Eng 221 Wirth Final

Early Irish Myths and Sagas: The Tale of Macc Da Tho's Pig (pgs. 179-187)

The story opens with Mac Da Thó, a famous legendary king of Leinster, who possessed a hound called Ailbe.[11] Ailbe defends the entire province, to the point that his fame spreads throughout the entire island of Ériu (Ireland).[11] Ailill and Medb, king and queen of Connacht, send messengers to Mac Da Thó demanding the dog; but at the same time so does Conchobar mac Nessa, king of the Ulaid, the warriors of the province of Ulster.[11] The messengers from Connacht offer an immediate tribute of 160 milch cows, a chariot and two of the finest horses of the Connachta, and the same tribute to be paid to Leinster again the following year.[12] The messengers of Ulster in turn offer Mac Da Thó "jewellery and cattle and everything else from the north" and an alliance through the "great friendship" that would result.[12] These events trouble Mac Da Thó greatly, such that he goes three days without food, drink or sleep.[12] However, his wife devises for him a plan - that he should give the dog to both parties and let them fight for it.[12] Pleased by this scheme, Mac Da Thó takes each delegation aside in private, and intimates to both that he had awarded the hound to them after much deliberation.[13]Unknowingly, both parties agreed separately that their people should come on the same day to a feast in Leinster to claim Ailbe formally.[13] The feast is to take place at Mac Da Thó's Hostel, one of the five famed legendary "hostels" or feasting halls in Ireland at the time.[11] The hostel itself has seven entrances, seven cauldrons full of beef and salted pork, and seven hearths; and fifty paces between each pair of doorways.[11] The Ulaid and the Connachta arrive at the door of the hostel at the same time to collect the hound.[13]Mac Da Thó feigns innocence as to the immediately apparent inconsistency, yet invites both provinces inside to the feast nevertheless.[13] Though the hostel is by no means small, it is nonetheless filled with tension, as warriors who had previously done each other injury sit opposite each other.[13] Mac Da Thó has his pig slaughtered for the feast - an animal which had been nourished by 60 milch cows for seven years and which had 40 oxen spread across it for its enormous size.[13] The pig immediately attracts the attention of the Ulaid and Connachta, who must decide over how it is to be divided up, and to whom shall be awarded the curadmír or "hero's portion".[13] It is agreed that the warriors shall challenge each other to boast their past exploits in battle.[14] At length the Connacht warrior Cet mac Mágach manages to outboast his Ulster counterparts: [Cet] took knife in hand and sat down to the pig saying "Find among the men of Ériu one to match me in feats - otherwise I will carve the pig." ...Lóegure spoke then: "It is not right that Cet should carve the pig before our very eyes." Cet answered "One moment Cet, that I may speak with you. You Ulaid have a custom: every one of you who takes arms makes Connacht his object. You came to the border, then, and I met you; you abandoned your horses and charioteer and escaped with my spear through you. Is that how you propose to take the pig?" Lóegure sat down.[15] A narrative pattern follows, whereby Cet demands a challenge, an Ulster warrior rises, and the Ulaid cry out the name of the challenger; Cet then proceeds to shame that warrior by recounting one of his deeds against him, as above. Cet shames the challenger Óengus son of Lam Gabuid, by recounting how he had cut off Lam Gabuid's hands in battle;[16] he shames Éogan son of Durthacht, the king of Fermag, by recounting how he put out his eye in a cattle-raid;[17] he reminds Muinremur son of Gerrgend how he had taken his son's head as a trophy not six days earlier;[17] Mend son of Salchad, how he had cut off his father's foot;[17] Celtchair son of Uthecar, how he had castrated him with his spear;[18] and even Conchobar's son Cúscraid Mend Machae, how he had pierced his neck with a spear during Cúscraid's first feat of arms, in ignominious circumstances which led to the abandonment a third of Cúscraid's retinue in a cowardly retreat.[19] In each case, the challenging warriors are compelled to retake their seats in shame. Just as Cet is exulting in his victory over the full warrior contingent of Ulster present, the Ulster hero Conall Cernach enters the hostel, and leaps into the middle of the hall to roars of welcome from the Ulaid.[19] Cet and Conall acknowledge each other in an exchange of archaic rhetorical verses, and Cet concedes that Conall is a better warrior than he.[20] Cet adds that his brother Anlúan would best Conall in a contest: "'It is our misfortune that he is not in the house.' 'Oh but he is,' said Conall, and taking Anlúan's head from his wallet he threw it at Cet's breast so that a mouthful of blood spattered over the lips."[21] Emain Macha, seat of the Ulaid, where the women of Ulster must sing to the Connachta charioteer Fer Loga In shame, Cet leaves the pig to Conall, who rightfully claims the belly as his portion, a burden for nine men, leaving only the fore-trotters to the Connachta.[21] Dissatisfied with their meagre share, the Connachta rise against the Ulaid, and a drinking bout breaks out in the hostel and spills out into the courtyard outside.[22] Fergus rips up a great oak tree from the ground by the roots.[23] Mac Da Thó unleashes Ailbe to see which side it would choose; Ailbe sides with the Ulaid, and precipitates the rout of the Connachta.[23] The dog itself is decapitated by Aillil's charioteer Fer Loga at Mag nAilbi.[23] As the hosts sweep westward across Mide, Fer Loga hides in the heather and leaps into the chariot of Conchobar as it passes, seizing the king's head from behind.[23] Conchobar promises him any ransom he wishes; Fer Loga asks to be taken to the Emain Macha, capital of Ulster, where the women of the Ulaid and their nubile daughters are to sing to him each evening in chorus, "Fer Loga is my darling."[23] A year later, at the end of the tale, Fer Loga rides westward across Ath Luain with two of Conchobar's horses and golden bridles for them both.[23]

The Ramayana: Chapter 11: The Siege of Lanka Summary and Analysis

Summary Once Rama's forces have crossed the ocean on the bridge to Lanka, the two armies engage in battle. It soon becomes apparent that Rama's forces have the edge. Ravana's troops, once they are dispatched, fail to return. More and more desperate, he tries various expedients, including the use of illusion. Ravana tries to corrupt Sugreeva, for example, and he attempts to terrify Sita by using a decapitated head resembling that of Rama. Angada, the son of Vali, visits Ravana to warn him that his doom is imminent. When Ravana orders the messenger killed, Angada simply scoops up the executioners and slams them to their deaths on the ground. The battle grows so intense that it obscures the distinction between night and day. At one point an attack by Indrajit, Ravana's son, on Rama and Lakshmana seems at first to be successful. Ravana orders Indrajit to take Sita in a magic chariot high above the battlefield so she may view the bodies. But Trijata, a handmaid of Ravana, quietly advises Sita that Rama and Lakshmana are not really dead. And Garuda, Vishnu's mighty eagle, soon neutralizes the malign effects of Indrajit's serpent darts. When his commander-in-chief dies in battle, Ravana personally enters the conflict but is humiliated by Rama, who confronts him on the shoulders of Hanuman. Ravana's chariot is smashed, his crown is shattered, and he is wounded. Rama graciously allows him to retreat, telling him to return on the morrow with fresh weapons. Ravana now orders that his brother, the giant Kumbakarna, be awakened from his months-long sleep. In a humorous vignette the giant is prodded from his slumbers and then fed prodigiously to satisfy his phenomenal hunger. But Kumbakarna's immense size is unavailing; Rama vanquishes him with sharp arrows. Indrajit causes momentary mischief when he employs the power of illusion to spread the impression among Rama's troops that Sita has been killed. But Indrajit himself is soon dispatched by Lakshmana. At the news of his son's death, Ravana vows to kill Sita, but one of his counselors advises Ravana to focus instead on vanquishing Rama and Lakshmana. Analysis This battle chapter vividly captures the mayhem produced by supernatural elements and outsized counterweapons opposed to each other. The constantly escalating action is punctuated by two severe losses for Ravana: the death of his gigantic brother Kumbakarna and the downfall of his valiant son Indrajit. These losses are augmented by the humiliating treatment meted out to Ravana by Rama, who coolly invites him to return soon for a further drubbing. From the first paragraph onward, the battle's momentum tips in favor of Rama. Ravana, for example, attempts to use illusion as a weapon—a ploy that has served him well in the past—but now his attempts fail. The specter of a decapitated head resembling that of Rama fails to unnerve Sita, and the "dead" bodies of Rama and Lakshmana is disavowed by Trijata, who tells Sita to take heart. Garuda, the mighty eagle, arrives to neutralize Indrajit's venomous darts: it is worth noting that Garuda was traditionally the animal companion, or "vehicle," of Vishnu. Humor lightens the narrative in the description of the efforts to awaken the giant Kumbakarna and to satisfy his huge appetite. But there is no doubt that his defeat in combat, as well as that of Indrajit, weighs heavily on Ravana.

The Winter's Tale: Act 5 Scene 2

Summary Three gentlemen of the court tell Autolycus the story of Perdita's recognition as the legitimate, long-lost daughter of Leontes. There was no room for doubt about Perdita's identity, to which a number of tokens or "proofs" clearly attested, including her mother's mantle, a costly ornament, and a letter in Antigonus's handwriting. The Third Gentleman discloses that the royal party will convene at the house of Paulina in order to view a statue of Hermione recently created by the Italian master Julio Romano. The scene closes with banter between Autolycus, the Shepherd, and the Clown, with the latter two characters taking much pleasure in their rich clothing and sudden elevation in status. Analysis The most striking aspect of this scene is Shakespeare's sudden shift to narration, as opposed to dramatization. The accounts of the gentlemen return us to the tone and perspective of Act 2, Scene 1, when Hermione and her ladies exhorted young Mamillius to tell them a tale. Indeed the gentlemen refer several times to the content of their story as "like an old tale." They also repeat the word wonder, marveling at the discovery of the king's daughter. That discovery and its confirmation involve one of the staple plot devices of classical comedy: the use of recognition tokens. This technique, which typically featured proof that a character (usually female) was nobly born and therefore eligible to be married to a noble suitor, was often present in the Greek New Comedy plays of Menander (c. 342-c. 292 BCE), and also in the comedies of his Roman imitators, Plautus (c. 254-184 BCE) and Terence (c. 195-159 BCE). It was also a feature of the prose and verse romances—fanciful stories of adventure, love, and magic—that were read throughout Europe during the Middle Ages and Renaissance. The device was thus well known to Shakespeare. The historical Giulio Romano (c. 1499-1546) was a painter and architect—not a sculptor—and was thought to have been a student of Raphael. He is the focus of a dramatic monologue by English poet Robert Browning (1812-89).

The Odyssey: Themes

Hubris Many characters in The Odyssey display hubris, the arrogance of overweening pride. They generally suffer for it. Even Odysseus, who is in the end reunited with the devoted Penelope and his loving son, Telemachus, and who is reconciled with father Laertes, suffers for a decade before reaching that point. While it's true that suffering is sometimes in the arms of the lovely Circe or the beautiful Calypso, his seven years with her reduced him to a despondent, tearful man—hardly the picture of someone content with giving in to temptation. The arrogant Antinous is the first to die, and the arrogant Polyphemus, convinced that mere humans cannot harm him, is tricked and punished with blindness. Temptation Temptation befalls many of the characters in The Odyssey, and the outcome is usually a frustrating setback. Odysseus and his men succumb to temptation on numerous occasions, usually with disastrous consequences. Odysseus's men fall prey to the Lotus-eaters and barely escape with their memories intact. They open the pouch of winds out of curiosity, only to find themselves blown far from the home they had almost reached. When they encounter the songs of the Sirens, they protect themselves from temptation by plugging their ears with beeswax but must lash Odysseus to the mast because he is too tempted by the alluring song to apply this countermeasure. Perhaps their greatest fall to temptation, however, is eating the cattle of Helios, after repeatedly being warned not to. Zeus is so angry that he slaughters every last one of them. Homecoming The central drive of the epic is Odysseus's desire to return home, to reach the love of his family and the comfort of his palace. With home is tied the idea of loyalty and fidelity, with Penelope, Telemachus, and the loyal servants being the chief representatives. Penelope endures years of importuning by the obnoxious suitors, demonstrating her worth by keeping them at bay through stratagems worthy of her cunning husband's mind. Telemachus, despite his father's two-decade absence, feels the proper fidelity and devotion of a son, an indication of his virtue. While Odysseus must first disguise himself upon reaching Ithaca—as he does so often throughout his adventures—home represents the place where he can finally be his true self: master strategist, skilled warrior, loving husband, guiding father, and dutiful son. The stories of Menelaus and Agamemnon, related by Menelaus to Telemachus, provide interesting contrasts. Menelaus must also undergo trials and effectively do penance to the gods in order to reach home peacefully. Agamemnon, however, came back to the danger of an unfaithful wife and her murderous lover. The success of a homecoming depends on the merits of those one comes home to. Hospitality Modern readers tend to be surprised at the overwhelming emphasis placed on hospitality in The Odyssey. It seems to dictate not only social interactions among mortals but also treatment by the gods. Hospitality is how characters assess one another's moral code, and it's how they stay safe in a world where people are constantly venturing into foreign and unknown lands. Travelers in ancient Greece (and there were many) had to rely upon the kindness of strangers for food, shelter, and warmth. To invest in being a hospitable host meant that it was more likely that the host, too, would encounter a warm welcome should he or she ever be lost or in need. Hosts usually enjoyed having strangers visit—strangers who brought tales of strange lands and stories of adventures to entertain them with. Odysseus encounters a range of hospitality throughout the epic—from the helpfulness of the Phaeacians to the murderousness of the Cyclops. Even Odysseus must return to his own home to punish the suitors who abused the rules of hospitality that custom dictated must be extended to them. Deception Deception touches nearly every major character in The Odyssey. Athena is nearly always in disguise when she advises Odysseus, who is often in disguise as well or is careful about how and when he reveals his true identity. It's no coincidence that it is often Athena who masterminds Odysseus's disguises, altering his appearance to make him seem stronger or weaker as befits her plans. Illusion and trickery are traits that both Odysseus and Athena admire, and not just when it comes to physical appearances. Odysseus deploys deception when he cannot rely on strength alone, such as when he tricks Polyphemus into believing that his name is "Nobody" in order to deter his neighbors from coming to his aid. Penelope and Telemachus both dissemble as well; being cagey is apparently a useful survival mechanism. Fate Fate seems to be the strongest force in shaping mortals' lives. The gods determine mortals' fate, though human action has weight. Sometimes it seems as though the gods decide the bigger picture but leave mortals power to make specific choices. No one counseled Odysseus on how to handle the problem of Polyphemus. Anchinous and Arete chose to offer Odysseus hospitality. Tiresias warns Odysseus that his men should not eat the cattle of Helios, but he didn't say that they had no choice in the matter. He only told them they would suffer dire consequences if they did. That he was right did not mean those consequences were inevitable—only that fate was unavoidable if they made certain choices. Justice Adherence to customs decreed by the gods rules much of mortal behavior in The Odyssey. Disregarding those customs can get a mortal swiftly punished, both by other mortals and by the gods. The gods feel justified in punishing mortals any time they feel disrespected or if a mortal has reached too far—for example, become too arrogant. Zeus is the ultimate dispenser of justice, or at least the ultimate rule-setter. Even a powerful god such as Poseidon must submit to his decisions. Vengeance Vengeance is another major theme of The Odyssey, found in the plot of Poseidon's revenge on Odysseus, the story of Orestes and Electra's revenge on Aegisthus and Clytemnestra for the murder of their father Agamemnon, and on Telemachus and Odysseus's destruction of the suitors and the maidservants. In each case the avenging party punishes a violation of the natural order. To Poseidon, Odysseus showed him too little devotion, albeit the warrior was unaware of Polyphemus's relation to Poseidon. Aegisthus and Clytemnestra clearly violated the trust that Agamemnon had placed in them and violated the loyalty due to him as a ruler and as a husband. The suitors abandoned the proper behavior due from a guest, and the servants showed disloyalty. Vengeance is implacable and usually thorough. Only because Poseidon was countermanded by Zeus does Odysseus survive.

The Winter's Tale: Act 4 Scene 4

Summary Florizell hails Perdita as the queen of the sheep-shearing festival, calling her Flora, the Roman goddess of flowers and spring. She expresses her fears that the king will forbid his son to associate with a shepherdess. He declares his love for her, elegantly alluding to some of the divine transformations narrated in amorous tales of Greek mythology. Polixenes and Camillo enter in disguise, along with the Shepherd, the Clown, and various other country characters. The Shepherd reproaches Perdita, telling her she must take a more vigorous hand in hosting the festival. Perdita then distributes flowers to the guests, beginning with Polixenes and Camillo. Polixenes comments on the plain winter flowers she distributes, but Perdita explains that the brightly striped flowers of summer are hybrids (and thus artificial). A dance is called for, and Polixenes and Camillo comment on how pretty Perdita is, noting that everything she does "smacks of something greater than herself, / Too noble for this place." The Shepherd confirms the growing love between his daughter and Florizell, whom she calls Doricles. A servant announces the arrival of a peddler (Autolycus in disguise) who has ballads to sell. Autolycus makes his sales pitch to the Clown and to Mopsa and Dorcas, two young shepherdesses. A dozen herdsmen are then welcomed, and they perform a leaping dance. Polixenes, still in disguise, addresses Florizell, asking why he has not bought gifts from the peddler for the young lady of whom he is clearly so fond. Florizell responds that the only gifts that truly matter are the feelings of love in his heart. Taking Perdita's hand, he asks the others to witness a formal betrothal, blessed by Perdita's "father," the Shepherd. Polixenes intervenes, objecting that Florizell should first inform his own father. When Florizell refuses, Polixenes removes his disguise and threatens him with disinheritance. He insults Perdita and the Shepherd, threatening her with disfigurement and death, and exits in a fury. The elderly Shepherd laments his lot. Crushed, Florizell and Perdita turn to Camillo for counsel. The nobleman advises the couple to flee Bohemia for Sicilia, where he believes Leontes will welcome them with compassion. Camillo, wanting both to save his prince and see his homeland, will personally escort them. While Camillo and the young couple step aside to talk, Autolycus enters, merrily denouncing honesty and trust as foolish virtues. He announces his roguery at the festival has been outstandingly successful. Camillo and the others step forward again, and Camillo accosts Autolycus. He instructs him to exchange garments with Florizell. In an aside to the audience, Camillo reveals his plan: the young couple will flee in disguise, and Camillo will then persuade Polixenes to pursue the lovers to Sicilia. Next, Autolycus plays out yet another scheme on the simple-minded Shepherd and his son, pretending that he is a high-ranking courtier who has great influence with the king. Describing in great detail the tortures that await the rustics, he talks them into paying him the gold that Antigonus had left with the infant Perdita for his services as an intermediary to the king. As the scene ends Autolycus blesses Fortune for dropping "booties" (treats or prizes) in his mouth. Analysis Except for the concluding scene of Love's Labour's Lost, this is the longest scene in all of Shakespeare, containing about 30% of the dialogue in The Winter's Tale. Like the play as a whole, this scene exhibits a wide range of tone—beginning on a note of rustic festivity and exuberant romance, but then continuing on, with Polixenes's threats, to the verge of tragedy. After Camillo intervenes with an escape plan, the action lightens again, with Autolycus up to his old tricks as he bilks the Shepherd and his son. Despite the intemperate threats of Polixenes, the overall tone of the scene is romantic and comic, and a tyrannical father is such a fixture of Shakespearean love that his rage seems almost a matter of form. Many of the play's major themes, symbols, and motifs resonate throughout. For example, the symbol of the seasons is prominent in Florizell's first speech, comparing Perdita to the goddess Flora. The theme of the creative interactions of nature and art is the main idea of Polixenes's speech to Perdita on the flowers called gillyvors. Perdita's discussion of hybrid flowers draws attention to her own hybrid status: she is both noble and peasant, authentic and natural, yet unknowingly in disguise. The motif of festivity underlies the setting itself, with its dances, ballads, and merrymaking. Comic irony and humor appear throughout the scene, primarily in the clever ruses and inflated pretensions of Autolycus. The most serious interruption of the festive spirit is the intervention of Polixenes. In his pride, tyrannical behavior, and extreme language, he strongly recalls the irrational outbursts of Leontes in the first part of the play. In the first phase of The Winter's Tale, Polixenes was an aggrieved party who was forced to make an undignified, clandestine escape from Sicilia, escorted by Camillo. Now, in the second phase, Polixenes learns of his son's passion for a seemingly low-born shepherdess. Because the audience knows that Polixenes and Camillo are in disguise in this scene, Polixenes's questions to his own son are full of dramatic irony. His dynastic fixation on the succession drives him to immoderate behavior and extreme threats. In his focus on inheritance, he is not that far from Leontes, who preferred to sentence his daughter to death rather than risk raising a "bastard." For Polixenes, the fatal issue is not infidelity but rather Florizell's willingness to stoop low in social terms. Shakespeare exploits situational irony by portraying Polixenes as every bit as prejudiced and irrational as Leontes was in the earlier acts. The tyrannical potential of absolute monarchy is apparent in the behavior of both rulers. How may these revelations affect our interpretation of The Winter's Tale? Shakespeare may be suggesting that, given the right circumstances and provocations, absolute rulers may be difficult to distinguish from one another. Power is power, and there is little that will avail the subjects of kings when the king makes up his mind against them. At a deeper level, however, Shakespeare may be suggesting, through the parallels between Leontes and Polixenes, that we should remain mindful of pervasive errors and foibles in human affairs—departures from the norm that we can never expect to wholly avoid but which may be healed or cured through the means of good counsel, conscience, fortune, patience, and the passage of time. Thus the skirting of tragedy in Act 4, Scene 4 lays the foundation for the reconciliations of Act 5. Aside from the disruption of the love plot in this scene, the most important element at the sheep shearing is the intermittent but notable presence of Autolycus, who maintains the fundamentally comic key of the scene. Autolycus's own noble disguise, which he uses to bilk the Shepherd and Clown, draws mocking attention to the number of nobles in this scene—Polixenes, Camillo, Florizell, and Perdita—who are disguised, knowingly or not, as commoners.

