemy of Poseidon, who frustrates his journey at every turn.
Telemachus - Odysseus’ son. An infant when Odysseus left for Troy, Telemachus is about twenty at the beginning of the story. He is a natural obstacle to the suitors desperately courting his mother, but despite his courage and good heart, he initially lacks the poise and confidence to oppose them. His maturation, especially during his trip to Pylos and Sparta in Books 3 and 4, provides a subplot to the epic. Athena often assists him
Penelope - Wife of Odysseus and mother of Telemachus. Penelope spends her days in the palace pining for the husband who left for Troy twenty years earlier and never returned. Homer portrays her as sometimes flighty and excitable but also clever and steadfastly true to her husband.
Athena - Daughter of Zeus and goddess of wisdom, purposeful battle, and the womanly arts. Athena assists Odysseus and Telemachus with divine powers throughout the epic, and she speaks up for them in the councils of the gods on Mount Olympus. She often appears in disguise as Mentor, an old friend of Odysseus.
Poseidon - God of the sea. As the suitors are Odysseus’s mortal antagonists, Poseidon is his divine antagonist. He despises Odysseus for blinding his son, the Cyclops Polyphemus, and constantly hampers his journey home. Ironically, Poseidon is the patron of the seafaring Phaeacians, who ultimately help to return Odysseus to Ithaca.
Zeus - King of gods and men, who mediates the disputes of the gods on Mount Olympus. Zeus is occasionally depicted as weighing men’s fates in his scales. He sometimes helps Odysseus or permits Athena to do the same.
Antinous - The most arrogant of Penelope’s suitors. Antinous leads the campaign to have Telemachus killed. Unlike the other suitors, he is never portrayed sympathetically, and he is the first to die when Odysseus returns.
Eurymachus - A manipulative, deceitful suitor. Eurymachus’ charisma and duplicity allow him to exert some influence over the other suitors.
Amphinomus - Among the dozens of suitors, the only decent man seeking Penelope’s hand in marriage. Amphinomus sometimes speaks up for Odysseus and Telemachus, but he is killed like the rest of the suitors in the final fight.
Eumaeus - The loyal shepherd who, along with the cowherd Philoetius, helps Odysseus reclaim his throne after his return to Ithaca. Even though he does not know that the vagabond who appears at his hut is Odysseus, Eumaeus gives the man food and shelter.
Eurycleia - The aged and loyal servant who nursed Odysseus and Telemachus when they were babies. Eurycleia is well informed about palace intrigues and serves as confidante to her masters. She keeps Telemachus’s journey secret from Penelope, and she later keeps Odysseus’s identity a secret after she recognizes a scar on his leg.
Melanthius - The brother of Melantho. Melanthius is a treacherous and opportunistic goatherd who supports the suitors, especially Eurymachus, and abuses the beggar who appears in Odysseus’s palace, not realizing that the man is Odysseus himself.
Melantho - Sister of Melanthius and maidservant in Odysseus’s palace. Like her brother, Melantho abuses the beggar in the palace, not knowing that the man is Odysseus. She is having an affair with Eurymachus.
Calypso - The beautiful nymph who falls in love with Odysseus when he lands on her island-home of Ogygia. Calypso holds him prisoner there for seven years until Hermes, the messenger god, persuades her to let him go.
Polyphemus - One of the Cyclopes (uncivilized one-eyed giants) whose island Odysseus comes too soon after leaving Troy. Polyphemus imprisons Odysseus and his crew and tries to eat them, but Odysseus blinds him through a clever ruse and manages to escape. In doing so, however, Odysseus angers Polyphemus’s father, Poseidon.
Circe - The beautiful witch-goddess who transforms Odysseus’s crew into swine when he lands on her island. With Hermes’ help, Odysseus resists Circe’s powers and then becomes her lover, living in luxury at her side for a year.
Laertes - Odysseus’ aging father, who resides on a farm in Ithaca. In despair and physical decline, Laertes regains his spirit when Odysseus returns and eventually kills Antinous’s father.