The Ramayana: Chapter 8- Memento from Rama

Summary Having expanded his form to gigantic proportions, Hanuman has stepped across the sea and landed on the island of Lanka. He immediately sets out to search for Sita. He glimpses an especially beautiful woman but decides that she does not quite match the identifying signs provided by Rama in Chapter 7. In fact this woman turns out to be Ravana's wife, Mandodari. Finally, Hanuman discovers Sita at the Asoka Grove. Before he has a chance to take any action, however, Ravana arrives. When Sita rebuffs his endearing words, he departs in a rage. Hanuman cautiously approaches Sita and shows her Rama's ring. In return, she gives Hanuman a single piece of jewelry she has managed to retain. Hanuman now expands his stature again and wreaks destruction on the Asoka Grove. Ravana dispatches his son Indrajit, who manages to capture and bind Hanuman. Ravana is about to punish him with death, but his brother Vibishana intervenes, reminding the tyrant that to kill a messenger is improper. Instead, Ravana orders Hanuman's tail to be bound up with cotton, soaked with oil, and set on fire. Hanuman retaliates by escaping his bonds and then using his flaming tail to set fire to the buildings of Ravana's capital city, reducing it to ashes. Analysis In this fast-moving chapter Hanuman is the central figure. His courage, prudence, and ingenuity dominate the action. Hanuman's near mistake when he glimpses Mandodari stresses the thin line between illusion and reality in the epic. Supposing Mandodari to be Sita, the heroic monkey leaps to all sorts of unjustified conclusions. But this is before he studies the woman's features closely, deciding in the end that they do not match the detailed description Rama provided. Several vivid details contribute to the entertaining dimension of this section of the epic: the "touch of coarseness" in the woman, for example, as well as her clumsy posture, her snoring, and her incoherent mumbling while she sleeps. The likeness of Mandodari is, in some versions of the tale, proof that she is actually Sita's mother, who managed to impregnate herself with Ravana's seed to give birth in secret to Sita and then give the infant baby girl to Mother Earth. Sita is then given to the barren king and queen to raise as their own. A sense of urgency remains, however, as Sita is menaced by the rakshasa (demon) women in the Asoka Grove, as well as by Ravana himself. Before Hanuman can reassure her, she cries out desperately for aid from Rama, exclaiming "Have you forgotten me?" She even makes preparations to hang herself from a nearby tree. Hanuman's arrival in Lanka is just in time. The exchange of Rama's ring and Sita's single piece of jewelry is another plot element arising from the need to distinguish illusion from reality. Enough has been revealed about mistrust and trickery in the epic so far as to make these tokens essential. In the final episode of this chapter, the tone reverts to comic irony. As readers might expect, Ravana is all too ready to follow a course of cruelty. He is restrained by Vibishana—in an intervention that foreshadows the latter's defection in Chapter 9. But the most pleasing reversal in this episode is Hanuman's use of supernatural powers to turn his fiery tail, intended to manifest pain and torture, into a weapon of revenge and destruction. It is one of the most celebrated and admired incidents in the entire epic. The character of Hanuman is beloved of children, especially as he is prone to all sorts of tricks and comic effects in the reenactments of the story as performed in traditional dramas. But on a more serious note, Hanuman is the embodiment of combined devotion to God (in this case the avatar Rama) and action based upon that devotion that can not only enable Hanuman to fly over the ocean, but to also lift up a whole mountain. (Hanuman lifts a mountain to bring a herb growing on it to the wounded Lakshmana to save his life. Because Rama has asked him to do it, Hanuman goes to get the herb that only grows on that one mountain. But Hanuman does not know which herb it is, so he brings the whole mountain.)

The Ramayana: Chapter 6- Vali Summary and Analysis

Summary In an unusual introductory commentary, R.K. Narayan remarks that this chapter will narrate some less than admirable deeds of Rama, the "perfect man" who is the epic's hero. The scene is now set in the monkey kingdom of Kiskinda, where three important characters dominate the action: the monkey king Sugreeva; his deposed brother Vali; and the heroic, supernaturally strong Hanuman. As Rama and his companions journey southward in search of Sita, they are noticed and interviewed by Hanuman, Sugreeva's chief lieutenant. Hanuman introduces the travelers to Sugreeva and then provides background. Sugreeva's elder brother Vali, favored by the gods, was destined to fight the demon Mayavi. The conflict lasted 28 months. Despairing of Vali's survival, the monkeys of Kiskinda made Sugreeva their ruler. Vali, however, triumphed in the end. He was, however, enraged by what he took to be Sugreeva's treachery. Seizing his brother's wife, Vali reclaimed the throne. After testing Rama's skill in archery, Sugreeva welcomes him as an ally in his conflict with Vali. Sugreeva, Rama, and Hanuman discuss plans to vanquish Vali and to locate and rescue Sita. Sugreeva challenges Vali to combat. Lakshmana has misgivings on any involvement with the monkeys' feud. But Rama overrules him, in the end delivering a fatal arrow to Vali. Before he dies, though, Vali reproaches Rama for an unfair shot. Rama replies with a lengthy speech of self-justification, whereupon Vali backtracks into a series of apologies and self-recriminations. As the chapter closes, Vali's funeral rites are carried out. Analysis Thematically, Chapter 6 explores ambiguity at several levels. Narayan reminds the reader once more that Rama is, in essence, a divine being because he is an incarnation (avatar) of Vishnu; on the other hand, however, he is a "perfect man" who, subject to human limitations, takes "a false step." Even Hanuman, gifted with supreme strength and discernment, cannot decide if Rama is human or godly when he first glimpses the hero on the borders of Kiskinda. Ambiguity is richly explored in the relations between Sugreeva and Vali in Kiskinda. Both brothers behave courageously and patriotically, yet a simmering envy and suspicion poison their relations. Rama's dilemma resolves itself into a single issue: Which side should he take, given his primary objective of forming an alliance to recover Sita and destroy Ravana? Rama's decision to aid Sugreeva and to kill Vali from hiding has seemed to many readers and literary critics a highly problematic resolution of the issue. In particular, Rama's actions appear to violate the precepts of dharma, or social and religious duty. Lakshmana's justification of Rama's action toward the end of Chapter 6 may easily strike some readers as sophistic, and Vali's retraction of his own accusations may likewise seem feeble. Perhaps the most persuasive explanation of these problems may be that Rama, as a human avatar of a god, turns out to be fallible. Backing Sugreeva against Vali presents his best option for success in his own crisis, and he takes that option, despite the moral compromise. Another way to look at it might be to return to Rama's original purpose as the avatar of Vishnu to restore the balance of justice that Ravana has disturbed. The only way to do that is to destroy Ravana. As a man, the abduction of his wife could be viewed as a powerful incentive to accomplish this feat. The presence of the monkeys and their highly distractable natures in the story is a reminder that humans too can be distracted from a long-term goal by short-term and self-serving diversions. The way in which the gods trick the demons out of the soma drink that would make them immortal at the very beginning of Creation is also a point to be taken in this sense. Subsequent attempts by the demons to reclaim what they have been cheated out of forms the basis of dramas such as the Ramayana.

The Ramayana: Themes

Good versus Evil The theme of good versus evil is paramount in the epic. It is often stressed that Rama's reason for existence as an avatar (incarnation) of the god Vishnu is to reestablish justice and righteousness in the world. Viswamithra's injunction to the young hero at the end of Chapter 1 shows this emphasis. Rama's colossal struggle with Ravana pits good against evil on a cosmic scale. In its examination of goodness, the epic also considers the quality of a good king. When he decides to bestow the kingship on Rama in Chapter 3, for example, Dasaratha first orders his son to "pursue a policy of absolute justice under all circumstances." Rama's championship of good is rooted in the Hindu value of dharma, or social and religious duty. Yet it is fair to remark that Rama does not always live up to the requirements of dharma. For example, he kills Sugreeva's brother, the monkey king Vali, in a way that violates the customary rules of warfare. It is also possible Rama exaggerates the demands of dharma when he is reluctant to accept his wife Sita after he rescues her on the grounds that she may be guilty of impurity with Ravana. Illusion versus Reality The contrast between illusion and reality is extremely prominent in the epic. Supernatural elements occur frequently in The Ramayana, and in this environment illusions are almost commonplace. Perhaps the most sweeping illustration is the trick Ravana employs in the final battle in Chapter 12—an illusion of reviving all the fallen leaders and troops on the battlefield. Illusion is also closely linked with the recurring presence of disguise in the epic. For example, in Chapter 4 the demoness Soorpanaka first appears to Rama in the forest as a beautiful damsel. Likewise, Ravana disguises himself as an elderly hermit when he first accosts Sita. The most pivotal illusion in the epic's plot stems from Ravana's plan to abduct Sita. Ravana's trick involves the illusion of a golden deer, impersonated by the demon's uncle Mareecha and contrived to appeal to Sita so that she will send Rama on a chase after the creature to capture it for her pet. Rama accedes, realizing too late that the deer is a ruse. The cunning Mareecha uses ventriloquism to detach Lakshmanafrom Sita, thus affording Ravana an opening to carry out the kidnapping. Reality is rooted in "true" nature, rather than illusions that occur in natural settings. The Ramayanacontains numerous vivid descriptions of the natural world. On the whole, despite its lack of amenities and its occasional discomfort, the forest is viewed as a welcoming and wholesome environment, a place where humans may find respite and inspiration. This perspective is apparent in the close link between the forest and the achievement of wisdom. Sages such as Viswamithra, Gautama, and Agasthya, by virtue of their piety and their austere practices, accumulate a storehouse of wisdom, which they then pass on to younger generations. Loyalty Loyalty is embodied by at least three characters in the epic, providing noteworthy examples of this virtue, which is an important element of dharma. These are Sita, Hanuman, and Lakshmana. Despite the tribulations of abduction and captivity, Sita remains unfailingly loyal to Rama. Ironically, however, when they are finally reunited, Rama yields to stereotypes and suspicion, leaving his wife no choice but to go through a test of chastity. Hanuman is the epitome of loyalty. He combines this virtue with discretion, ingenuity, and supernatural strength, as well as the ability to change his form and stature at will. Hanuman's loyalty is still celebrated as one of his primary characteristics in popular Hinduism today. Hanuman's integrity and faithful service are represented in the popular saying from the epilogue that he is "present wherever Rama's name is even whispered." Finally, Lakshmana is dependably loyal to both Rama and Sita throughout the story. Although he may differ with Rama—for example, on the issue of accepting exile or on the illusion of the golden deer—Lakshmana never fails to support his older brother and to protect Sita.

The Ramayana: Context/Background Info

Indian Epic An epic is a lengthy narrative that typically showcases the ideals, values, and heritage of a nation or national group. Elevated in style and usually featuring a heroic protagonist, epics preserve tradition and social customs. Notable epics in world literature include the ancient Mesopotamian tale Gilgamesh (c. 2150-1400 BCE); the Iliad (c. 750-650 BCE) and Odyssey (c. 725-675 BCE) by the ancient Greek poet Homer (c. 9th or 8th century BCE); the Aeneid (c. 30-19 BCE) by the ancient Roman poet Virgil (70-19 BCE); the Divine Comedy (1308-21) by Italian poet Dante Alighieri (1265-1321); and Paradise Lost (1667) by English poet John Milton (1608-74). In ancient India, two lengthy epics emerged as predominant: The Mahabharata and The Ramayana. The Mahabharata is generally held to have assumed its current form sometime around 400 CE. This lengthy narrative recounts the story of the fierce war among the five Pandava brothers and their cousins, the Kauravas. The Pandava brothers—Yudhistira, Bhima, Arjuna, Nakula, and Sahadeva—are the sons of the king of Hastinapur, Pandu, and his two wives Kunti and Madri. The Kurukshetra War is fought between the Pandava brothers and their cousins (Kauravas) over control of Hastinapur. The Pandava brothers win the war. The Ramayana, probably composed after 300 BCE, is a shorter epic but still long by any standard. It tells the story of Rama, a human hero incarnated from the Hindu god Vishnu, and his struggle to regain his wife Sita, an incarnation of the Hindu goddess Lakshmi, who was abducted by the Hindu demon Ravana. Ultimately Rama defeats Ravana. Both epic poems are attributed to specific authors (The Ramayana to Valmiki and The Mahabharata to Vyasa), but they are both largely the product of oral tradition—the process of handing down stories, poems, genealogies, riddles, and historical accounts by word of mouth rather than in writing. Many Ramayanas In his introduction, R.K. Narayan concisely explains that the oldest telling of The Ramayana was composed by the epic poet Valmiki in thousands of Sanskrit verses. Sanskrit is the oldest surviving parent of the Indo-European language family, from which arose Greek, Latin, the Romance languages, and the Prakrit languages of which Hindi is one modern version. Sanskrit is rarely spoken outside the priest caste, which presides over Hindu events such as weddings or funerals. During such events, priests may recite Sanskrit passages by memory for up to five hours without pause. But Valmiki's rendition of the story of Rama gave birth to numerous successors. Many of these retellings were in the local, vernacular languages of India. One of the most effective of these versions was created by the South Indian poet Kamban (12th century CE), who wrote in Tamil, a Dravidian (non-Indo-European) language with its own distinctive history and literature. It is this verse retelling that Narayan—himself from South India—used as his primary source. Some of the retellings varied significantly in characterization and dramatic emphasis. In some versions, for example, the Hindu demon Ravana is viewed far more sympathetically than in Valmiki's epic. In modern times, a cultural interpretation of Rama's invasion of Ravana's realm revisions the story as symbolic of North Indian culture subsuming that of the South. In this view, Ravana is a vanquished hero and Rama a northern invader. The story of Rama's rescue of Sita and defeat of the powerful demon Ravana is the center of the annual Hindu Festival of Lights holiday Diwali, which usually falls late October to early November based on the lunar cycle. According to this view, the avatar (incarnation of a Hindu deity) Rama has been sent to Earth as a human being with the mission to end Ravana's rule of darkness and evil by bringing the light of justice to humanity as the dharma (individual duty fulfilled through adherence to Hindu custom or law) he must fulfill. The events of the Ramayana, including his banishment and the abduction of Sita, are preordained to compel him to accomplish it. The proliferation of Ramayanas was not limited to the Indian subcontinent, or to poetic forms. Hinduism spread throughout southeast Asia. The story of Rama became known and beloved in modern-day Thailand, Cambodia, and Indonesia. And it changed into quite a wide variety of forms, including shadow-puppet theater, folk theater, dance, and film. Audiences are already familiar with the story and enthusiastically cheer on the heroes or boo the villains—sometimes even going so far as to throw shoes at a movie theater screen when demons appear. The beloved character of the faithful monkey general Hanumanwho helps Rama build the bridge to Ravana's realm is particularly played with comic effect to the delight of children. The series of more than a thousand comic books published in English, Hindi, and other Indian languages collectively called the Amar Chitra Katha (1967+) lists a couple of issues devoted to the Ramayana but includes as many as six issues on Hanuman alone. The Ramlila, a generic term used to describe a series of folk drama performances presented at the month-long Varanasi in North India, are based on the 16th-century epic Ramcharitmanas, the lengthy retelling and dramatization of the story by the Hindi poet Tulsidas (c. 1543-1623). Hinduism and Dharma It is often debated whether Hinduism is a religion or a way of life. Certainly, it has prominent social aspects. With roughly one billion adherents, Hinduism has a priestly class as well as temples. It does not have a single creed or a book of holy writing, like the Judeo-Christian Bible or the Muslim Koran. However, Hindus respect the authority of the Vedas, four ancient collections of hymns that date from about 1500 to 1200 BCE. Hinduism generally involves some form of participation in puja, or reverential worship of a divinity, either in the household or at a temple. The core of Hinduism lies in the tenets of the Bhagavad Gita (Song of God), which outlines three general pathways (margas) to God, each with its own spiritual discipline (yoga). One is Bhakti-yoga, or devotion, and another is Jnana-yoga, or education. The third is Karma-yoga, or the pathway of taking rightful action that is not attached to any personal gain or agenda. Dharma, or fulfillment of social and religious duty that provides a balance of justice, is achieved only through a merging of these three margas. It is to fulfill the obligations of dharma, for example, that King Dasaratha must keep the promises he made long ago to his wife Kaikeyi, even though fulfilling these promises may endanger both his life and his kingdom. The character of Hanuman is viewed especially by children as the embodiment of devotional duty to Rama, by which he is able to achieve miraculous feats. Likewise, Rama's sensitivity to dharma causes him to make decisions readers might find difficult to understand: for example, to obey his father's command to yield the kingship to Bharatha in Chapter 3. A troublesome conflict of dharma between Rama's wife and his followers at the end of the epic directs Rama to submit Sita to a test of purity that will satisfy the suspicions of his subjects that she had not been violated during her long stay in her abductor's realm. In this instance, Rama chooses to honor his role as a king above his role as a husband, such that the rescue of Sita is more an effort to rectify Ravana's arrogance, which must be done to rebalance justice and establish Rama as the savior of his people. From the perspective of his doubting subjects, Rama's validity is tainted by any suspicions of his wife. Rama acts as representative of his subjects at the expense of his role of loving husband. But Sita, in refusing to accept the second test of purity, is acting as a representative of her own individual rights. The dynamics of this issue have become part of a South Indian movement in modern times to explain the story as a record of North Indian invasions into the South. While North Indian cultures are marked by a highly patriarchal system, in which men have dominance over women, this power structure was not so in the South, which had (previous to these invasions) a matriarchal alignment, including ruling queens.