Tiresias - A Theban prophet who inhabits the underworld. Tiresias meets Odysseus when Odysseus journeys to the underworld in Book 11. He shows Odysseus how to get back to Ithaca and allows Odysseus to communicate with the other souls in Hades.
Nestor - King of Pylos and a former warrior in the Trojan War. Like Odysseus, Nestor is known as a clever speaker. Telemachus visits him in Book 3 to ask about his father, but Nestor knows little of Odysseus’ whereabouts.
Menelaus - King of Sparta, brother of Agamemnon, and husband of Helen, he helped lead the Greeks in the Trojan War. He offers Telemachus assistance in his quest to find Odysseus when Telemachus visits him in Book 4.
Helen - Wife of Menelaus and queen of Sparta. Helen’s abduction from Sparta by the Trojans sparked the Trojan War. Her beauty is without parallel, but she is criticized for giving in to her Trojan captors and thereby costing many Greek men their lives. She offers Telemachus assistance in his quest to find his father.
Agamemnon - Former king of Mycenae, brother of Menelaus, and commander of the Achaean forces at Troy. Odysseus encounters Agamemnon’s spirit in Hades. Agamemnon was murdered by his wife, Clytemnestra, and her lover, Aegisthus, upon his return from the war. He was later avenged by his son Orestes. Their story is constantly repeated in the Odyssey to offer an inverted image of the fortunes of Odysseus and Telemachus.
Nausicaa - The beautiful daughter of King Alcinous and Queen Arete of the Phaeacians. Nausicaa discovers Odysseus on the beach at Scheria and, out of budding affection for him, ensures his warm reception at her parents’ palace.
Alcinous - King of the Phaeacians, who offers Odysseus hospitality in his island kingdom of Scheria. Alcinous hears the story of Odysseus’ wanderings and provides him with safe passage back to Ithaca.
Arete - Queen of the Phaeacians, wife of Alcinous, and mother of Nausicaa. Arete is intelligent and influential. Nausicaa tells Odysseus to make his appeal for assistance to Arete.
Summary
Odysseus has not returned home 10 years after the fall of Troy. Penelope, his wife, has lots of suitors at her door waiting for her to pick one of them, but she remains loyal to her husband. Telemachus, Odysseus' son, does not like any of the suitors and wants them to leave, but he can not do anything to make them leave because he is afraid.
The beautiful nymph Calypso delayed Odysseus and kept him on her island. he wants to go home to his wife, and son, but has no ship. Athena prepares Telemachus for a journey, and tells him that his father is still alive and on the island with Calypso. Zeus sends Hermes to help Odysseus and builds him a ship, but Poseidon sends a storm that wrecks Odysseus's ship. Poseidon is upset with Odysseus because he blinded his son, Cyclops, who only had one eye to begin with.
Odysseus lands at Scheria, home of the Phaeacians. They promise to give him safe passage to Ithaca, but first they beg to hear the story of his adventures. He recounts his trip to the Land of the Lotus Eaters, his battle with Polyphemus the Cyclops, his love affair with the witch-goddess Circe, his temptation by the deadly Sirens, his journey into Hades to consult the prophet Tiresias, and his fight with the sea monster Scylla.
Odysseus spends the night telling stories of his travels. Phaeacians return Odysseus to Ithaca, where he seeks out a hut. Athena has disguised Odysseus as a beggar. Telemachus comes back and Odysseus reveals himself to his son, and they make a plan to get rid of the suitors
Odysseus comes back to the palace, still as a beggar. Penelope takes an interest in the beggar thinking it is her long-lost husband. Penelope decides to have a contest to see who can string Odysseus's bow and five an arrow through a row of 12 axes, and she promises that she will marry the man who can do it, knowing only her husband can do it. All of the suitors try and fail, but Odysseus steps up and does it will ease. Odysseus and Telemachus kill all of the suitors, which upsets the others around them. Zeus dispatches Athena to restore Peace.