The Odyssey: Entire Character Breakdown -

Odysseus The protagonist of The Odyssey, Odysseus is a classic epic hero. He is by turns cunning, deceitful, clever, prudent, wise, courageous, and impulsive. A distinguishing characteristic about him is that his mental skills are just as strong as his physical strengths, and this ability helps him escape some dangerous situations. Odysseus has weaknesses—a tendency to give in to temptation, for example—as well as strengths. Odysseus is on the long journey home from taking part in the Achaeans' victory in the Trojan War, depicted in The Iliad. Glory and honor have been the most important things in his life up to this point, but now he yearns for his family and home. Telemachus Telemachus is Odysseus's son, and the two have not seen each other in 20 years, since Telemachus was a baby. In many ways Telemachus's journey as a character is as important as his father's. Still growing up when the story begins, he must learn to take charge and find the courage to dispel the hoards of suitors who have besieged his home and his mother. Under the guidance of Athena (who also guides his father), he matures and gains confidence. His assertiveness upsets the suitors, who have only seen him as a little boy up until the time covered by the narrative. By the end of the epic, he is confident and cunning, like his parents, practicing prudence and restraint in order to defeat the suitors. Penelope Penelope is the wife of Odysseus and the mother of Telemachus. When The Odyssey opens, she has been waiting for Odysseus to return for 20 years. In that time her home has become besieged by suitors who take advantage of her hospitality and wait for her to choose one of them as a husband. Yet a part of her still hopes that Odysseus will return, and she uses ploys as deceptive as her husband's to fool the suitors into waiting longer and longer. She does this by claiming she will choose a husband as soon as she finishes weaving a shroud for her father-in-law, Laertes. What the suitors don't know is that by night she undoes the day's work, which means that the shroud will never be finished. Penelope proves herself to be just as shrewd and smart as her husband throughout the epic. Athena Athena, a favorite of her father, Zeus, is the goddess who appears most often in the epic. She has been watching over Odysseus since his days fighting in Troy. She seems to have a great fondness for Odysseus, in part because they are so similar—prone to cunning and deception. She comes to Odysseus's aid time and time again throughout The Odyssey, though not always directly. She is often in disguise and will usually direct Odysseus to people who can help him rather than help him herself. She also helps Telemachus, because he is Odysseus's son. Athena asks assistance from Zeus when she needs it, and one reason she may not intervene more obviously on Odysseus's behalf is because she is afraid to incur the wrath of the god Poseidon, who is angry at Odysseus. Zeus Zeus is the ruler of the gods and is also the god of hospitality and those who are lost. Athena is his daughter, and he will usually come to her aid when she asks for help for Odysseus. However, Poseidon is his brother—and Poseidon is determined to punish Odysseus. This makes Zeus's decisions complicated at times and unpredictable for Odysseus. However, Zeus ultimately sends Odysseus omens that he is on the right track and gives him support. Poseidon Poseidon is the god of the sea, which is unfortunately where Odysseus spends much of his time on his journey home. Poseidon bears a grudge against Odysseus for blinding his son, the Cyclops Polyphemus. At every turn of Odysseus's journey, Poseidon tries to thwart him, even gaining the blessing of Zeus at one point to continue to do so. The final scene of The Odyssey finds Odysseus making a sacrifice to Poseidon in the hopes that the god will finally leave his family in peace. Achilles A warrior friend of Odysseus who died in the Trojan War, he is visited by Odysseus in the Land of the Dead. Aeolus A master of winds, he gives Odysseus a magical pouch full of seafaring winds to help him on his journey. Alcinous The king of the Phaeacians, he hosts Odysseus in his kingdom and hears Odysseus's stories about his journey so far. Amphinomus One of Penelope's suitors, he stands out due to his kindness and reason. Anticleia Odysseus's mother, she meets him in the Land of the Dead and informs him of what has happened in his home. Antinous The leader of the suitors, he is the meanest and most antagonistic toward Odysseus when the latter appears in Ithaca in disguise. Arete The queen of the Phaeacians, she is wife of Alcinous and mother of Nausicaa. Calypso A nymph, or minor goddess, she kidnaps Odysseus when he lands on her island and keeps him there for seven years. Circe A minor goddess and sorceress, she falls for Odysseus and keeps him under her spell for a year. Charybdis This monster has the form of a whirlpool that Odysseus must face and survive. Demodocus A bard in Alcinous's court, he moves Odysseus to tears when he sings songs about the Trojan War. Elpenor One of Odysseus's men, he dies during the journey home and must be returned by Odysseus to Ithaca for a proper burial. Eumaeus A swineherd in Ithaca, he is loyal to Odysseus and aids him in the battle against the suitors. Eurycleia Odysseus's childhood nurse, she recognizes him by a scar he received as a child. Eurymachus One of Penelope's suitors, he tries to guide the behavior of other suitors through the power of persuasion. Halitherses A citizen of Ithaca loyal to Odysseus, he is skilled in reading omens. Hermes Son of Zeus, he is a messenger god Zeus sends to help Odysseus on occasion. Laertes Odysseus's father, he has been deeply affected by the disappearance of his son and is reunited with him at the end of the epic. Menelaus The king of Sparta, who fought with Odysseus in the Trojan War, he recounts his stories about Odysseus to Telemachus. Mentor A trusted member of Odysseus's household, Mentor is entrusted by Odysseus with teaching and guiding Telemachus while he is away at the Trojan War. Nausicaa The princess of the Phaeacians, she is the daughter of Alcinous and the first to discover Odysseus in their kingdom. Nestor The king of Pylos, who fought with Odysseus in the Trojan War, he recounts his stories about Odysseus to Telemachus. Philoetius A cowherd and loyal servant of Odysseus, he helps the hero exact his revenge on the suitors. Polyphemus Son of Poseidon, he is a one-eyed Cyclops who is blinded by Odysseus. Pisistratus Nestor's son, he accompanies Telemachus on his journey. Scylla This monster with six heads is another danger Odysseus must escape. Sirens Creatures that live at sea and are disguised as women, they lure sailors to their deaths by singing bewitching songs. Tiresias A blind prophet, he meets Odysseus in the Land of the Dead and warns him of what's to come.

The Odyssey: Chapter Breakdown

The Odyssey is divided into 24 books. The first four describe the difficulties faced by Telemachus, the son of Odysseus. Books 5-12 describe the adventures the hero encounters on his way home. Books 13-24 tell how Odysseus returns to Ithaca and is finally reunited with his wife, Penelope, and his son.

The Ramayana: Entire Character List

Rama Rama is an incarnation (avatar) of the Hindu god Vishnu. As the epic hero of the story, Rama generally inspires respect and admiration, although his conduct occasionally falls short of the ideals of Hindu dharma (social and religious duty). The commentary of the poet Kamban and of R.K. Narayan makes the reader aware from time to time of Rama's double nature: he is both an immortal deity (Vishnu) and a mortal human being, subject to limitations. Sita Sita shares the same duality as Rama in the epic. On the one hand, she is a goddess with an immortal parallel: Vishnu's consort Lakshmi. On the other hand, she is a mysterious, Earth-born figure, as indicated by her name, which means "furrow." In the epic she serves for the most part as a symbol of the devoted wife, although her behavior, at times, seems childish and petulant. Lakshmana Lakshmana is portrayed as loyal and prudent but as also somewhat hotheaded. Lakshmana, like Hanuman, is celebrated for his respectful allegiance to Rama. Although the brothers may occasionally disagree, Lakshmana always defers to Rama's judgment. Ravana Ravana is portrayed as a complex character. Although he has adopted cruel and evil ways and is shown mostly as a tyrant, there are definite signs that he has gained unparalleled favors from the gods for piety and austerity. He is thus a unique amalgam of good and evil. In the epic he is especially notable for his lust and arrogance. Hanuman Hanuman, the son of the wind god Vayu, is portrayed as the epitome of loyalty, duty, and strength. His fidelity to Rama and Sita is legendary, to the extent that the couple is often depicted on the great monkey's heart in iconic representations. Besides possessing great strength and ingenuity, Hanuman is shown to be fair-minded, judicious, and prudent. In modern-day Hinduism, Hanuman is one of the most popular deities. Agni Agni is the Vedic god of fire. Agni protects Sita from harm in her trial or test of purity toward the end of the epic. Ahalya Ahalya is the wife of the forest sage Gautama. Her husband curses her for infidelity, but she is redeemed by Rama. Bharatha Bharatha is a younger brother of Rama who is named king but chooses to act only as regent during Rama's exile in the forest. Dasaratha Dasaratha is the king of Kosala and rules at his capital, Ayodhya. He is the father of four sons: Rama, Bharatha, and the twins Lakshmana and Sathrugna.IndrajitIndrajit is a powerful young warrior, the son of Ravana. Janaka Janaka is the king of Mithila and the father of Sita, the epic's heroine. Jatayu Jatayu is a noble eagle who is a friend and ally of Dasaratha. He tries to protect Sita from Ravana when the latter abducts her. Kaikeyi Kaikeyi is King Dasaratha's favorite wife and the mother of Bharatha. She causes Rama's exile by demanding that Dasaratha keep a promise he made to her long ago. Kooni Kooni is Kaikeyi's mischievous housemaid.MareechaMareecha is Ravana's uncle. He reluctantly agrees to take part in the illusion of the golden deer, which allows Ravana to abduct Sita. Soorpanaka Soorpanaka is a demon and the sister of Ravana. She tries to seduce Rama and is punished by Lakshmana, who mutilates her. Vali Vali is a monkey chieftain who is slain by Rama. Vibishana Vibishana is a younger brother of Ravana who defects to Rama's side in the war. Vishnu Vishnu is one of the main gods of Hinduism. Rama is regarded as a human incarnation of Vishnu. Viswamithra Viswamithra is a sage who acts as a mentor to Rama and Lakshmana.

The Winter's Tale: Act 1 Scene 2

Summary Polixenes, king of Bohemia, announces his intention to depart from Sicilia after an extended visit there. He is concerned, he says, about the state of his kingdom during his long absence. Leontes, king of Sicilia, courteously entreats his friend to prolong the visit, at least by an additional week, but Polixenes politely declines. Leontes then enlists the persuasive talents of his wife, Hermione, whom he exhorts to join in an attempt to win over Polixenes. Agreeably, Hermione presses Polixenes to remain at least a little longer, and soon Polixenes gives in. Leontes confesses his surprise that he was unsuccessful whereas Hermione was able to persuade their guest to stay on. He compliments Hermione on having spoken gracefully for a second time—the first was when she assented to Leontes's courtship, saying that she would be his forever. As the scene continues, Leontes's frame of mind suddenly shifts from courteous hospitality to anguish. Watching Hermione's courteous and friendly interaction with Polixenes, Leontes experiences a wave of jealousy and outrage. In fractured language he distracts himself with a series of remarks to Mamillius, his son. Noticing Leontes's unsettled behavior, Polixenes and Hermione express their concern. Leontes excuses himself, encouraging them to adjourn to the garden. After their exit he bitterly inveighs against women's infidelity, confessing that he fears he has been cuckolded. Summoning Camillo, Leontes seeks independent confirmation of his suspicions. Camillo's refusal to acquiesce, however, results in mounting tension, until Leontes directly orders his courtier to assassinate Polixenes. Camillo reluctantly agrees but then, after Leontes's departure, declares his anguishing conflict in a brief soliloquy. Polixenes enters to voice misgivings about the warmth of Leontes's welcome, which he feels is belied by his friend's facial expressions and body language. Camillo then reveals Leontes's murderous orders. As the scene concludes, he tells Polixenes that they both must depart immediately for Bohemia in secret. Analysis Unlike Scene 1, this scene is written in blank verse, reflecting the courtly setting and royal characters. The rising iambic rhythm of blank verse is clearly apparent in the first three lines of Polixenes's opening speech: Nine CHANGEs of the WAT'ry STAR hath BEEN The SHEPherd's NOTE since WE have LEFT our THRONE WithOUT a BURden. TIME as LONG aGAIN ... The scene notably advances the play's plot by revealing the chief conflict—Leontes's irrational jealousy—and by presenting the rising action in swift, successive stages. Leontes's jealousy is reflected in a shift from graceful blank verse to short, choppy exclamations. In his tragedy Othello (written c. 1603), Shakespeare had memorably dramatized a husband's descent into jealousy, as he is misled by a friend, Iago, into believing his wife has betrayed him. The case of Leontes, however, significantly differs from that of Othello. Leontes's feelings appear out of nowhere—his wife is simply being courteous to a guest—and his repeated insistence on her infidelity makes him seem irrational and obstinate. Readers should also note that Leontes's jealousy develops suddenly at a feverish pitch, as opposed to developing gradually in stages—as is the case, for example, in Shakespeare's principal source, Robert Greene's prose romance Pandosto (1588). The scene opens with Polixenes's reference to the duration of his visit to Sicilia: "Nine changes of the wat'ry star hath been / The shepherd's note since we have left our throne." The passage of nine months is also readily apparent in Hermione's pregnancy—suggesting to Leontes that his wife has committed adultery with Polixenes. A hint of trouble to come is subtly conveyed by the terseness of Leontes's speeches in the first part of the scene. Whereas Polixenes and Hermione are formal and courteous, Leontes is succinct to the point of abruptness, although not openly impolite. This asymmetry in the dialogue strikingly contrasts with the symmetrical courtesies of Archidamus and Camillo in Act 1, Scene 1. Later in Scene 2, in fact, Polixenes himself supports such a conclusion by commenting on the hints of alienation he has inferred from Leontes's facial expressions and behavior: "This is strange. Methinks / My favor here begins to warp." Once the tidal wave of jealousy breaks over Leontes, his lines of dialogue add a new dimension to his characterization. Shakespeare employs numerous techniques to reflect the king's fractured psychological state: jagged verse rhythm, extreme diction, ominous puns, fevered repetition, and abrupt digressions are only some of these devices. These techniques begin to dominate Leontes's lines from early on in the scene ("Too hot, too hot! / To mingle friendship far is mingling bloods"). The emotional tension is greatly enhanced by the staging convention of the aside, in which a character speaks to the audience who realizes that the lines are unheard by other characters on stage. Leontes's anguished use of language comes to a head in his intense cross-examination of Camillo, the courtier who stressed the close and ever-loyal friendship of the kings in Act 1, Scene 1. In his zeal to extract confirmation for his suspicions, Leontes subjects Camillo to a barrage of interrogation laced with insult: Ha' not you seen, Camillo—But that's past doubt; you have, or your eyeglassIs thicker than a cuckold's horn—or heard—For to a vision so apparent, rumorCannot be mute—or thought—for cogitationResides not in that man that does not think—My wife is slippery? Camillo valiantly resists, recognizing Leontes's paranoia for what it is: "Good my lord, be cured / Of this diseased opinion, and betimes, / For 'tis most dangerous." But the nobleman's subordinate status is never in doubt. When Leontes orders him, on pain of death, to assassinate Polixenes, Camillo is forced to acquiesce. After Leontes exits Shakespeare enlarges Camillo's stature by endowing the courtier with a brief soliloquy. Caught between a rock and a hard place, Camillo chooses to opt out of villainy and "forsake the court." Shakespeare thus lays the foundation for this character's crucial role in the second part of the plot, when he serves as councilor to Polixenes and superintends the journey of Florizell and Perditafrom Bohemia to Sicilia—the journey that will lead to restoration and reconciliation at the play's end.

The Ramayana: Chapter 5- The Grand Tormentor Summary and Analysis

Summary The scene now shifts to Lanka. The speaker vividly describes the setting of Rama's court. Soorpanaka bursts in to plead for her brother Ravana's sympathy and to spur his revenge. Although Ravana is outraged by his sister's mutilation, he is more deeply moved by erotic longing when he hears Soorpanaka assert that Rama "has a woman who should be yours." Ravana suffers the symptoms of love on a cosmic scale. Just as Soorpanaka is consumed by longing for Rama, Ravana is totally shattered by yearning for Sita. Ravana now plots with his uncle Mareecha to devise a stratagem to abduct Sita from her home in the forest. Mareecha is reluctant, but Ravana bullies him into compliance. The plan is relatively simple: Mareecha will assume the form of a golden deer. When Sita longs to possess the animal as a pet, Lakshmana and Rama will be lured away from protecting her, and Ravana will gain an opening for his nefarious design. Reluctantly, Mareecha agrees, and he goes on to play his part to perfection. As predicted, Sita is entranced by the sight of the golden deer. She begs Rama to capture it for her. Despite Lakshmana's misgivings, Rama sets out to capture the animal. As he strays farther and farther from the forest hut, however, it dawns on Rama that he is being tricked. When he shoots the deer, Mareecha cunningly shouts for help, imitating the voice of Rama. The shout instills panic in Sita, who begs Lakshmana to leave the hut and go to Rama's aid. Lakshmana is torn, and his thinking is clouded by Sita's mistrust and insinuations. Reluctantly, he sets out to seek his brother. Offered the prefect opportunity for mischief, Ravana approaches the hut in the disguise of a scraggy, forest hermit (a sanyasi, or renouncer). Emboldened by Sita's beauty, he asserts that demons are not so bad after all and that the "so-called gods" are deficient and cruel. His disguise soon melts away, and Sita is acutely discomforted. Ravana now declares his love brazenly, and he forcibly abducts Sita, rolling her into his chariot. The great eagle Jatayu tries to intervene on Sita's behalf but is mortally wounded by Ravana. Too late, Rama and Lakshmana appear, but Jatayu expires before he can disclose to the brothers the direction taken by Ravana. Analysis Chapter 5 is probably the most suspenseful part of the epic thus far, encompassing Soorpanaka's lust for vengeance, Ravana's extreme and tormented desire for Sita, and the various stages in the ruse of the golden deer, leading to Sita's abduction. It is interesting that Sita, who is really the avatar of Vishnu's wife Lakshmi (the goddess of wealth), should be so entranced by a golden deer, which is not only an illusion but also a symbol of material wealth. From the beginning of the chapter Ravana is portrayed as a tyrant. He is termed a "supreme lord," attended by a "vast throng" of courtiers. His power is so great that he has subdued even the gods, including Vayu the god of wind and Yama the god of death. With situational irony (in which what happens is the opposite of what is expected to happen), the speaker soon portrays both Ravana and Soorpanaka as enchained by the shackles of erotic longing. Soorpanaka cannot shake the image of Rama from her memory, while Ravana is captivated by his sister's alluring description of Sita. The speaker presents the symptoms of love, especially as experienced by Ravana, as quite a parody. The king tyrannizes his servants, ordering them to summon both the sun and the moon to relieve his physical agony. Yet the speaker's sense of situational irony and paradox is not limited to Lanka. His account of the golden deer also employs situational irony to underscore the fragility of the forest exiles' relationships with each other. In her bemused admiration for the golden deer, for example, Sita becomes almost petulant as she sullenly pesters Rama to catch the animal so she can keep it as a pet. Lakshmana's misgivings about the deer as a dangerous illusion are ignored. When Mareecha cunningly imitates Rama's voice to shout for help, Sita exhorts Lakshmana to hasten to her husband's aid. But here, too, Lakshmana is reluctant, realizing that to leave Sita unguarded may be to invite trouble. In the heat of the moment, however, Sita cannot follow his logic. If anything, she grows mistrustful, imputing evil intentions and worse to Lakshmana by taunting him with the idea that maybe he wishes Rama to die so that he himself can marry Sita. Such pairings were not unusual, that if a brother were struck down, a surviving brother would marry the vulnerable widow. With such misunderstandings and mistrust, it not surprising that Ravana's plan succeeds. He introduces himself to Sita in a harmless-seeming disguise. There are structural parallels here with Soorpanaka's initial meeting with Rana in Chapter 4. The disguises of both demons soon wear thin, however. The chapter's final episode concludes the action on a note of pathos. The aged Jatayu heroically risks his life to save Sita. This incident foreshadows the important role that animals, such as monkeys and bears, will play in the second half of the epic. The episode also illustrates the importance of the theme of loyalty.

The Ramayana: Chapter 2: The Wedding Summary and Analysis

Summary This chapter begins with a vivid description of the city of Mithila, contrasting it with the solitary landscapes through which Viswamithra, Rama, and Lakshmana have traveled so far. Rama and Sitaglimpse each other for the first time. Each is profoundly impressed, and love awakens in both young people. Sita grows restless and agitated, while Rama broods and cannot sleep. King Janaka is preoccupied with the issue of his daughter Sita's marriage. Sita has a unique history: she was bestowed on Janaka by Mother Earth herself when, as a baby, Sita was found in a furrow (the literal meaning of her name). Sita's marriage will also be the product of a unique inheritance. To be successful, a suitor must undergo a contest in which he is challenged to string a huge, antique bow given by the god Shiva to Janaka's family. The bow is so massive that no contestant has yet succeeded. No one, that is, until the youthful Rama takes his place in the competition and easily strings the bow. Janaka moves directly forward to arrange the wedding. He sends a formal invitation to King Dasaratha, who is overjoyed. Wedding preparations in Kosala and Mithila proceed quickly. Janaka also arranges for the simultaneous nuptials of Rama's three brothers: Lakshmana, Bharatha, and Sathrugna. Analysis This chapter contains a number of elements typical of the epic as a whole. For example, vivid descriptions of the physical and emotional symptoms of love are utilized to characterize both Sita and Rama. Some of the same symptoms are parodied in the descriptions of Soorpanaka pining after Rama in Chapter 4 and of Ravana yearning for Sita in Chapter 5. The origins of Sita's incarnation is also relevant as to why Rama is her predestined husband. She is believed to have been the avatar of Vishnu's wife Lakshmi, and as such she is amply worshipped in her own right as the goddess of wealth. However, just as there are many versions and variations in the tale of the Ramayana, so too are there variations in the origins of Sita. One version that explains how Sita could remain pure even though she has been captured by Ravana and is confined in his realm for several months before Rama can rescue her comes from the south Indian state of Kerala. In it, Sita is actually the daughter born to Ravana and Ravana's first wife, who manages to conceive the daughter by stealth, since Ravana is at the time deep in his sacrificial devotions and abstaining from intercourse. This wife hides her pregnancy and then confers the infant Sita to the keeping of Mother Earth, who then bestows the baby to Janaka to raise as his own. She apparently gets away with this feat because Ravana's full attention is on his prayers and not on his kingdom. Given this perspective, then, Sita living for months in the garden of Ravana's palace is no disgrace because he is her own (albeit unknown) daughter. It also makes his lust for her all the more obscene, as it is incestuous. The post-Ramayana epilogue of Sita having to undergo a second trial by fire to satisfy the suspicions of Rama's subjects upon their return to Ayodhya is met with Sita's refusal to comply. Instead of going through fire she is swallowed into the ground, so she returns to Mother Earth in protest, leaving both her husband (who chooses dharma to his subjects above his attachment to his wife) and their twin sons explaining the reasoning behind these events. A modern animation film telling of the Ramayana called "Sita Sings the Blues" (by Nina Paley, 2008) includes Annette Hanshaw's 1920s jazz vocals to tell the story from Sita's point of view. Sita is, in this version, neither petty nor vulnerable, and when she returns as Vishnu's consort Lakshmi, it is Vishnu who rubs her feet in contrition for Rama's mistrust of her. A second typical element in this chapter is Rama's test of the bow. Not only does he display the hallmarks of an epic hero in his mastery of archery, but also he is victorious in a marriage challenge. It is noteworthy that Odysseus, the epic hero of Homer's Odyssey, also undergoes an archery challenge—in his case a test to regain his wife, Penelope, after his return from the Trojan War. In Chapter 6 of TheRamayana, Rama will once again undergo a test of his archery skill. A third typical element in the chapter is the prominence of astrology. As one contemporary commentator has noted, even today in India "science and astrology comfortably coexist."