Sappho
6th century BCE—shift from religion to philosophy shown in ancient texts
Myth (in terms of ancient world): not fiction but rather stories of gods and how the cosmos was created and how it works and about the relationship between gods and humans
Philosophy: a logical or rational analysis of the basic principles that underlie the nature of reality and human behavior—lays the groundwork for science via rational thought
Sappho came from Lesbos, exchanged verses with Alcaeus
Called The Poetess in Antiquity, 10th muse by Plato—first greek lyric
Lyric Poem: a poem that reveals the speaker’s personal feelings and thoughts, originally sung on a lyre—gives glimpse into the private life of women
Themes: women’s experience, mother/daughter relationships, epithalamium (marriage), love/desire/loss, interiority--addressed many of her poems to her mother and daughter
Erotic subthemes, complexity of experience, conflicted emotions, love sickness, loneliness
Colloquial tone
Called a whore, some dislike her focus on intimacy -- the Church banned and burned all her poems
All of the poems first line is the title of the work, except for one "Lament for a Maidenhead
There are 7 poems that Sappho wrote:
Its no use i have had not one word from her sleep, darling dont ask me what to wear he is more than a hero you know the place then.
Lament for a Maidenhead

Example from text (for identification):
[He is more than a hero]
"He is more than a hero He is a god in my eyes--
The man who is allowed to sit beside you--he Who listens intimately
To the sweet murmur of
Your voice, the enticing Laughter that makes my own
Heart beat fast. If I meet
You suddenly, I can't […]"

Antigone-Sophocles
Characters (Again from Sparknotes. Did all the characters)
Antigone - The play's tragic heroine. In the first moments of the play, Antigone is opposed to her radiant sister Ismene. Unlike her beautiful and docile sister, Antigone is sallow, withdrawn, and recalcitrant.
Creon - Antigone's uncle. Creon is powerfully built, but a weary and wrinkled man suffering the burdens of rule. A practical man, he firmly distances himself from the tragic aspirations of Oedipus and his line. As he tells Antigone, his only interest is in political and social order. Creon is bound to ideas of good sense, simplicity, and the banal happiness of everyday life.
Ismene - Blonde, full-figured, and radiantly beautiful, the laughing, talkative Ismene is the good girl of the family. She is reasonable and understands her place, bowing to Creon's edict and attempting to dissuade Antigone from her act of rebellion. As in Sophocles' play, she is Antigone's foil. Ultimately she will recant and beg Antigone to allow her to join her in death. Though Antigone refuses, Ismene's conversion indicates how her resistance is contagious.
Haemon - Antigone's young fiancé and son to Creon. Haemon appears twice in the play. In the first, he is rejected by Antigone; in the second, he begs his father for Antigone's life. Creon's refusal ruins his exalted view of his father. He too refuses the happiness that Creon offers him and follows Antigone to a tragic demise.
Nurse - A traditional figure in Greek drama, the Nurse is an addition to the Antigone legend. She introduces an everyday, maternal element into the play that heightens the strangeness of the tragic world. Fussy, affectionate, and reassuring, she suffers no drama or tragedy but exists in the day-to-day tasks of caring for the two sisters. Her comforting presence returns Antigone to her girlhood. In her arms, Antigone superstitiously invests the Nurse with the power to ward off evil and keep her safe.
Chorus - Anouilh reduces the Chorus, who appears as narrator and commentator. The Chorus frames the play with a prologue and epilogue, introducing the action and characters under the sign of fatality. In presenting the tragedy, the Chorus instructs the audience on proper spectatorship, reappearing at the tragedy's pivotal moments to comment on the action or the nature of tragedy itself. Along with playing narrator, the Chorus also attempts to intercede throughout the play, whether on the behalf of the Theban people or the horrified spectators.
Jonas - The three Guardsmen are interpolations into the Antigone legend, doubles for the rank-and-file fascist collaborators or collabos of Anouilh's day. The card-playing trio, made all the more mindless and indistinguishable in being grouped in three, emerges from a long stage tradition of the dull-witted police officer. They are eternally indifferent, innocent, and ready to serve..
Second Guard - Largely indistinguishable from his cohorts, the Second Guard jeeringly compares Antigone to an exhibitionist upon her arrest.
Third Guard - The last of the indifferent Guardsmen, he is also largely indistinguishable from his cohorts.
Messenger - Another typical figure of Greek drama who also appears in Sophocles' Antigone, the Messenger is a pale and solitary boy who bears the news of death. In the prologue, he casts a menacing shadow: as the Chorus notes, he remains apart from the others in his premonition of Haemon's death.
Page - Creon's attendant. The Page is a figure of young innocence. He sees all, understands nothing, and is no help to anyone but one day may become either a Creon or an Antigone in his own right.
Eurydice - Creon's kind, knitting wife whose only function, as the Chorus declares, is to knit in her room until it is her time to die. Her suicide is Creon's last punishment, leaving him entirely alone.
Summary
Antigone's father, Oedipus, had two sons, Eteocles and Polynices. After Oedipus's death, it was agreed that each would take turns on the throne from one year to the next. After a year, Eteocles refused to step down. Polynices and six foreign princes went against the king and all were killed. Both Eteocles and Polynices died because they kill each other, making Creon the king.
Creon ordered Eteocles buried and Polynices left to rot, and that no one could bury his body. Antigone is upset by the news and decides that she is going to bury the body herself, but she first wants to ask her sister, Ismene, if she would like to help her. Ismene sees that it is a horrible idea, and tells Antigone not to do it, but Antigone buries the body and the king finds out. When he finds out, he finds out that the body was not really buried, but that there was a little covering of dirt on top of the body. This is when the tragedy is announced.
Antigone is arrested because she buried a grave by hand in daylight. Creon tells Antigone that both of the brothers were mad and that he took the body of the nicer looking one.
Ismene tells Antigone that she wants to finish the job and bury her brother's body, but Antigone tells Creon and Creon arrest her as well.
Antigone writes a letter to Haemon then hangs herself. When Haemon hears of the news he yells very loud, and then stabs himself. Eurydice, who had been knitting the entire play, also kills herself. This leaves Creon alone at the end.
If it wasn't for Antigone all would have been at peace, and no one would have died.

“The Allegory of the Cave”-Plato
Summary
People were tied up in caves where they could only see the wall in front of them and they could not turn their heads because they were chained down. These people were then shown shadows and those people thought the shadows were real because they did not know anything else. Then they would release someone and they would see how life really it, but they would not believe it because they never seen it before. Once they would start to believe the real life they would tell their friends in the cave, but no one would believe them because they also did not know better. Philosophy is shown here. If you don't see it you don't believe it.
Example from text: “...Whereas the truth is that the State in which the rulers are most reluctant to govern is always the best and most quietly governed, and the State in which they are most eager, the worst. [...]
And will our pupils, when they hear this, refuse to take their turn at the toils of State, when they are allowed to spend the greater part of their time with one another in the heavenly light? Impossible, he answered; for they are just men, and the commands which we impose upon them are just;”

Metamorphoses-Ovid
Summary
This passage can be split into 6 different parts
Narrator prays to gods for inspiration and lays out theme (metamorphosis), and then states his intention to write a single continuous poem that stretches from the origins of the world to his own day. describes creation of the world. Primordial Chaos and human life is created and starts misbehaving. Neptune and Jupiter drown humanity
Focus on Gods and Interactions with mortals. Divine Rape
Realm of Heroes
Moves closer to Trojan War
Comprises the Epilogue. Prophesises glorious Roman future and immortality of his work.

Confessions-St. Augustine
Summary
Diverse blend of autobiography, philosophy, theology, and critical exegesis of Christian Bible.
First 9 Books summarize Augustine's life, from birth to conversion to Catholicism
There is hardly an event mentioned that does not have an accompanying religious or philosophical explication.
Augustine enter a social world that he now sees as sinful to the point of utter folly. He even caught a passion for the pursuit of Philosophical truth.
Moving back to Thagaste, then back to Carthage again, and on to Rome and Milan, Augustine continues to wrestle with his doubts about what he has learned and with his budding interest in Catholicism, the faith of his mother, Monica.
Augustine finally decides that Catholicism holds the only real truth
The last four Books of the Confessions depart from autobiography altogether, focusing directly on religious and philosophical issues of memory (Book X), time and eternity (Book XI), and the interpretation of the Book of Genesis (Books XII and XIII)
The unifying theme that emerges over the course of the entire work is that of redemption: Augustine sees his own painful process of returning to God as an instance of the return of the entire creation to God.
Example from text:
[Chapter 4: The Stolen Fruit] “Behold my heart, O Lord, behold my heart upon which you had mercy in the depths of the pit. Behold, now let my heart tell you what it looked for there, that I should be evil without purpose and that there should be no cause for my evil but evil itself. Foul was the evil, and I loved it. I loved to go down to death. I loved my fault, not that for which I did the fault, but I loved my fault itself. Base in soul was I, and I leaped down from your firm clasp even towards complete destruction, and I sought nothing from the shameful deed but shame itself!”