The Winter's Tale: Entire Character List

Leontes Leontes has more than twice as many lines as any other character. Since he becomes paranoid, murderous, and cruel shortly after the play's opening, it is difficult to get any sense of what his character was like originally. His sudden onset of jealousy sets the plot in motion, and his equally sudden repentance for his actions is the background for the play's second half. The resolution of the plot is Leontes's reconciliation with his wife, Hermione, and his long-lost daughter, Perdita. Polixenes Polixenes and Leontes grew up together, and for the first part of the play his behavior is courteous and exemplary—a counter to Leontes's paranoia and betrayal. However, later in the play Polixenes grows angry with his son Florizell over the latter's relationship with Perdita and threatens to disfigure her and kill her adoptive father. When the couple flees to Sicilia, Leontes, now the calm and reasonable one, welcomes the pair. Hermione Hermione is courteous, beautiful, and an ideal mother and wife. Accused by Leontes of adultery with Polixenes, she eloquently defends her innocence at a formal trial. The oracle of Apollo at Delphos also proclaims her innocence. At the news of the death of her son Mamillius, Hermione faints and is carried offstage. She is later reported to have died. In the play's final scene, however, Hermione's statue apparently comes to life, and she and Leontes are reconciled, together with their daughter, Perdita. Camillo Camillo disobeys Leontes's order to murder Polixenes, warning the other king and escaping with him to Bohemia. Later on he advises Florizell and Perdita to go to Sicilia and take refuge with Leontes. In the end he marries the widowed Paulina. Paulina Paulina serves as the moral conscience and guide for Leontes. Unafraid to speak out against his tyrannical behavior, she runs great risks of punishment, but in the end she is esteemed for her nobility and honesty. Widowed, she marries Camillo at the end of the play. Florizell Florizell falls in love with Perdita, and their courtship forms a major element of Act 4 of the play. He incurs his father's displeasure for courting a young woman of apparently low social status. Perdita Perdita plays a leading role in the sheep-shearing festival of Act 4, Scene 4. She has a symbolic link with nature and flowers, suggesting a thematic connection with fertility and rebirth. Although she is a shepherdess, Polixenes and Camillo both note that she has a noble appearance. In Act 5 she is joyfully restored to her parents, thus fulfilling Apollo's oracle at Delphos. Antigonus Antigonus is a Sicilian courtier, married to Paulina. Leontes orders Antigonus to expose the infant Perdita, who he believes to be a bastard. Antigonus is killed by a wild bear in Bohemia. Archidamus Archidamus is a Bohemian courtier.AutolycusAutolycus is a roguish, clown-like figure who cheats his way to gain a dishonest living in Bohemia. Cleomenes Cleomenes is a Sicilian envoy sent by Leontes to consult the oracle at Delphos. Clown The clown is the Shepherd's simple-minded son.DionDion is Cleomenes's fellow envoy to the oracle at Delphos. Dorcas Dorcas is a Bohemian shepherdess. Emilia Emilia is a lady-in-waiting to Hermione.GentlemenThe first, second, and third gentlemen discuss the rediscovery of Perdita in Act 5, Scene 2, indirectly informing the audience about her reunion with her father in the process.JailerThe jailer appears only in Act 2, Scene 2. Mamillius Mamillius, son of Leontes and Hermione, is the heir to the throne of Sicilia. A young child, he dies early in the play. Mariner The mariner has a brief dialogue with Antigonus after taking him to Bohemia in Act 3, Scene 3. Mopsa Mopsa is a shepherdess in Bohemia.OfficerThe officer at the court of Leontes reads the response of the oracle in Act 3, Scene 2. Shepherd The shepherd is the adoptive father of Perdita. He found the infant girl when she was abandoned. Time Time is a personified, Chorus-like figure who introduces Act 4 of the play, informing the audience of a 16-year gap in the action.

The Winter's Tale: Act 4 Scene 2

Summary Camillo, homesick for Sicilia, asks Polixenes for leave to make a return visit there. Polixenes refuses, however, insisting that he needs Camillo's help to determine exactly why the king's son Florizell is spending so much time at the home of a certain shepherd. Camillo says he has heard the Shepherd has "a daughter of most rare note." They plan to disguise themselves and talk with the Shepherd. Analysis Alert spectators and readers will recognize a parallel in this scene between Camillo's desire to depart and Polixenes's yearning to leave Sicilia in Act 1, Scene 2. The brief conversation between the two characters in Act 4, Scene 2 furthers the play's plot development: a romantic tie between Florizell and the Shepherd's daughter is distinctly implied, and we just happen to know a shepherd who adopted a baby girl 16 years ago.

Early Irish Myths and Sagas: The Exile of the Sons of Uisliu (pgs. 256-267)

Derdriu slips out of her compound to see Noisiu for himself and after some flirting ["That is a fine heifer going by" - not the most sophisticated pick-up line from Noisiu] she practically forces him to abduct her, by pulling his ears and placing him thus under a bond or geasa, an important motif in Irish folklore. Geasa, is, as far as I could make out, an oath and curse rolled in one. Anyway, Noisiu runs away together with Derdriu, his brothers and a crowd of retainers. They cross the sea to settle in Britain and become hireling warriors to the local king of Alba. Derdriu is kept under lock, in order to avoid any further troubles, but the snooping steward of the king sees her and runs to the king to inform him about this most beautiful woman being so close. The king first tries negotiating for Derdriu's affections, but despite steward's daily visits, she never accepts the offer and loyally informs Noisiu about them. The king tries David/Uriah's trick, by sending Noisiu and his brothers to all the most dangerous battles, but they always win. Finally he decides to adopt a gloves-off tactic and simply kill all of them, but Derdriu somehow knows about it and warns Noisiu and his brothers to leave Alba. They cross the sea again and land on an island. When the news reach Ulster, Conchobor is shamed into forgiving the sons of Uisliu and accepting them back, because it would be a shame if they "fell in enemy lands by the fault of a bad woman". [I won't even start about what exactly Derdriu's fault is, apart from being beautiful and refusing to marry her abductor.] Conchobor apparently accepts and sends his three warriors, including his own son Cormac as the guarantees of safety. But then he hatches a devious plot: his own three wariors are invited in Ulster to various parties, they can't refuse the invitations and they are thus kept back. When the sons of Uisliu arrive at Emain, they are attacked by Eogan, the former enemy of Conchobar. He has just made peace with Conchobar and Conchobar decided to use this opportunity and make Eogan confirm his new alliance by fighting Noisiu. During the bloody battle the three warriors arrive, see Conchobar's treachery and fight bravely on Noisiu's site. However, Noisiu is killed, Derdriu is taken captive and the three warriors go into exile to other Irish kingdoms, but keep on fighting Conchobar for the next sixteen years. Derdriu meanwhile is in deep depression - she sits for a year with her head between her knees, without smiling, and only little sleep or eating.

The Ramayana: Chapter 12- Rama and Ravana in Battle Summary and Analysis

Summary Pondering the continuing loss of his top commanders and supporters, Ravana concludes that he must personally take the field of battle. The gods, thinking that Rama may need additional support, send Indra's special chariot to the hero, together with the charioteer Matali. Although he is suspicious that the chariot may be another illusion or trick, Rama satisfies himself that it is genuine and climbs into it. The two leaders prepare to confront one another, each conversing with his charioteer. Ravana is outraged by evidence that the gods are supporting Rama, and he unleashes an onslaught with 10 bows in his 20 arms. The two leaders' chariots engage in an aerial pursuit in the upper air. Ravana deploys a supernatural weapon called "Maya" (illusion), which creates the mirage of reviving all the fallen armies and their leaders. On the advice of the charioteer Matali, Rama counters with another weapon named "Gnana" (perception), which causes the phantoms to disappear. After several more such exchanges, Rama gains the upper hand. Ravana grows desperate and then falls into a faint. Gallantly, Rama refuses to continue the fight until his enemy revives. After some reflection, Rama unleashes his ultimate weapon, the "Brahmasthra," to be used as a last resort. Ravana falls to earth. Miraculously, his evil seems to dissipate. As Rama, Lakshmana, Hanuman, and the other war chiefs gaze on the vanquished demon, Rama laments Ravana's unfulfilled promise and his embrace of evil ways. He commends Ravana's spirit to heaven. Analysis The final battle between the epic's protagonist and antagonist is predictably suspenseful and is full of supernatural elements and devices. Special chariots, wondrous weapons, the sudden appearance and mysterious disappearance of illusions and phantoms: the conflict unfolds on a truly cosmic scale. It is noteworthy that despite all the stakes riding on this conflict, Rama insists on gallant and punctilious behavior. He will not fight with Ravana, for example, while the latter is unconscious in a faint. Toward the end of the chapter he worries that he may have attacked an opponent who has turned his back—which would be a blemish on his reputation for honor, courage, and justice. Inevitably, these concerns echo the ambiguities of Chapter 6, in which Rama's behavior with Vali was much criticized. Another unexpected element in this chapter is Ravana's appearance after his defeat, as well as Rama's ultimate verdict on his opponent's character. The epic poet goes to specific lengths to describe a transformation: Ravana's unpleasant traits of cruelty, lust, anger, and egotism are purged away, and his fallen body seems now to contain a personality of devotion and tremendous potential. Throughout the epic readers have been reminded of Ravana's extraordinary powers acquired through what in Chapter 9Vibishana termed "spiritual performances." And it is clear that at one time Ravana accumulated great favor with the gods. It may not be too far-fetched to compare him with John Milton's portrait of Lucifer in Paradise Lost (1667), an angel who became the demon Satan through pride, cruelty, and disobedience. However, it is worth noting that while Lucifer would prefer to rule in hell than serve in heaven, and his defeat elicits no change of heart, Ravana's 11th-hour recognition of Rama's superiority and acceptance of Rama as his liberator from evil echoes a Hindu belief that there is no such thing as evil in an ultimate sense. Upon death of the body in one lifetime, the soul of an evil person is first allowed to enjoy the fruits of anything they may have done of good in the world for a short time and then is purged in hell of the evil done for a long time. In the same fashion, a very good person is first put in hell for a brief time to purge all the ill done in that lifetime before being released into paradise for a longer time. In other words, Rama has the effect on Ravana of purging away the evil to which the demon has been bound, leaving only the sincere devotion Ravana had gained through his spiritual disciplines.

The Ramayana: Prologue Breakdown

Summary R.K. Narayan begins his retelling of the epic by briefly summarizing the way in which Kamban, his source, sets the scene for the narrative. One of the principal landmarks of the Kosala region, where the story of Rama begins, is the river Sarayu. Kamban vividly describes both the river and the sky. It is evident from the merchandise transported on the river that Kosala is a thriving, prosperous kingdom. Kamban then turns to the countryside, where both men and women are fully occupied in productive activities, such as milling or transporting produce loaded onto caravans drawn by bullocks. King Dasaratha rules Kosala from his capital at Ayodhya. He is a compassionate and courageous monarch admired by his subjects. His single dissatisfaction in life is that he is childless. Summoning his royal priest, sage, and mentor Vasishtha, Dasaratha requests his assistance. In response Vasishtha recalls an inner vision that has been revealed to him. As one body, all the gods joined together in pleading for the god Vishnu's help in combatting the evil powers of the 10-headed demon, Ravana. Vishnu declares that he will adopt an incarnation as a human being, since it is Ravana's destiny to be destroyed only by a human. Vasishtha specifically advises Dasaratha to arrange a great sacrifice, enlisting the services of the expert sage Rishya Sringa. Dasaratha immediately sets out to procure the sage's services, and a year-long sacrifice commences. At the end of the rituals, a huge, supernatural being steps forth from the holy fire bearing a silver plate with a small, round lump of rice. Rishya Sringa enjoins the king to divide the rice among the three royal wives: Kausalya, Kaikeyi, and Sumithra. The wives will then become pregnant and bear Dasaratha four sons, including Rama. After the birth of his children, Dasaratha's life flowers. His subjects grow especially happy with Rama, the eldest of the four sons. Analysis Narayan manages to include a lot of background and atmosphere into this relatively short prologue. As at some other points in this retelling (notably at the outset of Chapter 6), Narayan resorts to direct commentary as he describes Kamban's rendering of the setting, or time and place of the action. In the first paragraph he even includes a quotation from his source text—"verily like a woman of pleasure gently detaching the valuables from her patron during her caresses"—to suggest an erotic dimension to the description of the physical features of Kosala. The comprehensiveness of the medieval poet Kamban's descriptive verses is stressed in a paradox, in which Narayan declares that his predecessor did not even exclude mentioning garbage dumps being combed over by crows and hens in search of food. A note of nostalgia for a paradise lost and gone from the time of the epic is embedded in the description of Kosala, for Hindu readers would understand that the long-ago time of both the Ramayanaand the Mahabharata (which supposedly took place after Rama's time) occur in an age (or yuga) during which dharma (justice) stands on four legs. Each subsequent yuga is characterized by a diminishment of dharma standing on three, then two, then finally (as is the case of the current yuga of black Kali) on only one leg. So difficult is the life of humans in Kali Yuga that the most direct path advised by Krishna (the avatar of Vishnu who followed Rama and figures prominently in the Mahabharata) that humans can take to find God is the practice of Bhakti, or devotion. Not only does the long-ago and far away placement of the story support miraculous feats on the parts of all the characters including demons, but it indirectly makes plausible the paradox of extreme characterizations of demons (evil) and gods (good). The Age of Kali is marked by a deceitful merging of good and evil such that only the dissolution of all Creation by Brahma will end the Kali Yuga so that the cycle of creation continues (by implication, without end). Paradox, in fact, plays an important role in the prologue and will figure heavily in the whole text. Readers may be surprised to learn, via Vasishtha's inner vision, that the cruel tyrant-demon Ravana and his brothers have acquired their remarkable powers through "austerities and prayers." The gods lament that these demons "now threaten to destroy our worlds and enslave us." Even more surprising is the revelation that Ravana's arrogant disregard of virtue is the product, at least in part, of powers originally conferred by the great gods Brahma and Shiva (destroyer), who are now unable to retract their benefices. But in Indian myth and epic, paradox is often answered by paradox. Vishnu (who symbolically stands between the opposites of Brahma and Shiva as the Preserver—in this instance—of cosmic justice and balance) assures the other deities that he can and will salvage the situation—by incarnating himself as a human being. This human, it turns out, will be Rama, the epic's hero. Thus the prologue establishes the fundamental duality of Rama as an epic hero. He is simultaneously a god, with the supreme powers of Vishnu, and a man, with the limitations of a mortal being. This duality will be especially striking at several pivotal moments in the epic's plot. Ravana's vulnerability to human—and simian (monkey)—adversaries is presumably because of his hubris, or arrogant pride: his contempt for both "lesser" species is evident at several points in Chapter 9. In some retellings of the story, the history of how Ravana got his powers explains that when asked by the gods what he wanted as a reward for his years-long austerities and discipline, he quickly asked for immortality, which could not be granted. So instead he asked for immunity from harm by all the celestials but did not mention humans and animals because he figured they were too puny to worry about. As it will turn out, he is defeated by a woman (Sita, who refuses to enter Ravana's house for fidelity to her husband Rama), a man (Rama, who meets Ravana in battle to save his wife Sita), and not only the monkey general Hanuman and the army of monkeys, but also by a contingent of bears. It is interesting that several other epic heroes in different cultures possess extremely limited vulnerability. In the ancient Greek epics of Homer, for example, Achilles is vulnerable only in his heel, by which his mother Thetis held him when she dipped him as an infant in the magical waters of the river Styx. And the Germanic hero Siegfried was vulnerable only at a certain place on his back between the shoulder blades. Although Narayan does not specify the type of sacrifice performed by Dasaratha (other than its duration), it is likely that the audience will have associated it with the horse sacrifice (ashvamedha in Sanskrit), an especially flamboyant and stupendous set of rituals overseen by a king in ancient times. In the horse sacrifice a top-rated stallion owned by the king was allowed to roam wherever it wanted for an entire year. The territory covered by the horse was appropriated by the monarch, either via surrender by its ruler or by force of arms. At the end of the year the horse was killed at a formal sacrifice. It is this type of sacrifice that is described in Valmiki's epic, which served as Kamban's source. The giving of the rice to the three wives of King Dasaratha may seem like a small detail, but it provides the basis of the symbolic and active exercise of dharma, or duty, among his four sons. Kings in those days not only had several official wives but also numerous consorts. The same was true of Ravana as a wealthy and powerful king in his own realm. Kausalya, the first queen of Dasaratha, received one portion of the rice and became the mother of Rama. Sumitra received two portions of the rice and bore twin sons Lakshmana and Sathrugna. The third wife Kaikeyi ate one portion of the rice and bore her son Bharatha. All four brothers and cousins grew up in the royal household as brothers in training, spiritual disciplines, and education. A strong bond forms between Lakshmana and Rama such that later Lakshmana will not leave Rama's side (with the single exception of remaining behind to guard Sita in the forest, with dire consequences). While Rama (as is his avatar successor Krishna) is dark blue in skin color to represent his origin from Vishnu, Lakshmana is white because he is derived from the sacred Naga (serpent) upon whose body Vishnu rests. The two are, as mythical beings and as avatars, inseparable.

The Ramayana: Chapter 9- Ravana in Council Summary and Analysis

Summary Ravana rebuilds his capital city, with new construction superintended by the divine architect Maya. He then calls together his senior advisers and close relatives to discuss Lanka's military options. Ravana begins the conference with a bitter speech, full of resentment at the humiliation caused for him by a mere monkey. His commander-in-chief then reproaches him for poor judgment in his abduction of Sita. Ravana should have dealt with Rama first. The giant Mahodara boasts that he will defeat Ravana's enemies and drink their blood. After other bellicose speeches, Ravana's brother Kumbakarna delivers his opinion. He declares that Ravana has acted inconsistently. He has kidnapped another man's wife, an act that transgresses all norms, and yet he worries about his reputation, prestige, and status. Regardless, Kumbakarna says he is ready to go to war against the enemy. Ravana's son Indrajit echoes this sentiment, adding only that Ravana need not bestir himself personally but rather leave the work of war to Indrajit and his forces. The only dissenter is Ravana's youngest brother, Vibishana. He reminds Ravana that the king has misused his extraordinary powers. Vibishana argues that the gods are now involved in this dispute on the opposite side. Ravana's only proper course is to release the goddess Sita. Ravana harshly rejects Vibishana's counsel and scornfully derides his brother's respect for Rama. Vibishana pleads with Ravana to listen to reason. When he is rejected for the third time, however, he sorrowfully makes up his mind to change sides, leaving Lanka and arriving at Rama's camp on the other side of the ocean. Analysis This chapter condenses Ravana's arrogant pride with all sorts of vainglorious, ill-considered advice. It is noteworthy how often pride, vanity, flattery, and contempt are prominent emotions or motivations in the council speeches. Ravana sets the tone in his introductory speech, where he self-righteously complains that his authority had been challenged "not by a warrior but by a monkey." With this outrage Ravana is stung in his pride—what would the world think of him if a mere monkey could get away with such mischief right under his nose? Other instances of pride to distraction by minor annoyances appear in both the Ramayana and the Mahabharata. Sita's taunts to Lakshmana, for example, distract him from his purpose to protect her by stinging his pride. If he had ignored her words, he would not have left her to be abducted by Ravana. Some of Ravana's advisers, such as the commander-in-chief and the king's brother Kumbakarna, are willing to openly reproach him for inappropriate or even blameworthy conduct. But the only counselor who takes a firm antiwar stand is Vibishana, and for this he is sarcastically reviled by Ravana. Yet Vibishana's defection does not arise merely from a difference of opinion. The younger brother's third plea to Ravana is answered far more aggressively and ominously than the first two. Ravana openly accuses Vibishana of plotting against him. He threatens that he may have his brother murdered, despite the moral disgrace attached to such an act. Ravana's final tirade leaves Vibishana little choice but to defect.