Beowulf
Characters
Beowulf-The protagonist of the epic, Beowulf is a Geatish hero who fights the monster Grendel, Grendel’s mother, and a fire-breathing dragon. Beowulf’s boasts and encounters reveal him to be the strongest, ablest warrior around. In his youth, he personifies all of the best values of the heroic culture. In his old age, he proves a wise and effective ruler.
Grendel-A demon descended from Cain, Grendel preys on Hrothgar’s warriors in the king’s mead-hall, Heorot. Because his ruthless and miserable existence is part of the retribution exacted by God for Cain’s murder of Abel, Grendel fits solidly within the ethos of vengeance that governs the world of the poem.
Grendel’s Mother- An unnamed swamp-hag, Grendel’s mother seems to possess fewer human qualities than Grendel, although her terrorization of Heorot is explained by her desire for vengeance—a human motivation.
King Hrothgar-King of Denmark. Builds the Mead-Hall that Grendel is terrorizing
The Dragon- An ancient, powerful serpent, the dragon guards a horde of treasure in a hidden mound. Beowulf’s fight with the dragon constitutes the third and final part of the epic.
Halfdane-
Wiglaf-Only one to help Beowulf defeat the dragon. Is there was Beowulf dies.
Wealhtheow- King Hrothgar’s wife and the embodiment of the perfect woman-- docile, beautiful, but also wary of her place as a peacekeeper between tribes. She asks Beowulf to watch out for her sons knowing that they hold the key to her future comfort
Summary
King Hrothgar of Denmark builds a mead-hall, but Grendel, the first of three monsters, does not like it and terrorizes the Danes every night. Beowulf hears of the terror and comes to defeat Grendel.
At night Grendel comes and Beowulf defeats him unarmed and naked. Beowulf tears off Grendel's arm, and Grendel runs off to his cave to die.
Grendel's mother comes and murders Aeschere, Hrothgar's most trusted advisor. She also take her son's arm back. Beowulf dives into the swampy water and fights Grendel's mother in an underwater cave and kills her with a sword hanging in the cave. After he kills Grendel's mother he finds Grendel's body and takes his head off and bring it back as a trophy.

Inferno-Dante
Characters
Dante - The author and protagonist of Inferno; the focus of all action and interaction with other characters. Because Dante chose to present his fictional poem as a record of events that actually happened to him, a wide gulf between Dante the poet and Dante the character pervades the poem. For instance, Dante the poet often portrays Dante the character as compassionate and sympathetic at the sight of suffering sinners, but Dante the poet chose to place them in Hell and devised their suffering. As a result, if Dante the character is at all representative of Dante the poet, he is a very simplified version: sympathetic, somewhat fearful of danger, and confused both morally and intellectually by his experience in Hell. As the poem progresses, Dante the character gradually learns to abandon his sympathy and adopt a more pitiless attitude toward the punishment of sinners, which he views as merely a reflection of divine justice
Virgil - Dante’s guide through the depths of Hell. Historically, Virgil lived in the first century B.C., in what is now northern Italy. Scholars consider him the greatest of the Latin poets. His masterpiece, the Aeneid, tells the story of how Aeneas, along with fellow survivors of the defeat of Troy, came to found Rome. The shade (or spirit) of Virgil that appears in Inferno has been condemned to an eternity in Hell because he lived prior to Christ’s appearance on Earth (and thus prior to the possibility of redemption in Him). Nonetheless, Virgil has now received orders to lead Dante through Hell on his spiritual journey. Virgil proves a wise, resourceful, and commanding presence, but he often seems helpless to protect Dante from the true dangers of Hell. Critics generally consider Virgil an allegorical representation of human reason—both in its immense power and in its inferiority to faith in God.
Beatrice - One of the blessed in Heaven, Beatrice aids Dante’s journey by asking an angel to find Virgil and bid him guide Dante through Hell. Like Dante and Virgil, Beatrice corresponds to a historical personage. Although the details of her life remain uncertain, we know that Dante fell passionately in love with her as a young man and never fell out of it. She has a limited role in Inferno but becomes more prominent in Purgatorio and Paradiso. In fact, Dante’s entire imaginary journey throughout the afterlife aims, in part, to find Beatrice, whom he has lost on Earth because of her early death. Critics generally view Beatrice as an allegorical representation of spiritual love.
Summary
Dante is lost in the woods and is blocked by 3 beast-a leopard, a lion, and a she-wolf. He has to go back and when he does, he meets a ghost, Virgil, a great Roman Poet. Virgil says he will take Dante on the right path, but it will take them through Hell to get to Heaven, where his love Beatrice will be. Virgil leads him to hell where the gate says "Abandon all hope, you who enter here" He goes through and goes through the circles of hell. There are 9 circles in total. In the 8th circle, there are 10 pouches, each meaning something different, just like the circles. The 9th circle has 4 rings in it. There is also a 3-headed giant that eats really bad people like Judas, Cassius, and Brutus.