Book 2: Summary and Analysis

Summary Telemachus gathers an assembly of Achaeans to make his case for removing the suitors from his home. The suitors are not behaving according to custom. Rather than seeking permission from her father to marry Penelope, they stay at Odysseus's home, consuming his wine, sheep, and goats. Helped by Athena, who has applied her powers to make him appear intimidating and confident, Telemachus threatens them with vengeance from the gods for their behavior. One of the suitors, Antinous, says that Penelope has led them on, promising that she would choose a husband from among them once she finishes the shroud she is weaving for Laertes. But they now know from one of Penelope's maids that by night Penelope undoes that day's weaving, indefinitely postponing the decision. Just after the angry Telemachus expresses his hope that the suitors will be punished, Zeus sends an omen of two eagles. The soothsayer Halitherses proclaims that this omen prophesies the death of the suitors. The suitors scoff at these words. Telemachus says he is finished trying to reason with the suitors, and the suitors refuse to leave. On Athena's instructions, he asks for a ship and crew in order to take to the sea to seek information on the whereabouts of Odysseus. Under disguise once again, Athena reassures Telemachus that he will find success by searching for Odysseus. Athena then disguises herself as Telemachus and gathers a crew and ship. She also sends the ship a strong wind that will aid their navigation. The old nurse, Eurycleia, implores Telemachus not to go to sea as his father had done, but he reassures her by sharing his sense that a god is assisting him. Analysis Book 2 finds Telemachus confronted with a growing fear that he is not as courageous and smart as his father, Odysseus. However, he comes from not one but two clever parents—Penelope's shroud-weaving trick shows that she is every bit as shrewd as her husband. As Telemachus confronts the suitors, he demonstrates how he is growing into his new role as man. He also remains calm in the face of the suitors' insulting his mother, responding with logic rather than heated emotion. He is bolstered in all this by the support of Athena. Indeed, when the ship departs, she assumed "the pilot's seat"—clear indication that she is setting the young man's course—and "sent them a stiff following wind"—showing that she powers him on his journey. Telemachus also shows his concern for his mother's state of mind. He instructs the nurse, Eurycleia, not to tell Penelope of his departure lest she worry and "mar her lovely face with tears." The eagle symbol appears for the first time and in a powerful way. Halitherses, an Ithacan loyal to Odysseus, reveals the meaning, which foreshadows the epic's end and the suitors' destruction. Augurs like Halitherses were vital links that connected the gods to mortals, explaining the fate that awaited humans. To the Greeks, the gods set their destiny; mortals' lot was to make the choices they face, await the unfolding of that destiny, and accept responsibility for their actions.

The Ramayana: Chapter 1- Rama's Initiation Summary and Analysis

Summary At King Dasaratha's new assembly hall, the arrival of sage Viswamithra is announced. The sage is visiting the king to request a specific favor. He would like Dasaratha to "lend" him the protective services of Rama so that he can hold a proper sacrifice free from disturbances by bothersome creatures. When Dasaratha declines on the grounds that Rama is still too young, Viswamithra becomes irritated and prepares to depart. Dasaratha's chief aide Vasishtha, however, persuades both the sage and the king to be reconciled, and Dasaratha reluctantly agrees to the arrangement, adding that Rama's younger brother Lakshmana should join the company. In the course of their travels, Viswamithra tells his younger companions four stories. These educational tales-within-a-tale form the core of the chapter. The first story, which Viswamithra recounts as the wayfarers journey through a desert-like landscape, centers on a demoness named Thataka. Born the daughter of a demigod, Thataka steadily degenerated, becoming wild and destructive. She was cursed by the great forest sage Agasthya. The scorched landscape traversed by the travelers symbolizes her meanness, according to Viswamithra. Within moments Thataka appears. Despite her ghastly appearance and threatening words, Rama hesitates to attack or kill her since she is a woman. Viswamithra, however, tells him he must fight Thataka, since she is evil. Rama parries her attacks and then kills her with an arrow to the throat. The gods rejoice, urging Viswamithra to share with Rama all he knows about weaponry. In a mist-covered mountainside wood, Viswamithra next tells the story of Mahabali. When this greedy ruffian seized the kingdoms of the gods, the deities petitioned Vishnu for aid. The great god incarnated himself in a human family. Visiting Mahabali, he was respectfully received and offered a boon or favor. He replied that he would accept a piece of land. Ignoring warnings from his teacher, Mahabali agreed that his diminutive visitor could measure out the land with three strides of his feet. Then Vishnu's form suddenly enlarged to enormous proportions, so that in the first two strides alone he encompassed all of earth and heaven. With the third stride he pressed Mahabali down to the underworld, where he remains. At this point Viswamithra prepares and then performs his sacrifice, which is protected by Rama from interruption. He then suggests to Rama that they head toward Mithila City, where King Janaka is due to perform a great sacrifice. On the way to Mithila the travelers pass through a valley where the Ganges River flows, and Viswamithra uses this occasion to tell a famous story about Ganga: her descent from the mountains into the plains. Viswamithra asserts that Ganga had to be tamed and restrained before her descent; otherwise, her overwhelming power would have destroyed the world. Viswamithra describes the piety and righteousness of Rama's ancestor Sakara, who performed the horse sacrifice. The god Indra abducted the horse and kept it underground. King Sakara defeated his enemies and completed the sacrifice. Then, generations later, Sakara's great-grandson Bhagiratha undertook thousands of years of prayer in order to arrange Ganga's descent to earth. His piety won him the assistance of the god Shiva. The "roaring deluge" that was Ganga's mighty stream passed through Shiva's matted locks, and thus its force was lessened. Bhagiratha was thus the benefactor not only of his ancestors but also of all humanity. Just as the travelers arrive within sight of Mithila City, Rama glimpses a slab of stone, half buried vertically in the ground. The stone is suddenly transformed into a beautiful woman. This remarkable incident triggers Viswamithra's fourth and final story, the tale of Ahalya. Ahalya (whose name means "without imperfection") was the wife of the sage Gautama. Ahalya's beauty piqued the lust of the god Indra, who became determined to seduce her. One day, while Gautama was at the river for his prayers and purifications, Indra assumed the sage's form and made love to Ahalya. Gautama returned and caught the couple, even as Indra assumed the form of a cat. Undeceived, Gautama cursed Indra, saying that his entire body would be covered with images of "a thousand female marks." As for Ahalya, Gautama condemned her to be transformed into granite, but he added that she would be redeemed one day by Rama. Indra's punishment was also modified when the marks on his body were changed to eyes, making him the "thousand-eyed god." Analysis From the title of this chapter, the reader can infer that the events and stories presented (and dramatized) by Viswamithra have an educational significance. The chapter is less about the sage's sacrifice and much more about object lessons of life and behavior that will help to "initiate" Rama into his adult life, with his impending marriage and kingship. As the speaker remarks of Viswamithra halfway through the chapter: "He knew by foresight that it was but the beginning of a great series of events in which Rama's future would be involved." It is, however, important to understand the significance of success in reconciling the king's reluctance to part with his son Rama with the request of the sage. As has been amply demonstrated in many epic tales (including the Greek Homeric epic of the Illiad, the beginning of which contains the threat of a powerful curse to be levied against the Greek army if Apollo's priest's daughter is not returned to him), the ire of a powerful sage can have dire consequences. As will be later explained, the king is weakened in his judgment in the absence of Rama, which may have been a factor in his concessions to the demands of his queen Kaikeyi. All four "tales-within-a-tale" involve excess. Thataka is born beautiful and energetic, but the death of her reckless and irresponsible husband Sunda causes her breakdown. Viswamithra cautions Rama that he should have no hesitation in destroying her, since she has become "more dreadful than Yama, the god of death." The central character of Viswamithra's second story is also an example of excess. In his greed Mahabali has reduced the entire world to subjection. The gods plead with Vishnu to right the situation. Consistent with his conviction that he needs to intervene when evil threatens to destroy the world, Vishnu transforms himself into one of his avataras, or incarnations: in this case, into a dwarf (vamana). Mahabali is cunningly defeated—a victim of the everlasting conflict between illusion and reality. In the second pair of tales excess is dealt with differently. The restraint required by Ganga's overwhelming force is supplied by the god Shiva (in the form of his long, matted locks of hair), but it is motivated and implemented by the austerities and prayers of the sage Bhagiratha. The result, declares Viswamithra, is an inestimable blessing for all mankind. Finally, in the tale of Ahalya freedom from imperfection (as emphasized by the literal meaning of her name) at first leads to evil in the form of the god Indra's lust and deception. But evil is followed by and displaced by shame, punishment, and finally redemption—the last at the instance of Rama himself. All four stories make abundant use of hyperbole, or exaggeration for effect, and of the supernatural. Thataka's very presence converts her region into a desert. She breathes fire and sports a cobra armlet. In his third step Vishnu presses down on Mahabali's head with his foot and relegates him to the netherworld. Bhagiratha prays to Brahma for 10,000 years, to Shiva for another 10,000, and to Ganga for 5,000. Indra is marked with a thousand vaginas as the sign of his lustful crime. Admittedly, numerous other examples of hyperbole and supernatural elements can be found in the epic. Yet it is difficult to resist the conclusion that Viswamithra indulges in these devices so dramatically in order to drive home the point that Rama's mission is a cosmic mission, as he says gravely to Rama near the end of Chapter 1: "O great one, you are born to restore righteousness and virtue to mankind and eliminate all evil." The avatars of Vishnu are predicated on the belief that a fresh start is always possible. This is the concluding message from Rama to Ahalya as she regains her human form: "Let not your heart be burdened with what is past and gone."

The Ramayana: Chapter 10- Across the Ocean Summary and Analysis

Summary At the edge of the sea, Rama's lieutenants notice Vibishana's arrival and, thinking him to be a spy, treat him roughly. Vibishana proclaims he has arrived to seek asylum and begs for Rama's protection. Rama consults his battle companions. Sugreeva argues that a person who has betrayed his brother can hardly be trusted. Jambavan agrees, arguing that asuras (demons) are well known for their treachery and tricks. Rama's commander-in-chief concurs. Hanuman presents the sole dissent. He recalls that it was Vibishana who interceded on his behalf, preventing his execution in Lanka. Rama then sums up the debate, proclaiming that it is their duty to protect a suppliant seeking asylum. Accepted as the reigning king of Lanka in exile, Vibishana provides Rama with helpful information for the military attack. Rama concludes the chapter with a semihumorous conversation with the sea god. This deity agrees to the construction of a bridge so that Rama's forces may cross the water to Lanka. Analysis This chapter offers a counterpart to Chapter 9, in that it presents the highlight of a debate in the rival camp. In both debates the leaders (Ravana and Rama) ask their advisers for their opinions. In both debates there is a single minority opinion confronting the majority (Vibishana, Hanuman). In both debates the issue of trust is important. Beyond these basic similarities, however, the two council sessions are radically different. The tone of Ravana's council is rancorous and disputatious; several characters reproach the monarch himself. Most of the participants at the meeting in Lanka are eager to beat their own chests, boasting of their martial prowess and of the certainty that they will defeat the enemy. Across the ocean in Rama's council a far more prudent outlook prevails; Sugreeva and Jambavan, as well as Rama's commander-in-chief, urge caution. It is Hanuman, rather, who takes the riskiest position, and it is worth noting that he does so on moral grounds, asserting that he believes Vibishana has "a clean and pure soul." Hanuman's chief arguments are that Vibishana intervened to save the monkey from execution, and that Vibishana has done everything he could to exhort Ravana to forsake his evil ways. Hanuman adds that Vibishana's home in Lanka is one of piety and purity. Hanuman's argument prevails, providing Rama the launch pad he needs for declaring protection of suppliants as an essential component of his mission and moral code. This element adds another moral dimension to Rama's mission of ensuring righteousness and virtue and removing evil in the world, recalling Viswamithra's words at the end of Chapter 1. The support of the monkey army in helping Rama cross the ocean to Ravana's kingdom is a particularly vivid one in song and dramatizations of the tale. Of note is the performance of Kecak in Bali, part of the South Asian spread of Hinduism. The central event of Kecak is the gathering of the monkey army. As many as 150 men sit around a fire at nightfall in concentric circles chanting in complex layered rhythms and moving their arms in a form based on an ancient trance chant. The performance of Kecak is fairly modern, however, dating from the 1930s as a tourist attraction for Western visitors to Bali. Women have also performed Kecak since 2006. The conclusion of the hour-long chorus of chanters is the actor portraying Hanuman walking into the fire without being burned or feeling pain. The sacred-performance-turned-tourist-attraction was featured on "The Magic of Bali" in the 1969 BBC docuseries by David Attenborough.

Book 5: Summary and Analysis

Summary Book 5 opens on Mount Olympus at another council of the gods. Athena once again asks Zeus to assist Odysseus, and Zeus decides to send Hermes to help him break free of his captivity by the "lustrous" Calypso. However, Zeus warns that Odysseus's journey home will not be easy. Athena is also reminded that she must continue aiding Telemachus in his journey home, particularly when it comes to the suitors' plans to murder him. Calypso is taken by surprise when Hermes arrives with strict instructions from Zeus to free Odysseus and comments on the double standard of male gods, who allow themselves to philander with mortal women but deny the same freedom to goddesses. She grudgingly agrees to let him go. Our first glimpse of Odysseus finds him crying and homesick. He is in disbelief that Calypso would free him. She warns him that his journey home will be difficult and that, if he knew what lay ahead of him, he would stay. But Odysseus says he longs to return to his home and to Penelope. Supplied with tools by Calypso, Odysseus builds himself a ship, which he outfits with a sail using cloth she furnishes. He departs. Odysseus's difficulties begin soon after leaving Calypso's island. Poseidon conjures up a storm that shatters Odysseus's ship, though, once the hero is forced to swim to land, Poseidon abandons his torment. Athena and a sea nymph come to his rescue, but, when the waters become turbulent again, Odysseus prays to Poseidon for relief. Poseidon finally relents and allows him to reach the island of Scheria, where the Phaeacians reside. Analysis Athena wins Zeus's agreement to help Odysseus through her powers of argument and persuasion—powers Odysseus has as well. She appeals to Zeus by pointing to Odysseus's role as a ruler, in which he showed himself "kindly as a father to his children." The first look at Odysseus may surprise some readers, who expect a gallant and brave hero. He is crying openly, seemingly defeated by the idea that he will ever make it back home to Ithaca. Greek heroes expressed emotion openly; this scene would not have been a shock to Homer's audience. Odysseus mistrusts Calypso when she first tells him she will let him go, which again raises the theme of deception. She vows not to harm him, which wins his trust, but this challenge to a character's truthfulness is a pattern that will recur in the epic. Odysseus's ability to build a ship by himself shows his great skill and craftsmanship. This characteristic links him to Athena again, as she was the goddess of skills and crafts. His ability to sail the ship alone is another substantial skill, one that the seafaring Greeks would much admire. When Calypso rails against the gods' double standard regarding relations with mortals, she gives several examples. In the end, though, she must comply with Zeus, the all-powerful. Poseidon, too, is forced to follow Zeus's command and let Odysseus sail his ship to Scheria, though that doesn't stop him from splintering the ship into pieces and casting the hero into the sea. His frustration at being forced to obey Zeus may have been assuaged somewhat by Odysseus's pitiable plea for mercy.

The Winter's Tale: Act 4 Scene 1

Summary The only character to appear in this scene is the figure of Time personified, perhaps carrying a symbolic hourglass and wearing wings. Time delivers what amounts to a prologue to the second half of the play in flowery, rhymed couplets. The upshot is that the audience will now see actions occurring after a gap of 16 years. Time forecasts that Florizell and Perdita will play a major part in the upcoming action. Analysis In Greek drama the Chorus is comprised a group of 12-15 singer/dancers who commented on the action of the play at regular intervals and who danced interludes to musical accompaniment. A Chorus also figured in the tragedies of the Roman playwright Seneca (4 BCE-65 CE). Shakespeare would have been familiar with Senecan tragedy and also, quite possibly, with the Chorus in Greek dramas because many of the latter would have been accessible to him through Latin translations published in Elizabethan times. The Winter's Tale features a typical Shakespearean Chorus—it provides some explication, and helps to frame the events of the play from outside. Shakespeare also employs the device in Romeo and Julietand Henry V. However, his Chorus differs from that of a Greek drama in notable ways. First, Shakespeare does not regularly punctuate the action of his plays so that the Chorus can provide commentary. Instead, Shakespeare's Choruses serve to set the scene or to invite the audience to imagine upcoming events. Second, in productions of Shakespeare's plays, the Chorus is regularly presented as a single actor or a few individuals in discussion, not a unified group.

The Winter's Tale: Act 2 Scene 1

Summary Accompanied by her ladies-in-waiting, Hermione converses with her young son, Mamillius. When she coaxes him to tell the group a story, he answers that he has a sad tale for winter that features sprites and goblins. Leontes enters, distraught to have learned of the sudden, clandestine departure of Polixenes and Camillo. He regards this development as proof of his suspicions. Leontes's delusions, however, have expanded beyond a belief in his wife's guilt of adultery: ominously he declares that there is a plot afoot against his life and his crown. Confronting his pregnant wife, Leontes publicly accuses Hermione of adultery and orders her to be taken to prison. Hermione meets her husband's fury with remarkable dignity and forbearance: "There's some ill planet reigns. / I must be patient till the heavens look / With an aspect more favorable." Leontes's courtiers, including Antigonus, oppose him vigorously, but Leontes refuses to listen. Although he claims he needs no further confirmation, he announces that he has dispatched envoys to Apollo's oracle at Delphos for counsel. Analysis The banter among Hermione, Mamillius, and the ladies-in-waiting provides background for the play's title, The Winter's Tale. By now we suspect that the plot of this story will contain more than a trace of sadness, and perhaps some elements of danger. At the same time the first part of this scene points to the seasons, one of the drama's pervasive motifs. Finally, the brief scene's structure points in a metatheatrical, or self-conscious, way at one of the notable features of Shakespeare's dramaturgy in The Winter's Tale: the play's combination of narration with dramatic action. (See especially the later discussion of Act 5, Scene 2.) The scene sharply contrasts female society—a place of safety, connectedness, and play, in which "sad tales" are a pleasant pastime rather than a harsh reality—with the appearance of Leontes and his male courtiers. Their intrusion marks the beginning of danger and the true, devastating "winter's tale" of the play. The portrayal of Leontes in this scene adds a deeper layer of paranoia to his depiction in Act 1. He claims that his crown and his very life are at stake, and in a sweeping accusation he asserts, "All's true that is mistrusted." Clearly Leontes is no longer seething just about personal betrayal; he now believes that there is a widespread conspiracy against his rule. After Hermione is escorted to prison, Leontes's dialogue with Antigonus and another lord supplies further glimpses of the king's swelling irrationality. Even though his counselors strongly object to the condemnation of Hermione, Leontes refuses to budge. The most he will grant is his willingness to consult Apollo's oracle at Delphos—although there again, he allows complacently, such confirmation is scarcely necessary: "Though I am satisfied and need no more / Than what I know, yet shall the oracle / Give rest to th' minds of others." Thus Shakespeare suggests that Leontes's suspicion and fury have merged with megalomania. Shakespeare's geography in The Winter's Tale has prompted considerable critical comment. "Delphos," for example, appears to be a conflation of the island of Delos, Apollo's birthplace in traditional myth, and Delphi, the location of his oracle in the Peloponnesus.

The Winter's Tale: Act 3 Scene 2

Summary With stern formality, Leontes opens the public trial of Hermione by ordering an officer to read the charges against her. Hermione defends herself eloquently, pointing out that her character, her role as queen and mother, and her loyalty to Leontes make the very fact of the trial seem absurd. Cleomenes and Dion enter and, having pledged their honesty and good faith, deliver Apollo's oracle, which is read aloud. The oracle proclaims Hermione's chastity, Polixenes's innocence, Camillo's loyalty, and Leontes's tyranny. Furthermore the oracle vouches for the legitimacy of Leontes's baby daughter. According to Apollo's prophecy, "if that which is lost be not found," Leontes will remain without an heir. Despite the courtiers' praise of the oracle, Leontes declares flatly that there is no truth in it. Almost immediately, however, a servant enters to announce the death of Mamillius. Thunderstruck, the king interprets his son's death is because of Apollo's anger at Leontes's own injustice. Paulina urgently implores the courtiers to aid Hermione, who has fallen down in a faint. Leontes then delivers a speech full of contrition, vowing to Apollo that he will be reconciled to all those he has wronged. Paulina reenters with the shocking news that Hermione is dead. She bitterly blames Leontes for the queen's death, denouncing him as a tyrant. Leontes vows lifelong penance for the sorrows he has caused. Analysis Perhaps the most striking feature of this scene is its lightning pace. Within less than a hundred lines, Apollo's oracle exonerates Hermione and Polixenes, a servant reports the death of Leontes's son and heir Mamillius, and Paulina reports the death of Hermione. Leontes regrets his actions even more swiftly than he succumbed to the wave of jealousy engulfing him in Act 1, Scene 2. In both history and literature, the oracle at Delphi was famous for delivering incomprehensible riddles that required extensive interpretation and debate. The plain, literal language of the decree in this scene emphasizes the obvious truth of Hermione's innocence: even oracles find the issue too ridiculous to discuss. The death of Mamillius is the pivotal event motivating Leontes's change of heart. At line 150, he pronounces the oracle false; just ten lines later he exclaims that Apollo is angry and "the heavens themselves / Do strike at my injustice." Hard on the heels of this speech, Paulina reenters, bristling with outrage. Her stinging catalogue of Leontes's faults culminates in another wave of grief as she announces the death of Hermione. Leontes can do no more than vow daily penance for his actions. How authentic is Leontes's repentance? The symmetry between his sudden capitulation to jealousy in Act 1 and his equally sudden change of heart in Act 3 suggests that Leontes has an extremely impulsive temperament. If we find his sudden jealousy credible, we are likely to credit his equally sudden repentance as genuine. Up to now in the play, he has been scathing in his accusations of others; he is now just as scathing when he recalls his own unjust words and actions. He offers no excuses for his excessive behavior. Instead he frankly and fearlessly confronts his own moral failure. Paulina's solemn assertion ("I'll swear 't") that Hermione is dead will prove, in the end, to be false, although the audience has no way of knowing this at this point in the play.

Early Irish Myths and Sagas: The Wooing of Etain (pgs. 37-59)

Background:Etain (Eadaoin) was a maiden of the Tuatha de Dannan, renowned for her beauty, who fell in love with Midir of the seven-pointed spear. Unfortunately for her, Midir's wife took exception to this, and Etain had to endure terrible hardship. Stories of Etain: Etain met Midir while he was staying with his foster-son, Aengus Óg, the god of love. Midir was wounded, losing an eye while under Aengus' protection, and this was such a blow to his status that even after his eye was restored, he demanded that Aengus make it up to him. Now, being the god of love, Aengus made it up to Midir by introducing him to the beautiful Etain. The two began a passionate love affair, and all was well with them until the time came for Midir to return home. Midir was already married, to Fuamnach, a powerful woman and his equal in every way. She had raised children and foster-children with him, and was deeply insulted when he brought this strange woman home with him. She took her anger out on Etain, turning her into a shower of rain, which fell in a puddle and condensed into a jewelled fly. However, to Fuamnach's surprise, the fly Etain did not leave Midir, and his love for her did not diminish. The sound of her wings was sweet music to him, and the fly perched on his shoulder wherever he went. Fuamnach then sent a storm to blow Etain away. Aengus managed to rescue her for a short time, but the storm found her again, and Etain was blown and battered about for time out of mind. At last, she was blown in through the window of a mortal king's hall and fell into the goblet of the king's wife, who swallowed the fly Etain, and became pregnant at that instant. Born again as a mortal woman, Etain grew up with no memory of her past life, though her appearance was the same. When the High King of Ireland, Eochaid Airem, asked for her hand in marriage, she agreed, and was a loyal and good wife to him. At last, Midir found her. He had been searching for her for thousands of years, and begged her to run away with him, but Etain refused to break faith with her mortal husband, demanding that Midir get Eochaid's permission before she so much as kissed him. Midir managed to trick King Eochaid into giving him permission to kiss and embrace his wife, but Eochaid spent a whole month training and equipping his army to prevent Midir from claiming this prize. This was no obstacle to a man of the Tuatha de Dannan, and Midir simply appeared in the king's hall next to Etain on the appointed day. When he kissed her, Etain's memories of him returned, and the two of them vanished from the king's hall to live their immortal life together. Conclusion: Etain was faced with terrible hardship, but held onto her essential self, and her love for Midir, through her transformation into a fly. Her integrity and strong sense of values come through in the story when she refuses the beguilement of her faery lover, and insists on keeping faith with her husband. But love wins out, and she follows her heart in the end.

Early Irish Myths and Sagas: The Dream of Oengus (pgs. 107-112)

Each night as he slept, Angus dreamt of a beautiful woman. She had creamy, fair skin, dark eyes, a long graceful neck and corn-colored hair that fell below her knees. In his dream, she beckoned to him, then she vanished. Each night he dreamt of her and his love grew stronger, but each day, though he searched, he never found her. He grew weary and eventually he fell ill from the pain in his heart. At last, Angus became too ill to search any longer. But with the help of Tuatha de Danann Kings, after three years of searching the countryside, the lovely woman was found living beside a lake. The Kings sent a messenger to tell Angus to tell him where she lived. Overcome with desire, Angus regained his spirit and rode at a great speed to reach her and declare his love. But when he finally arrived, he found she'd been put under a spell: she was bound to the flock of swan. She was transformed into a swan each day and a woman only at night. It was then that Angus saw he could never be with her in his human form. Only if he would transform with her, could he know her love fully. So it came to be that Angus transformed himself into a swan by day and only a man at night, to be with Caer.

The Odyssey: Context/Background Info

Homer set The Odyssey in Greece during the Bronze Age, which is the period from about 1600 to 1100 BCE, before his time. The Greeks believed that, in this ancient time, gods still roamed the earth. But Homer inserted some elements from his own time, such as the social structure of the early Iron Age (1200-700 BCE) Greek culture in which he lived. Homer refers to the Greeks in the epic as "Achaeans," the name of a tribe that lived in Greece throughout the Bronze Age. The ancient Greeks used their mythology to explain the world and all its phenomena, from the cycle of day and night and the passage of the seasons to the origins of particular landforms and even flowers, as well as processes such as storms and earthquakes. The Greeks, like most societies of the ancient world, had multiple gods and goddesses. The gods lived chiefly on Mt. Olympus, though some dwelt elsewhere. Zeuswas the ruler of the gods, and some of the major deities were his siblings, such as Poseidon, or his children, such as Athena. Gods could be associated with more than one power or attribute. Athena, for example, was the goddess of war but was also associated with cities, justice, skill in crafts, and wisdom. The gods were immortal. The gods had human form and characteristics. They could be loving and jealous, generous and vengeful. They directed human destiny and often interacted with humans. Along with the 12 Olympian gods, the Greeks believed in many minor gods. Among those who appear in The Odyssey are the Sirens, Circe, and Calypso. The Greeks also believed in other kinds of powerful beings, including giants—such as the one-eyed Cyclopes—and monsters—such as Scylla and Charybdis. The origins of these beings varied. The Cyclops Polyphemus was the son of the sea god Poseidon and the sea nymph Thoosa; nymphs were minor female deities who were not immortal. The Greeks also believed in monsters such as the dangerous Scylla and Charybdis, whom Odysseus and his men must evade.

Book 8: Summary and Analysis

Summary Alcinous calls his people to the meeting grounds, unknowingly aided by Athena, who helps rouse interest. He commands his citizens to find a ship and crew to help take Odysseus home to Ithaca, promising that once a crew is found they will hold a celebratory feast. During the celebration a bard named Demodocus tells the legend of a verbal battle between Agamemnon and Odysseus during the Trojan War. The memories stirred by the song cause Odysseus to weep, and, though he tries to hide it, the king notices and distracts the crowd by suggesting they begin an athletic competition. Odysseus is invited to take part in the competition, but he declines, blaming his weariness from traveling. One of the champions teases him, and Odysseus, angered, agrees to take part in the games to prove him wrong. Odysseus easily wins the competition, claiming he will defeat anyone who challenges him. After the competition and another song by Demodocus, the king calls upon his people to give Odysseus gifts for his voyage. Demodocus sings a final song about how the Achaeans and Odysseus defeated Troy due to Odysseus's courage. Odysseus weeps again at the story, which the watchful king once again notices, prompting him to ask Odysseus to reveal himself. Analysis Alcinous proves himself to be a keen observer, as he notices how Odysseus weeps at Demodocus's tales. Odysseus has been careful to guard his identity, but the taunting at the athletic competition stirs his need to prove his honor. It's likely that Alcinous has guessed Odysseus's identity by this point. This tension between reality and illusion is part of the deception theme that is woven through The Odyssey. The scenes with Demodocus give a glimpse into the role of the bard in ancient Greek society. These storytellers related the adventures of the gods and heroes, passing on Greek values—as well as providing considerable entertainment. Their position was considered important in a society in which many people couldn't read. The speculation that Homer was blind is based on this scene, particularly the fact that Demodocus is blind. Some scholars and historians have suggested that Homer put himself in his own tale, but this view is not widely accepted. There were many bards in Homer's time who played the role of storyteller for their audiences.

The Winter's Tale: Act 2 Scene 2

Summary At the jail Antigonus's wife, Paulina, asks to see Hermione. The jailer regretfully refuses, telling Paulina that he has explicit orders not to allow such a visit. Instead, however, he can permit Paulina to speak with Emilia, one of the queen's ladies-in-waiting. Emilia reveals that Hermione has given birth prematurely to a baby daughter. Paulina tells Emilia that she wants to take the infant to Leontes in the hope that the sight of the baby will soften his heart. Emilia promises to inform the queen, and Paulina reassures the jailer, telling him she will use her influence to protect him if necessary. Analysis This brief scene introduces the audience to one of the play's most important characters, the noblewoman Paulina. Like her husband Antigonus, she is firmly on the side of Hermione, believing in the queen's innocence and virtue. Also like Antigonus, Paulina does not hesitate to speak out, opposing Leontes when she thinks the king acts or speaks wrongly. In fact, as the next scene suggests Paulina is even more outspoken than Antigonus is. From the dialogue with the jailer and Emilia, it is clear that Paulina is highly respected. She herself appears aware of her gifts of persuasion, and she is willing to stake her prestige on Hermione's cause. The characterization of Paulina as a person of integrity and outstanding good sense suggests that the play will include a powerful, and perhaps decisive, counterweight to Leontes's dangerous irrationality.

The Winter's Tale: Act 4 Scene 3

Summary Autolycus, a quick-witted rogue who is an expert in disguise and trickery, enters with a song hailing summer. Employing a ruse that his shoulder is out of joint, he deftly steals the purse of the Clown. Autolycus pretends that he has been the victim of thievery—by a scoundrel named Autolycus! After the Clown departs, Autolycus looks forward to further opportunities for thievery at the upcoming sheep-shearing festival. He closes the scene with another snatch of song. Analysis Except for the songs of Autolycus, this scene is written in prose, the standard medium for the dialogue of "low" characters in Shakespeare. The robbery of the Clown's purse is carried off with considerable humor and comic effect. The scene marks a definitive shift of tone in the play as a whole, with Autolycus as a pivotal character whose entertainment of the audience manages to distract spectators from the tragic events in Sicilia.

The Winter's Tale: Act 5 Scene 1

Summary Back in Sicilia, Leontes gathers with Cleomenes, Dion, and Paulina. For 16 years, Leontes has kept his vows of penitence for his destruction of her family. Paulina convinces him to swear never to marry again without her permission. A servant announces the arrival in Sicilia of Florizell and Perdita, who are then welcomed by Leontes. As they converse, news comes that Polixenes has arrived in Sicilia to prevent his son's marriage to the supposed daughter of the Shepherd. Impressed by the young couple's devotion to each other—and attracted to the beautiful Perdita—Leontes declares he will intervene with Polixenes on their behalf. Analysis Perhaps the most curious aspect of this scene is Paulina's extraction of a solemn oath from Leontesnever to remarry without her assent. Paulina's ability to compel this oath testifies to her great moral authority, even as it shows Leontes's profound regret for his actions. It also points ahead to the recovery of Hermione—Paulina may be trying to shield Leontes from bigamy. This scene also emphasizes the issue of royal succession. In Act 4, Scene 4 Polixenes had already revealed his concern with this topic when he threatened his son Florizell with disinheritance if the young man continued to court Perdita. In Act 3, Scene 2 Apollo's oracle at Delphos had mentioned succession in the context of Leontes's punishment for his actions, warning that the king would remain without an heir "if that which is lost be not found." And in Act 1, Scene 2, Leontes had demonstrated his emotional involvement with the issue of legitimacy in his comments about his son Mamillius. Leontes's subtle and unknowingly incestuous appreciation of Perdita, which earns a rebuke from Paulina—"Your eye hath too much youth in 't"—points to another problem of legitimacy and legacy, and gestures to the possibility of tragedy. If you don't know who your child is, you may end up sleeping with her. This incestuous attraction was a larger part of the plot in Shakespeare's source, Pandosto.

Books 13-14: Summary and Analysis

Summary Book 13 With this final story, Odysseus finishes his tale for the Phaeacians. The epic shifts back to the present. He is ready to return to Ithaca, finally, and the king once again promises his help to Odysseus. This angers Poseidon, who still holds a grudge against Odysseus. He appeals to Zeus, who allows Poseidon to take out his frustration on the Phaeacians for helping Odysseus. Book 14 With the help of the Phaeacians, Odysseus reaches Ithaca. Athena guides him once again, surrounding him with an obscuring mist so that he can't recognize his own home. She appears in disguise as a shepherd and tells him that he is home. Odysseus does not reveal his true identity to her, whereupon Athena changes into her goddess form and praises Odysseus for his cleverness. Odysseus, unaware of all of Athena's maneuverings thus far, asks her why she seemed to forget him after the war. Athena tells him she was afraid of incurring the wrath of Poseidon. She also warns him that all is not well at his home, and Odysseus learns about the suitors. He asks Athena for help, and she disguises him as a beggar and sends him off to meet his old loyal swineherd, Eumaeus. As a test of Eumaeus's loyalty, the disguised Odysseus makes up a story of how Odysseus once generously lent him a cloak when he thought he might freeze to death. Eumaeus, delighted by this story of his master's virtue, lends the beggar his own cloak. Analysis The punishment of the Phaeacians is another example of Poseidon's vengeance and of the importance of not defying the gods. Given that Odysseus had told them of Poseidon's persecution of him, they were, in a sense, forewarned. The interaction between Eumaeus and Odysseus (in disguise) shows how Odysseus's true friends have stayed loyal to him despite having no news of him for nearly 10 years. Eumaeus despises the suitors and their disrespect of Odysseus's home and legacy. He believes that the suitors will be appropriately punished by the gods for this disrespect. The story that the disguised Odysseus tells Eumaeus aligns closely with events in his own life, and through the telling it's clear he regrets that he deserted his family in his quest for glory. Now that he has gained some distance and perspective, Odysseus seems to recognize that he will benefit more from piety and humility.

Books 15-16: Summary and Analysis

Summary Book 15 In Book 15 the narrative shifts back to Telemachus, as Athena goes to him and advises him to return home to Ithaca. She also warns him about the suitors' plot to murder him and offers a strategy to avoid their ambush. Telemachus and Pisistratus prepare to leave, and Telemachus notices an omen of good luck: an eagle clutching a goose in its talons. He sets sail for Ithaca. Book 16 Back on Ithaca Odysseus gives Eumaeus one more test of loyalty by telling him that he plans to beg for help at the palace. Eumaeus advises him to stay put until Telemachus returns, due the unpredictable behavior of the suitors. Odysseus accepts his advice and asks Eumaeus to tell him about his life. Eumaeus explains the he had been born into royalty but was kidnapped and forced to become a servant. Telemachus finally arrives home, avoiding the suitors with Athena's guidance. She also directs him to Eumaeus's home. Athena alters Odysseus's appearance from a beggar back into a younger version of himself. When Telemachus sees this transformation, he is shocked, taking him for a god. Odysseus reveals that he is Telemachus's father, and the two conspire to get rid of the suitors. Athena turns Odysseus back into a beggar once again, so that only Telemachus will know his true identity. Back at the palace, the suitors discuss their plot to kill Telemachus. Amphinomus tells the others they should be patient and wait for the gods to reveal their plans before they make a move. The other suitors agree to hold off. Analysis Even though Odysseus and Telemachus are both courageous and cunning, they need Athena's assistance, especially as they near their home and face mortal danger from the suitors. Odysseus is certainly showing the caution that Agamemnon advised when they spoke in the Land of the Dead. His testing of Eumaeus signals how he will act with others in Ithaca. He does reveal himself to his noble son, a signal that Telemachus is a worthy adult now and that Odysseus will need some help. Eumaeus's story of his life shows how fate can shape a life in this world. Eumaeus's loss of status highlights the fact that privilege can be taken away without notice or justification. That Telemachus is willing to offer his father (disguised as a beggar) food and shelter shows that he has learned the importance of hospitality on his journey.

Books 17-18: Summary and Analysis

Summary Book 17 Odysseus sets off for the palace accompanied by Eumaeus, who still does not know Odysseus's true identity. Telemachus goes ahead, accompanied by a prophet who informs Penelope that Odysseus is back in Ithaca, scheming to overthrow the suitors, news that she refuses to believe. Inside the banquet hall, Telemachus and Athena advise Odysseus, still disguised as a beggar, to beg at the suitors' table for scraps as a way of discerning who the worst-behaved suitors are. Most of the suitors are kind, but Antinous antagonizes Odysseus, though Odysseus manages to control himself. He does, however, warn Antinous that to be unnecessarily cruel to a man in need will surely be noticed and punished by the gods. Book 18 As the evening wears on, another beggar shows up, and Antinous eggs him on to start a fight with Odysseus. Odysseus demurs at first but eventually agrees to the contest. He does not use his full strength in order to avoid hurting the other man, but he wins anyway. Odysseus gives Amphinomus a warning of dire events to come, and the suitor is shaken, but he remains. As the suitors feast and carouse, Odysseus berates some of the maidservants for not tending to their mistress. When one talks back, he threatens them and scares them off. The suitors protest noisily until Amphinomus urges them to settle down and let Telemachus tend to the beggars. They agree and depart for home. Analysis Deception and cunning play a large role in this section. Consider the prudence with which Telemachusrefrains from telling his mother that Odysseus has returned, as well as Odysseus's restraint in not defending himself against Antinous. The restraint of father and son goes hand in hand with their cleverness; by swallowing their anger and irritation, they are more likely to succeed in bringing their house back to order. Many of the tensions laid out earlier in The Odyssey begin to build toward climax here, in the meeting between Odysseus and Telemachus and in the confrontation between Odysseus and the suitors. The suitors' end is again foreshadowed in the speech of beggar Odysseus to Amphinomus, in which he says that he is destined to be great even though he is now a beggar. He was brought down, he says, by recklessness and warns, "let no man ever by lawless all his life,/just take in peace what the gods will send." Amphinomus errs, though, and remains in Odysseus's halls, and "even then" Athena "bound him fast to death." While his kindness might suggest he merited mercy, he, like the other suitors, has abused the hospitality of Odysseus's house and must pay the price. Odysseus accepts the challenge to fight the other beggar to defend his honor. Again, he uses caution, taking care not to injure the other beggar too badly. Odysseus is still practicing the restraint he has displayed since his return to Ithaca. He is also showing a willingness to delay his immediate satisfaction to achieve the larger goal of killing all the trespassing suitors and disloyal maids. A shrewd strategist, he bides his time until everything is in place.

Books 19-20: Summary and Analysis

Summary Book 19 After the suitors have retired for the evening, Odysseus and Telemachus take action for the next day by hiding all the weapons in the house. Odysseus meets with Penelope but still refrains from revealing his true identity to her. Odysseus's childhood nurse, Eurycleia, recognizes him first when she notices a scar he received as a child. Odysseus makes her swear not to tell Penelope. She offers to tell him which maids were disloyal to him; he replies that he will watch them and judge for himself. Penelope tells the disguised Odysseus that she is planning a contest the next day to finally choose a suitor. She will ask them to demonstrate a skill that only Odysseus has proved before, involving stringing and using his mighty bow. Odysseus the beggar claims that her husband will be home before the contest can begin. Penelope retires to her room and weeps. Book 20 Odysseus stays up late that night thinking about the next day's revenge on the suitors. Athena appears to him and tells him he will be victorious not only over the suitors but over any of their families that seek revenge. Odysseus also overhears Penelope praying for her death if Odysseus does not reappear. He offers a prayer to Zeus, who sends a crash of thunder as an answer of support. The next day the seer Theoclymenus warns the suitors about dark omens he is seeing: blood, mist, and ghosts. The suitors laugh him off. Only Amphinomus, who recognizes the eagle flying overhead with a dove clutched in its talons as an omen, believes the seer's words. He also attempts to warn the other suitors, but they ignore him. Analysis It's uncertain as to when, exactly, Penelope guesses Odysseus's true identity. She seems skeptical of the "beggar" from early on and grows increasingly suspicious as he continually tries to tell her that Odysseus will return home soon. Is she just testing the beggar's honesty about knowing Odysseus, or does she, in fact, suspect the truth? She also mistakenly refers to the beggar as Eurycleia's "master" but corrects herself quickly. She appears to feel she can speak freely with him in a way that seems unlikely for a woman of her status to use in addressing a beggar. Her mentioning the contest she plans to stage seems like another test, because only Odysseus has ever been able to perform the task she is asking the suitors to prove. Whether she has guessed his identity or not, she shows cleverness again in devising a test the suitors are bound to fail. With tensions mounting the epic takes on a tone of foreboding. Odysseus grows restless and uneasy seeing the suitors continue their revelry, blind to the fate that will soon befall them. In Book 20 Telemachusdemonstrates he has grown bolder and braver, scolding the suitors for their bad behavior. It's a mark of how far he's come since the beginning of the story, when he let them run rampant over the household. Athena's intervention is significant in these scenes. The night before the upcoming massacre, she gives peaceful sleep to weeping Penelope and reassures Odysseus. The next day she mocks the suitors by exacerbating their misbehavior, forcing them to throw things, and even they seem unnerved by their behavior. The eagle omen that Amphinomus comments on recalls the eagle omen from the beginning of the epic. Then, two eagles careened through the air and flew off. This eagle has a dove as its prey. Amphinomus understands the message—the suitors, like the dove, are certain victims of a more powerful force.