Canterbury Tales-Geoffrey Chaucer
A group of people of many different walks of life go on a pilgrimage to Canterbury. It is suggested that they tell stories along the way to ease the travelling. Each person will tell two or four stories(can’t remember which one) One, or two, for the way there and one, or two for the way back. The person with the best story would get a free meal. The most notable stories are told by the knight, the wife of bath (which I believe we focused on primarily for this class), and a multitude of others, however, it appears that Chaucer did not complete the book, so the ending is a bit vague.

General Prologue
Summary
Split into three parts.
Around time people desire to go on Pilgrimage. Many want to go to Holy Land, but even more choose to travel to Canterbury for Saint Thomas Becket in Canterbury Church.
Wants to describe every character.
There are even more Character descriptions in this section.

Prologue to the Wife of Bath's Tale-Chaucer
Summary
Tells everyone she has been married 5 times. Says it okay because no man has ever told her how many husbands a woman can have. Tells which husband were good, and which ones were bad and why.

Wife of Bath's Tale-Chaucer
Summary
Her tale begins with a knight in the days of King Arthur, who, one day, overcome with lust rapes a young maiden. The courts are disgusted at this crime and nearly sentences him to beheading, until the the queen intercedes and poses one chance at redemption: if, within one year, he can discover what women want most in the world and report his findings back to the court, he will keep his life. If he cannot find the answer to the queen’s question, or if his answer is wrong, he will lose his head.
For a year, he then asks every woman he meets this question, each posing a different answer: money, sex, freedom, happiness, etc. until the knight, in sadness, resigns to his fate. He meets an old woman however who asks if she can be of some help, he shares his plight, and the old woman asks that she will help if he pledge himself to her. Having nothing else to lose, he agrees.
They testify in court on that day, and she answers the question with what women desire most is to be in charge of their husbands and lovers. The queen and women agree, and the knight is saved. However, the old woman asks the knight to marry her and they marry much to the knight’s grief and shame.
The knight is unsatisfied and shameful being married to an old unpleasing woman. Eventually, he offers him a choice. She can be old, ugly, but faithful, or young, beautiful, but unfaithful. The knight ponders, and, eventually, gives her the choice to do what she thinks best. This answer gives the woman what she most desired and she becomes young and faithful, and they live happily on. The Wife of Bath concludes with a plea that Jesus Christ send all women husbands who are young, meek, and fresh in bed, and the grace to outlive their husbands.

The Book of Margery Kempe
Dictated by Margery Kempe to a monk in 1431
Kempe claimed to receive visions from God, Jesus, and Mary regarding her every day affairs (should she sleep with her husband, should she eat meat, etc…)
She was very passionate about her intimate relationship with these figures and displayed this passion in the public domain (the idea of spirituality in the secular realm) which caused her to be ostracized by her peers. They wouldn’t let her sit by them at meals, ignored her, and cut her clothes.
She was typically looked down upon in society for being an annoyance, however, when her visions benefitted others (when God advised her to not board a certain ship for fear that it would sink) they listened to her.
She journeyed quite a bit for a middle class woman of the time—she travelled all around Europe and visited the holy sites in Jerusalem
Accused of heresy multiple times but never persecuted
The text gives us a look into the daily life of a (albeit crazy) woman in the late middle ages by describing her marriage, her attempt at business, her childbirth, and the general treatment of women
Her writing shares many characteristics common to women’s writing: emotional connections, chronologically ordered, personal anecdotes
She had a very physical relationship with God—emphasis on the body

Joan of Arc by Herself
Lived 1412-1431—involved in the 100 years war between the Kingdoms of France and England
Heard the voice of God when she was 13, left home to seek out King Charles VII
King Charles had her mentally examined and she was declared sane so he listened to her advice regarding her visions and how to proceed in battle
Befriended Jean de Metz, the leader of her troops. He provided her with men’s clothing
Captured by the Burgundians in Orleans who gave her to the Englis
The English financed and held her trail after accusing her of heresy—she was tried by an entirely English court and Bishop
Her guards attempted to rape her in prison. She claimed she kept wearing men’s clothes for protection in prison even though it was against the law and she was continually accused to heresy because of it
Her intelligence was evident during her trial: when asked if she is in God’s grace she answered “If I am not may God put me there, if I am, may God so keep me.” If she had answered yes or no she would again be convicted of heresy.
Convicted and burned at the stake
Rehabilitated by the Church in 1456 –20 years after her death
Represented women as a threat to the patriarchal system—was deemed a whore as a notable public woman
She put herself beyond sex and gender roles to relay the message of God

Don Quixote-Cervantes
Summary
Don Quixote is a middle-aged gentleman from region of La Mancha. Obsessed with chivalrous ideas from books he has read. wants to defend the helpless and destroy wicked. First adventure fails, but the second one is with Sancho Panza. Don Quixote rides the roads of Spain in search of glory and grand adventure.
On the second expedition, Don Quixote becomes more of a bandit than savior, by stealing and hunting, and the citizens are very unhappy, but he sees it as a threat to him knighthood
Example from text:
“You must know, then, that the above-named gentleman whenever he was at leisure (which was mostly all the year round) gave himself up to reading books of chivalry with such ardor and avidity that he almost entirely neglected the pursuit of his field-sports, and even the management of his property; and to such a pitch did his eagerness and infatuation go that he sold many an acre of tillage-land to buy books of chivalry to read, and brought home as many of them as he could get.”
Conquest of Mexico-Aztec account
Summary
no clue

Diario-Columbus
Entries about Columbus’s exploration in the New World (specifically the Bahamas) for Ferdinand and Isabella. The indigenous people regard them as gods. Columbus wants to bring Christianity to them and turn them into servants/slaves, bringing a few of them back to Europe. Notes how “docile” they are. They trade with him for “pieces of glass, broken cups”.

Letters from Mexico-Cortes
Summary
Anyone, Anyone????

The History of the Indies-Las Casas
Summary
Bueller?, Bueller?

"Of Coaches"-Montaigne
On Cannibals his essay regarding the “barbarism” of the natives of the New World-- while the rest of Europe is shocked at their cannibalism, Montaigne instead argues that the Europeans are just as barbarous as the natives. The native people live in harmony with nature and don’t attempt to take over their neighbor’s land and go to war like the Europeans do.
Civilized Europe is unnatural-- why should art and modernization be considered more highly than the natural world and the raw Earth?
“I’m not sorry that we notice the barbarous horror of such acts [cannibalism], but I am heartily sorry that, judging their faults rightly, we should be so blind to our own” emphasizes cultural relativism

The Tempest-Shakespeare Characters Prospero- Miranda’s father and ruler on the island. True Duke of Milan, usurped by Antonio, his brother. Miranda- Prospero’s daughter, falls in love with Ferdinand Ferdinand- Son of Alonso. Prince of Naples. Falls in love with Miranda
Caliban- son of Sycorax (a witch). arrived on the island before
Prospero and Miranda. slave to Prospero. Ariel- Air spirit. was found bound to a tree with magic (sycorax’s doing) by Prospero. slave to Prospero after freed.
Antonio- Prospero’s brother. Current wrongful Duke of Milan Sebastian- Alonso’s brother. Tempted by Antonio to kill Alonso and become king.
Alonso- King of Naples, father of Ferdinand Gonzalo- Old councilor for Alonso. Very kind Trinculo- Jester Stephano- Drunken butler