Book 3-4: Summary and Analysis

Summary Book 3 Telemachus and Athena, disguised as Mentor, reach Pylos, King Nestor's land, and witness an enormous ceremony in which 4,500 people are sacrificing dozens of bulls to the god Poseidon. Athena encourages Telemachus to pay close attention to how Nestor acts and to be bold in his questions about Odysseus. Nestor has little information about Odysseus, but he relates the story of Agamemnon. That king had left Aegisthus, a cousin, to rule in his stead when he departed for the Trojan War, but Aegisthus seized the throne and became the lover of Agamemnon's wife, Clytemnestra. When the warrior returned, the usurper and betrayer killed him; the king's death was then avenged by his son, Orestes, and daughter Electra. Nestor advises Telemachus to visit Agamemnon's brother, Menelaus, in Sparta and offers the help of his son Pisistratus. He also refuses to let Telemachus sleep on his ship and insists he spend the night in his own home, an act of hospitality for which Athena compliments him. Then she transforms herself into an eagle and flies off. Nestor, recognizing that Mentor and the eagle were both the bright-eyed goddess, vows to make a sacrifice to honor her. Book 4 Telemachus and Nestor's son Pisistratus are greeted in Sparta by Menelaus and his queen, Helen, whose abduction caused the Trojan War. Menelaus recounts his return home, delayed at first when he was forced to remain on the island of Pharos as punishment for an inadequate sacrifice to the gods. He and his trusted men had to to find the solution to their predicament by wrestling with the shape-shifting god Proteus, but their perseverance finally forced Proteus to reveal how to leave the island and appease the gods. He also informs Menelaus of the death of his brother, Agamemnon, and the status of other Greek heroes, including Odysseus. Menelaus tells Telemachus that he would give up his riches for the chance to have returned home sooner and avenged his brother. Menelaus and Helen both tell Telemachus their memories of Odysseus's bravery and cunning, and Telemachus is deeply moved by their fondness for his father. Menelaus, in turn, is upset when he hears about Penelope's suitors. He tells Telemachus that he has heard that Odysseus is alive but trapped by the nymph Calypso on the island of Ogygia. Back in Ithaca Penelope and the suitors discover Telemachus's departure. The suitors plan to assassinate him upon his return, and Penelope is alarmed when she hears of the plot. Athena assuages her fears by sending her a phantom in the form of Penelope's sister who reassures her that Athena is with Telemachus and protecting him. The phantom does not, however, tell Penelope of Odysseus's whereabouts or condition. Analysis Telemachus begins to learn the lessons of what it is to be a man in Book 3, as he begins his journey. Raised fatherless, he needs to see and be told the proper ways to behave. His first lesson is the importance of appeasing the gods, as shown by Nestor's sacrifice to Poseidon. Devotion to the gods is a duty for mortals, and the lesson is reinforced when Nestor makes a sacrifice to Athena after her transformation into an eagle. Menelaus's tale of being stranded on Pharos because of an inadequate sacrifice underscores the lesson further: do not stint on devotions to the gods, or punishment will be sure and swift. Nestor and Menelaus both reinforce the importance of hospitality as well. Nestor honors Telemachus in insisting that the young man stay in his home and then providing him with a fine chariot and noble horses to undertake his journey to Sparta. That both kings treat him well even when his identity as Odysseus's son is unknown to them shows how deeply hospitality is valued. The Agamemnon story (which Greek audiences would be familiar with) reflects on the situation back in Ithaca. Penelope's steadfastness contrasts with Clytemnestra's adultery; the loyalty of Orestes and Electra serves as a model for Telemachus. Nestor also gives him a warning: "Don't rove from home too long," he says, "leaving your own holdings unprotected." A man must be ever vigilant. Helen's and Menelaus's stories about Odysseus tell Telemachus more about his father and the devotion that he inspired in others—Menelaus mentions that he feels keenly sorry for Odysseus for all he has suffered. Helen's story shows Odysseus's steadfastness and strong leadership. Menelaus's struggle with Proteus is another instance of the theme of deception. The god who changes shapes is difficult to overcome, but Menelaus and his men were able to do so and thus obtain the secret of how to manage their departure from Pharos. Persistence pays; it will lead the way to the truth. It's also interesting to note that, while Athena sends Penelope reassurance about her son in the form of a phantom omen, she refuses to answer Penelope's questions about Odysseus. This begs the question of just how much the gods believe they should interfere in the lives of mortals.

Books 6-7: Summary and Analysis

Summary Book 6 Athena schemes to introduce Odysseus to the daughter of the Phaeacian king Alcinous, Nausicaa. She lures Nausicaa and her maids near the shore where Odysseus has been sleeping, and he is roused by the sound of them playing nearby. The maids scatter as Odysseus approaches them, because he is naked but for a few well-placed leaves. Nausicaa remains and listens while Odysseus pleads with her to help him. Given the strict Greek code of hospitality, Nausicaa agrees to help him, but she tells him to enter alone and to ask Arete, the queen, for help. Book 7 Odysseus calls upon Athena for guidance once again, and she obliges by cloaking him in an obscuring mist. She moves toward King Alcinous's palace and he follows. Athena tells him his best bet is to pay attention to the queen, Arete, who has a great deal of influence in her husband's kingdom. Once inside the palace, Odysseus throws himself at Arete's feet and begs her to help him. Alcinous declares that he will help Odysseus get home, even though he is still in the dark as to the man's identity. Arete is suspicious when she realizes that Odysseus is wearing clothes she recognizes. This leads Odysseus to tell the king and queen how he met their daughter, Nausicaa. Impressed with Odysseus's sense of respect and honor toward his daughter, Alcinous tells Odysseus that he wishes Nausicaa could marry him but agrees to help Odysseus by providing a ship to take him home. Analysis The deception theme appears frequently in these two books, from Athena's obscuring mist to Nausicaa's secret advice to Odysseus and his own behavior in not admitting his true identity when he first appears before Alcinous and Arete. Alcinous nearly mistakes him for a god in disguise, implying that it is not unusual for gods to disguise themselves as mortals. The confusion also plays off an epithet often applied to Odysseus throughout the epic—"godlike." Though mortal, he has divine-seeming qualities, marking him as a worthy hero. Those qualities shine through, even when Odysseus seems nothing more than a tired, suffering man who yearns to return to his home. The themes of hospitality and devotion to the gods also reemerge in the scene at the Phaeacians' palace. Alcinous and Arete are generous in providing a feast to Odysseus even though they do not know who he is. Similarly, Alcinous's promise to provide him with a ship and crew shows great kindness to a stranger. Alcinous's vow to sacrifice to the gods before Odysseus departs recognizes that ventures should begin only after proper devotion has been paid to the gods. This hospitality and proper piety parallels what Telemachusexperienced with Nestor, linking father and son in their adventures as they are linked by character.

The Winter's Tale: Act 1 Scene 1

Summary In the opening scene the Bohemian courtier Archidamus converses with his Sicilian counterpart Camillo. Archidamus hopes that King Leontes of Sicilia will soon visit Bohemia, and he emphasizes that Bohemia exhibits many differences with Sicilia. The two men stress the mutual affection between Leontes and Polixenes, the king of Bohemia who has been Leontes's friend since childhood. The scene closes with polite, enthusiastic remarks concerning Leontes's young son Mamillius, who is heir to the Sicilian throne. Analysis This scene is written in prose, in contrast to Shakespeare's other common medium of expression, blank verse (unrhymed iambic pentameter, or five-stress lines of verse in a rising rhythm). Verse is often used for more courtly, dramatic, or romantic scenes in Shakespeare; prose can be used for everyday occasions, to suggest bantering or playfulness, or to indicate madness, hysteria, or deep upset. Since the two speakers are noblemen, the prose speech would have indicated a more informal setting than the "room of state" in the next scene. The primary purpose of the scene is to provide exposition. The two noblemen set the scene specifically: a royal visit by the ruler of Bohemia to his close friend, the king of Sicilia. The language of Scene 1 is uniformly courtly and complimentary, even to the point of hyperbole, or deliberate exaggeration. For example, Camillo asserts that even severely disabled Sicilians cling to life so that they may witness the mature flowering of Leontes's heir Mamillius. Both courtiers are convinced that nothing can shake or alter the long-standing friendship of their respective monarchs, Leontes and Polixenes; their discussion of a future visit and the monarch's sons likewise suggests a sense of stability and ease. The abrupt alienation of the kings from each other in the next scene results in a sharp irony of situation as readers or audiences consider Scene 1 in retrospect. Archidamus's opening comment that Bohemia is a very different country from Sicilia will be borne out in the course of the play, but the differences will not be vividly apparent until late in Act 3, when the scene shifts from Sicilia to Bohemia.

The Ramayana: Chapter 3- Two Promises Revived Summary and Analysis

Summary King Dasaratha becomes suddenly conscious of his own advancing age. He decides to abdicate the throne and to arrange for Rama to be crowned as his successor. Although Dasaratha's subjects applaud the king's plan, a serious impediment soon arises. Many years ago Dasaratha had been aided by his favorite wife Kaikeyi at a critical moment on the battlefield. In gratitude he had promised Kaikeyi two boons, pledging that, however long afterward, he would fulfill his promise. Now, Kaikeyi's maidservant Kooni, having learned of Dasaratha's intentions, stirs up her mistress's envy and rancor. Kaikeyi demands that Dasaratha bestow the kingdom on Bharatha and also that he banish Rama to exile in the forest for 14 years. Devastated by Kaikeyi's demand, Dasaratha first protests but is unable to deflect his wife's single-minded insistence on the necessity for a king to abide by his word. Dasaratha is thus forced to give in to Kaikeyi. When Rama is informed of the king's change of plan, his submission to his father is implicit. Rama rebukes his brother Lakshmana when the latter angrily protests the king's decision. After Rama bids his mother Kausalya farewell, it is decided that the two brothers, as well as Sita, will withdraw from Ayodhya into exile. Meanwhile, Dasaratha dies from shock and grief. While the exiles are still not far off, Bharatha pursues them to inform Rama of their father's death and to beg Rama to return and be the king. Rama resolutely refuses, insisting that their father's wish be obeyed. Finally accepting Rama's decision, Bharatha asks for Rama's sandals, which he will place on the throne and which will symbolize Rama's absent reign. Bharatha will act only as regent, or ruler in the king's absence. Analysis Conflict, both external and internal, is the keynote of this chapter. The narrative commences with King Dasaratha's own discomfort about his advancing age. To Dasaratha, an apparently ideal solution presents itself: abdication in favor of his oldest son, Rama. But Dasaratha has not reckoned on the power of human envy and mischief. One of the most penetrating psychological aspects of the epic is the narrative of Kooni's increasing sway over her mistress, Kaikeyi. From the beginning Kooni is described as a "freak," with physical features that outwardly mirror her twisted, malevolent nature. The parallel between physical and moral deformity is predictable in Indian epic. What is strange in the account of Kooni's mischief is that on the surface she does not have anything to gain by stirring up Kaikeyi, except perhaps a slight elevation in station, were Kaikeyi to become the queen mother. It is tempting to wonder why Rama submits so readily to what is, on the surface at least, an unjust and arbitrary decision by his father. The epic is emphatic on this point, and the issue is highlighted by the dispute between Rama and Lakshmana. Just as dharma (social and religious duty) obligates Dasaratha to honor the promises he made to Kaikeyi in the distant past, it obliges Rama to accept his father's word without question. He thus agrees to surrender his rightful inheritance and to suffer the hardships and ignominy of exile. This is not the only occasion on which Rama's decisions may strike the modern-day reader as puzzling: at the end of the epic his treatment of Sita may likewise seem controversial. Not only modern readers but also those who have listened to and read in other languages the epic tale have questioned this aspect of a so-called obedient man, which may have compelled alternative aspects to explain it. One avatar of Krishna is very different, adoringly satisfying thousands of lovers, wives, and consorts with his devotions to them simultaneously. This aspect of Krishna is not only a completely devoted son to both his mothers but a loving brother and uncle as well, somehow managing to negotiate conflicting interests in ways Rama seems unable to do. Another noteworthy facet of this portion of the epic is the characterization of Kaikeyi. Portrayed at first as nonchalant to the point of apathy, she falls steadily under the sway of her sinister maidservant Kooni, who appeals to a wide range of motivations, including envy, pride, ambition, and greed. In the end Kaikeyi's conversion is complete. She becomes determined, hard-hearted, and manipulative. Even Bharatha, her own son, denounces her as vile. The end of the chapter sees the introduction of Rama's sandals, the symbol of his kingship and absence. They will appear again in Chapter 14, still sitting on the throne while Bharatha waits, according to his promise.

The Winter's Tale: Act 5 Scene 3

Summary Leontes and the other principals gather at Paulina's gallery (or perhaps it is a chapel) to view the newly fashioned statue of Hermione. When Paulina draws a curtain to reveal the statue, all are struck by the vivid likeness. The sculptor seems even to have accounted for the passage of time, carving the image to resemble Hermione as if 16 years have passed. Perdita kneels to entreat her mother's blessing, and Leontes is moved to tears. He wants to kiss the statue, but Paulina insists that he not do so, saying that he will mar the fresh paint. Asserting that she is not dabbling in magic, Paulina calls for music and commands the statue to descend. To the amazement of the onlookers, Hermione returns to life. She embraces Leontes. Then, amazed herself, she shares a reunion with her daughter Perdita. Amid general rejoicing, Leontes urges Camillo to take Paulina, Antigonus's widow, by the hand and then to marry her. Analysis The preceding scene has prepared the ground for the play's climax, the so-called statue scene. The staging of the play's final scene presents unusual challenges and opportunities to directors. Setting, pacing, sound effects, and the actors' movements may all be manipulated for magical and intensely emotional effects. For the story of a woman's statue come to life, Shakespeare is in debt to the tale of Pygmalion, recounted in Ovid's (43 BCE-17 CE) Metamorphoses. This myth focused on the love conceived by a brilliant sculptor for a statue he created. Aphrodite, the goddess of love, rewarded him by bringing the statue to life. However, the question of how to interpret this scene is a fraught one: it may be a miracle, but the statue's representation is of an older Hermione, Paulina's insistence that Leontes not kiss the statue, and the stage-y quality of the statue's sudden animation, all suggests that the magical event is fabricated. If so Paulina and Hermione may be attempting to provide Leontes with a "miracle" to allow him to feel more fully redeemed—or they may be trying to cover up a 16-year-old plot to hide Hermione until Leontes had learned his lesson. The play's conclusion conforms to the time-honored formula of Greek New Comedy and its Roman descendants, whereby the finale of a comedy featured one or more weddings. Here the unions are of three different types: young lovers (Perdita and Florizell), an older couple (Paulina and Camillo), and an estranged pair now reconciled and restored to one another (Hermione and Leontes). However, this happy ending is conditional: Hermione and Leontes's son and heir, Mamillius, is permanently dead, and 16 years have still been lost.

The Winter's Tale: Act 2 Scene 3

Summary Leontes enters, reflecting on his continual anguish. Although Polixenes is immune to reprisals, he speculates grimly that Hermione's execution by burning may restore his rest. A servant informs the king that Mamillius is ill but may be improving. Paulina enters with Hermione's infant daughter. Despite official efforts to bar Paulina's way, she insists on seeing Leontes personally. Irritated, Leontes accuses Antigonus of not being able to control his wife; Antigonus comments that many men are guilty of the same fault. Unfazed, Paulina addresses Leontes, telling him that she comes from his "good queen" for this visit in order to commend the newborn infant for the king's blessing. Leontes is outraged and commands Paulina to be expelled. Paulina calls him mad and perseveres in her effort to purge and reform the king's tyranny. Leontes grows increasingly enraged, ordering that both Hermione and the "bastard" child be burned alive. He even threatens Paulina with death by burning. At length Paulina withdraws, and Antigonus pleads with Leontes to spare the baby's life, offering his own as payment. Leontes pretends to comply, then orders Antigonus, on pain of death, to ensure that the baby girl is abandoned and exposed to the elements to die—giving her a slim chance at life. Antigonus is compelled to acquiesce and sorrowfully prays for a better fate for the infant. At the end of the scene, a servant reports to Leontes that his envoys, Cleomenes and Dion, have just landed in Sicilia, having returned from their mission to consult Apollo's oracle at Delphos. Analysis This scene dramatizes the full-scale conflict between Paulina and Leontes with blazing force. Leontes's irrational jealousy and vindictive behavior, which thus far has met with acquiescence, avoidance, or submissive protest, meets its match in Paulina's righteous anger. It is worth noting that it is she who is protecting his family and his royal legacy even as he works to destroy them. The misogyny underlying Leontes's jealousy is progressively revealed in his repeated reproaches to Antigonus as a husband who cannot "rule" his wife. He obsessively repeats the word bastard, a motif that must make a powerful impression in performance, with the infant clearly visible on stage. (The baby remains unnamed until Act 3, Scene 3; at that point she will be christened "Perdita," the lost one, by Antigonus.) Alongside his repeated condemnations of his own daughter as a "bastard," Leontes doles out numerous threats to the baby, to Hermione, and to Antigonus and Paulina. Violence has become his habitual mode of thought and expression. The more he protests that he is not tyrannical, the less credible he appears. New Historicism is a branch of modern Shakespearean literary criticism in which interpretation of the plays focuses on contemporaneous events and trends. New Historical critics of The Winter's Tale have discerned a Shakespearean subtext that calls James I's absolute monarchy in England into question. According to this reading of the play, Leontes's authoritarian rule reflects the claims of the Stuart monarchy to divine right and total control in early 17th-century England. The critics add that the play's twofold lens of rule in Bohemia and Sicilia may reflect the twofold political reality of the times: division between England and Scotland. Leontes's order to Antigonus to expose the baby girl to the elements parallels his command to Camilloin Act 1, Scene 2 to murder Polixenes. Both Camillo and Antigonus are confronted with a fearsome dilemma, and their responses show opposite ways of dealing with a difficult prince: avoidance versus directness. Camillo disingenuously promises obedience but flees to Bohemia; Antigonus is honest and straightforward, pleading for his king to spare the child, but he loyally follows Leontes's commands. Interestingly, Camillo takes Antigonus's place as Paulina's husband after Antigonus's death.

The Ramayana: Chapter 13- The Interlude Summary and Analysis

Summary Narayan notes that this brief transitional narrative comes from his anthology of tales titled Gods, Demons, and Others. After Ravana's death, Rama sends Hanuman as an emissary to escort Sita to him. She finds her husband strangely changed. Troubled by distrust about her purity throughout her long captivity, he tells Sita that they must live apart. Angry and ashamed, Sita demands that a fire be lit immediately. She will cast herself into the flames as a trial of her own fidelity. She calls on Agni, the great Vedic fire god, to be her witness. Miraculously, Sita emerges from the fire unharmed, and Rama welcomes her. Analysis The narrative summarized here constitutes another of the perplexing parts of The Ramayana. So much energy and effort have been expended in the epic on the recovery of Sita that Rama's actions here are somewhat anticlimactic. In some interpretations of the story, Rama is himself in no way doubtful of her fidelity, but he is only responding to the mutterings and criticisms of his followers. Slurs against her origins as the adopted daughter and not the blood royal daughter of a king also surface. Rama must, as a man of duty to his subjects, put down these rumors that threaten his veracity as an undisputed ruler. Sita, however, rises nobly to the occasion. She is proven unequivocally innocent—a vindication that readers should remember when they come to the epilogue, where she is again the victim of distrust.

Book 9: Summary and Analysis

Summary Now that Alcinous and the Phaeacians know Odysseus's identity, they ask him to relate where he's been since the war ended. Odysseus recounts his adventures. After the Achaeans defeated Troy, he and his men sailed to a different city, which they plundered. Odysseus warned his army that they needed to leave quickly, but he was ignored. The people of the city launched a counterattack, forcing Odysseus and his men to hastily retreat back to sea. After being blown off course by storms, they came to a land inhabited by Lotus-eaters. After eating the lotus fruit, Odysseus's army soon began to forget their memories of home. Odysseus was finally able to get his crew back on course, but they soon found themselves in the land of the lawless Cyclopes, giants with only one eye. Odysseus and a few men were captured by one named Polyphemus, and, after the giant killed and ate six of his men, Odysseus used his cunning to escape. Odysseus tricked Polyphemus by telling him his name was "Nobody," a name that would come in handy when he made his escape. When Polyphemus fell asleep, Odysseus drove a stake into his eye to blind him. The giant's screams brought other Cyclopes to his cave, but, when they asked who was hurting him, he responded "Nobody." After the others departed, Odysseus revealed his true identity, not realizing that Polyphemus was Poseidon's son. His true name didn't surprise Polyphemus—the entire episode had been prophesied. Polyphemus called upon his father to avenge him by ensuring that Odysseus would either never make it home to Ithaca or suffer greatly en route. Analysis This book and the next three are largely told in flashback, as Odysseus fills in the details of his adventures over the past 10 years. His retelling reveals mistakes that he made, as well as the courageous or cunning actions he took. Odysseus is fairly direct in his recitation. Even though Odysseus is initially hesitant in revealing his identity to Alcinous and the Phaeacians, his reputation as a war hero serves him well in this world. At this point Odysseus's wanderings seem to be patterned on the typical hero's journey: here he recounts the many trials he encountered that brought him the necessary wisdom and insight he needed to truly become a great leader. This wisdom is every bit as important as his noted bravery and cunning in keeping himself alive. The episode with the Lotus-eaters shines a light on a recurring theme in The Odyssey: temptation. Just as Odysseus is tempted by the allure of Calypso and Nausicaa, so are his men tempted by the lure of forgetting that comes with ingesting the lotus. In the same way that Odysseus is ultimately able to break free of his temptation, so, too, is he able to convince his men to leave before their ambition and drive have dried up and been forgotten. Odysseus's encounter with the Cyclops Polyphemus reveals why Poseidon has such antagonism toward him. Though Odysseus escapes the giant through cunning, he makes the mistake of revealing his true name to Polyphemus, thereby securing the wrath of Poseidon. Even though Odysseus has heroic qualities, he has some potentially fatal flaws as well. His hubris, or excessive pride, is his tragic flaw, or hamartia, as the Greek philosopher Aristotle (384-322 BCE) called it. This flaw connects Odysseus to many other Greek heroes. As in their cases, it causes him a great deal of suffering, though it is clear by his recounting of this story that he has gained wisdom from his mistakes. The fact that Odysseus's assault on Polyphemus was foretold brings up the theme of fate again.

Book 10: Summary and Analysis

Summary Odysseus and his men sailed on and landed at the home of Aeolus, where they stayed for a month. Aeolus, master of the winds, gave Odysseus a pouch that contained all of the winds that would have driven their ship off course. The remaining winds will help guide them back home to Ithaca. Ten days later the ship was so near Ithaca that they could see the island. While Odysseus slept his men discovered the pouch full of winds and accidentally unleashed them, bringing on storms that sent them off course again. With the helpful winds gone, Odysseus and his men were forced to row their ship. They reached a land inhabited by giant cannibals, the Laestrygonians. The cannibals attacked them, spearing Odysseus's men and devouring them. After Odysseus and his remaining men escaped, they sailed to the island of Aeaea, where the goddess Circe—a "nymph with lovely braids"—lives. She fed a few of Odysseus's men a potion that turned them into pigs and made them forget their memories. To escape, Odysseus called upon Hermes. Hermes advised Odysseus to find a plant that would counteract Circe's potion and render him immune. He also advised Odysseus on how to overpower Circe should she attack. Odysseus and his men stayed on Circe's island for a year but grew increasingly restless. During this time Elpenor, one of the men, died in a drunken fall from Circe's roof. Circe told Odysseus to travel to the Land of the Dead to speak to the prophet Tiresias. Analysis Odysseus reveals another flaw in Book 10 that compounds his hubris—poor judgment. He and his men are so close to home, and yet Odysseus neglects to guard closely the pouch of winds or even to stay awake. These mistakes cost him and his men dearly. By the same token, the men demonstrate their willingness to succumb to temptation, the downfall of mortals. When Odysseus and his men are blown back to Aeolus's island, the wind master refuses to help Odysseus further. Odysseus's poor judgment costs him again in the land of the Laestrygonians, when he sends his men to investigate, only to see them killed. Odysseus's interactions with Hermes are similar to those he has with Athena. When Hermes acts he does so indirectly, as Athena does, giving Odysseus advice on how to disarm Circe but leaving it to Odysseus to take the steps necessary to implement that advice. Even after following Hermes's instructions and evading Circe's spell, Odysseus chooses to stay with her for so long that his crew grows restless and has to urge him to resume their journey home. Once again Odysseus succumbs to temptation: Circe has become his lover. The death of Elpenor introduces another element to the story: the need to give him a proper burial. Odysseus's obligation to take care of this matter is one of his responsibilities as a leader. Leaders have duties to those under them, just as their followers owe them allegiance and obedience.

Book 11: Summary and Analysis

Summary Odysseus followed Circe's instructions and reached the Land of the Dead. There he encountered Elpenor, who demanded a proper burial, which Odysseus promised to carry out. Odysseus then saw his mother, whom he did not know had died. Finally, Tiresias appeared and told Odysseus that he could make it home alive but would face much peril and heartache along the way due to his conflict with Poseidon. He also warned Odysseus that, if his men were to kill the cattle of Helios, they would perish. Lastly, he advised Odysseus to make a sacrifice to Poseidon after arriving home if he wanted to live the rest of his life in peace. Odysseus ends his storytelling and asks Alcinous and Arete again for help getting home. They agree—on the condition that he remain a while to elaborate on his experience in the Land of the Dead. Odysseus recounts his meeting with such heroes as Ajax, Hercules, and Achilles. He explains that Agamemnon told him that Clytemnestra's betrayal marked all women as untrustworthy and urged him to be cautious when he finally returns home. Analysis Finding the Land of the Dead represents another trial and test that Odysseus must face, and it is as much a mental trial as it is a physical one. Odysseus is forced to confront his memories of the people he has lost, as well as his own sense of mortality. This journey to the Land of the Dead became a standard feature of epics and of the journey of the hero. Tiresias notes that Odysseus has incurred the ongoing wrath of Poseidon and that their struggle is far from over. But Tiresias does encourage Odysseus by saying that, if he exercises good judgment, he will be able to outsmart Poseidon and make it home to Ithaca safely. However, Tiresias notes that Odysseus will arrive home as "a broken man," having lost all of his men. He also hints that Odysseus's home is in chaos and turmoil. Tiresias's advice to Odysseus sets up another trial Odysseus and his men must face: what will they do if they encounter the cattle of Helios? Agamemnon's tale reintroduces the contrast between Clytemnestra and Penelope. His embittered criticism of all women based on his wife's infidelity underscores how loyal and faithful Penelope has been—especially considering that she had to remain faithful much longer than Clytemnestra had to. Agamemnon's warning to be secretive and cautious when he finally reaches his home foreshadows what Odysseus does.

Book 22: Summary and Analysis

Summary Odysseus removes his rags, prays to Apollo, and then shoots an arrow through Antinous's throat. The other suitors are stunned, and Odysseus announces what he plans to do to the rest of them. They offer to repay everything they have taken from his home, but Odysseus has made up his mind. The suitors attempt to find weapons, but they only have swords and no armor. Odysseus and Telemachus begin to kill the suitors. No one is spared. Analysis Book 22 is the epic's climax. Odysseus has shown restraint and good judgment in biding his time before killing the suitors. This reflects his training and experience as a military leader, as he was able to assess, strategize, and follow through. He is also able to control his emotions. His decision to kill Antinous first is also strategic—he is the most antagonistic of the suitors and their de facto leader. Odysseus kills him before the other suitors have even fully realized that the beggar is, in fact, Odysseus. The fact that Odysseus denies the suitors' offer of repayment is significant—this is about honor not money. In the ancient Greeks' view of justice, only revenge can balance the scale. Athena guides Odysseus in this scene and only directly intervenes toward the end, when she appears as Mentor. She knows that Odysseus and Telemachus need to fight their own battle, though she protects them throughout. Odysseus does not necessarily take pleasure in killing the suitors—he believes he is only doing what is just and what the gods have already willed.

Book 12: Summary and Analysis

Summary Odysseus resumes his narrative. Because Odysseus promised Elpenor in the Land of the Dead that he would give him a proper burial, he returned to Circe's island to give him his funeral rites. Before he departed for home, Circe advised Odysseus on how to avoid the Sirens, who lure sailors into shipwrecks with their hypnotic songs. Odysseus followed her advice and had his men stuff their ears with wax so they would not hear the song. He was curious, though, and, instead of blocking his hearing, had his men bind him tightly against the mast so he could not break free. He was tormented by the song, but the ship got past the danger. After the Sirens they had to avoid the Wandering Rocks—which only one ship had ever survived. The next trial forced a choice between two monsters: Scylla, a six-headed beast, or Charybdis, a monster in the form of a whirlpool. Scylla devoured six of the men, but the ship made it past the twin monsters and reached the island of the sun god Helios, home of the sacred cattle of Helios. Odysseus made his men promise not to harm the cattle, but, after being trapped by a storm for a month, their supplies dwindled and the men grew hungry. When Odysseus fell asleep, his men left the ship to slaughter the sacred cattle. This act deeply angered Helios, who demanded punishment. After a few days, Zeus sent a fierce storm that killed everyone aboard except for Odysseus. The hero clung to a raft until washing ashore on Calypso's island. Analysis Bound by his word to Elpenor, Odysseus doubles back to Circe's island in order to give Elpenor's body the burial he promised. This speaks to the theme of loyalty. This book once again touches on the theme of temptation. Just as the men faced temptation on the island of the Lotus-eaters, they must resist the allure of the Sirens, who would cause them to wreck their ship if they listened to their bewitching songs. Odysseus's pride tells him that he can withstand the temptation but only because of his cleverness. He suffers greatly from hearing the alluring sound, but his strategy succeeds—he is wily Odysseus indeed. His ultimate test of judgment comes when they arrive at the island of Helios. Warned by both Tiresias and Circe of the danger there, Odysseus wishes to avoid the place altogether, but that would entail sailing the sea at night, which is more dangerous. Odysseus fails the test once again by falling asleep—metaphorically dropping his guard—which opens the way for his crew to make their fatal mistake. Did Odysseus err in not giving his crew more information? Perhaps he did, or perhaps they would have fallen prey to hunger anyway.

The Winter's Tale: Act 3 Scene 3

Summary On the seacoast of Bohemia, Antigonus converses with a sailor, with both men grimly anticipating an approaching storm. It is here that Antigonus abandons the baby girl condemned by Leontes. Before he does so, he christens the child "Perdita," a name that means "she who was lost." Antigonus bids the child a sorrowful farewell, and the storm breaks. To the sound of thunder, a bear approaches and pursues Antigonus off the stage. The Shepherd appears and comes upon the baby. He takes it up "for pity" and is soon joined by his son, who reports the death of Antigonus, mauled by the bear, and the death of the Sicilian mariners, whose ship was lost in the storm. The Shepherd and the Clown (his son) resolve to travel homeward, together with the newfound infant. Analysis This scene marks the dramatic turning point of the play as a whole. Tragedy reaches its endpoint with the death of Antigonus and the mariners, but the nobleman's death, in particular, possesses a curious, tragicomic flavor, as the most notorious stage direction in all of Shakespeare (He exits, pursued by a bear) somehow insulates the audience by adding a note of absurdity. The staging of this scene has been the subject of endless speculation; bears were frequently captured for use in entertainment, but bringing one onstage would have been very dangerous. Modern productions have used everything from bear suits to tricks of lighting and shadow. The naming of Perdita brings to the fore the notion of "lost and found"—an echo of the oracle, and a motif that will figure prominently in the second half of the play. The storm serves as a symbolic eruption of chaos, which is then followed by order in the measured, sensible cadences of the Shepherd and his son. In one of the simplest yet most profound lines of dialogue in the play as a whole, the Shepherd encapsulates the scene's significance when he says to his son, "Thou met'st with things dying, I with things newborn." The Bohemian "seacoast," like Delphos as the seat of Apollo's oracle, has provoked much commentary. Researchers have established that Shakespeare was in all probability quite aware that Bohemia was a landlocked region in central Europe (part of the modern-day Czech Republic). Why, then, did Shakespeare set this scene on a shoreline? The setting may contribute to the wondrous, semimagical atmosphere appropriate to the genre of romance.

The Winter's Tale: Act 3 Scene 1

Summary On their way back to Sicilia from Delphos, the envoys Cleomenes and Dion converse about their journey and their mission. They praise the island's climate, the temple of Apollo, and the ceremonies they witnessed. Cleomenes compares the voice of the oracle to the thunder of Jove, the king of the gods. Both envoys hope their mission may aid Hermione's cause. Analysis This brief scene follows up the servant's announcement at the end of Act 2, Scene 3 that Cleomenes and Dion have arrived home from Delphos. The envoys' conversation serves several purposes: it adds to the audience's suspense, as spectators await the determination of the oracle; and it also stresses the prestige and momentous repute of the oracle itself. Finally the envoys' clear sympathy for Hermioneemphasizes once more the bizarre and delusional quality of Leontes's hostility toward his wife. The envoys' reverence for the oracle will contrast strikingly with Leontes's denial of its truth in the next scene.

Book 1: Summary and Analysis

Summary The Odyssey opens with the poet asking the Muse of Epic Poetry, Calliope, to inspire him in the telling of this story. The opening scene is on Mt. Olympus, with the gods, and provides an example of Olympian diplomacy. Athena attempts to persuade her father, Zeus, to let Odysseus return to his family and home in Ithaca, where Odysseus's wife, Penelope, is busy fighting off suitors who are keen to replace the presumed-dead Odysseus. Athena convinces Zeus that Hermes should be allowed to rescue Odysseus. Zeus agrees and also tells Poseidon to leave Odysseus alone. Odysseus, the story's protagonist and hero, has been stranded on the island of Ogygia for years. He's being held captive by a nymph, Calypso, who is in love with him. Additionally, Odysseus is hiding from the god of the sea, Poseidon, who is angry that Odysseus blinded his son, Polyphemus the Cyclops. Athena descends from the heavens to counsel Odysseus's son, Telemachus, who has been unable to regain control of his home from Penelope's suitors. She goes to Ithaca disguised as Mentes, an old friend of the family. There she tells Telemachus that Odysseus will be returning home soon, but until then Telemachus needs to protect his mother and their home from the onslaught of suitors courting Penelope. The suitors are surprised when Telemachus finally tells them to leave—one of them notes that his confidence seems to have "come from the gods," adding "only the gods could teach you/to sound so high and mighty!" Analysis Book 1 introduces some of the multitudes of characters, many interwoven plots, and significant themes encountered during Odysseus's return home. Readers hear of the captive and long absent Odysseus, observe the council of the gods, and learn of the trouble that Penelope and Telemachus face back home in Ithaca. Through these situations Homer introduces important thematic elements as well. Hospitality to strangers, strict protocols for behavior toward the gods, the crafts and skills of a hero, and the preservation of one's fame all figure here. Odysseus's reputation and legacy are inseparable from his heroism, and they make more difficult Penelope's choices when dealing with the suitors. Both Athena and Zeus seem to be on Odysseus's side, but Odysseus has angered Poseidon, whose power has forced Odysseus to stay with Calypso. Why does Penelope, Odysseus's wife, allow these potential suitors to eat and drink their way through her wealth? While reputation was crucial in ancient Greece, how one treated guests was even more so. Strangers relied upon the hospitality of others to survive. Penelope is bound by social customs to allow the suitors into her home and to provide for them generously—even if the suitors break the rules of the custom, overstay their welcome, and take advantage of Odysseus's absence. Penelope (and Odysseus by extension) is judged by how well she treats the suitors. This is why Athena intervenes, encouraging Telemachus to stand up for his family as the man of the house, whom the suitors must respect. The Odyssey, therefore,unfolds a parallel journey for Telemachus. With his father absent, he needs the guidance of a god, Athena, on his road to becoming a man. Athena's attention to him indicates that he is a worthy hero, like his father—she would not bother with him otherwise. She notes an "uncanny" physical resemblance between the son and his father, which firmly connects the two. Telemachus demonstrates strength in taking the role of male head of the family. When a bard sings the song of the Achaeans' journey home from Troy, Penelope asks him to desist, but Telemachus chides her and tells her to take heart and summon courage. His chiding might be seen as lacking filial respect, but Penelope accepts his words, accepting "the clear good sense in what her son had said."

Book 23: Summary and Analysis

Summary The battle is over, and the scene shifts to Penelope, who has been hiding in her quarters. She still cannot believe that Odysseus has returned and that the suitors are all dead. Even upon seeing him with her own eyes, she seems uncertain. She tests him by seeing if he remembers their bed, which was carved from an olive tree that is rooted in the house. When she instructs her maid to move it, an infuriated Odysseus objects and explains why it cannot be moved. This reaction finally convinces Penelope that Odysseus is indeed home. Even though they are finally reunited, Odysseus has one final task to complete. Tiresias had prophesied to him that, in order to truly live out a long life of peace, he must travel as far inland as a possible, away from the sea, to make a sacrifice to Poseidon. Analysis Many readers may wonder why Penelope is so cautious about believing that Odysseus is truly before her. But It only makes sense for her to test him. With so many disguises and gods about, she would be dim not to be careful. As the narrative has shown, Penelope is hardly foolish. She is shrewd and cautious throughout the epic. In a way, her skepticism shows real loyalty to Odysseus—she does not want to be tricked and therefore be unfaithful. The fact that Odysseus must leave his now-peaceful home yet again demonstrates the power and fear that the gods hold over mortals. As much as Odysseus has missed his family, he cannot risk further angering Poseidon if he wants to settle into a long and happy life at home. His further, temporary absence is necessary in order to protect his family in the long run.

The Ramayana: Chapter 4- Encounters in Exile Summary and Analysis

Summary The chapter begins by recounting Rama's departure from Chitrakuta. He has decided that his exile should be spent farther inside the forests. He passes through the Dandaka Forest and then to Panchvati. There, he encounters Jatayu, the great eagle who was a close friend of Dasaratha. The travelers reach the bank of the Godavari River, with Rama always keeping in view the destruction of Ravana and his fellow demons (asuras) and the establishment of justice and peace in the world. One evening in the woods Rama is approached by an extremely beautiful young woman who claims that she is Ravana's sister. Her name, she says, is Kamavalli. She professes to have rejected her brother's evil ways. Rama soon realizes she is a fraud, however, especially when she presses him to marry her. The scene is soon complicated when Sita emerges from the forest hut. "Kamavalli" is stunned. She urges Rama not to be misled by Sita's beauty, which she denigrates as an illusion. The demoness's true nature, both physical and moral, becomes steadily more apparent. Rama dismisses her abruptly, and Soorpanaka, as she is properly known, retires sulking to her lair. All night long Soorpanaka is pained by the agonies of love. The following day she reappears at Rama's cottage and threatens Sita. The vigilant Lakshmana takes action against her, cutting off her breasts, nose, and ears. Soorpanaka makes a final attempt to gain Rama's love, declaring that it is not too late and even proposing a common household. When she is rejected, she withdraws furiously, threatening vengeance. Soorpanaka complains to Kara, a stepbrother of Ravana, and 14 demons are dispatched against Rama, who slays them all. Rama defeats Kara, and Soorpanaka retreats to Lanka to make her complaint directly to Ravana. Analysis Chapter 4 plays a pivotal role in the epic's plot. It also poses a set of important ethical questions regarding Rama's treatment of his opponents. The introductory section, recounting Rama's encounter with Jatayu, foreshadows the noteworthy part that this animal character (a giant eagle—and in some versions a vulture) will play after Ravana has succeeded in abducting Sita. The great bird, both benevolent and loyal, serves as a link between the recently deceased Dasaratha and those who have survived him, especially Rama. The bulk of the chapter, however, focuses on Soorpanaka. The theme of illusion and reality plays an important role in this narrative, with Soorpanaka first disguising herself as a beautiful damsel who has rejected Ravana's moral corruption. Rama soon sees through her pretension and hypocrisy, which is underlined by the repeated phrase I cannot marry you. When Sita appears, Soorpanaka (alias "Kamavalli") ironically exhorts Rama not to be fooled by Sita's illusory beauty—even as Soorpanaka's true nature is rapidly unveiled as shameless and vengeful. As readers might expect, given his characterization so far, it is Lakshmana who takes a decisive step when he mutilates Soorpanaka. It is notable that Rama does not reprove his brother for this action, possibly out of recognition that Lakshmana's violence is motivated by his determination to protect his brother's wife at all costs—even to his own reputation. This will become all the more a torment for Lakshmana (and possibly a turn of dharma on him for having mutilated a woman even if she is a demon) when he is torn between his vow to protect Sita and the call that seems to come from Rama to help him. Yet the physical attack on a woman would find little support in Hindu dharma—despite Viswamithra's exhortation to Rama to destroy Thataka in Chapter 1.

The Ramayana: Chapter 7- When the Rains Cease Summary and Analysis

Summary The chapter begins with the joyful coronation of Sugreeva. The new king invites Rama to reside in the capital, but Rama refuses, asserting that he has vowed to live in the forest for 14 years. Rama tells Sugreeva that they will make plans to move on after the monsoon, the four-month rainy season. The epic then presents a lengthy description of the rains, along with an account of Rama's melancholy mood. When the rains are over, nature changes its face. Rama becomes troubled at the monkeys' inaction and dispatches his brother Lakshmana as an emissary. Lakshmana discovers that Sugreeva has fallen into intoxication and thus become inattentive to his promises and duties. Rama and Sugreeva meet and confirm their alliance. Their first scout proves to be Hanuman, for whom Rama provides a detailed description of Sita and to whom he gives a ring as a recognition token. Jambavan, an elderly and wise bear, gives Hanuman encouragement, as does Sampathi, the eagle who is the elder brother of Jatayu. Hanuman, growing to great stature, prepares to cross the sea from South India to Lanka. Analysis This chapter marks a temporary hold on the epic's action, since the climate in India—divided into three seasons: cold weather, hot summer, and monsoon rains—necessarily interrupts the main characters' efforts to locate Sita and to travel farther south. Nevertheless, this hiatus provides the poet scope for lyrical descriptions of the life-restoring rainy season, as well as of the transition in nature from monsoon to dry season. As often in The Ramayana, the state of nature parallels the characters' emotions: the rains, for example, provide an appropriate background for Rama's melancholy yearning for Sita. Underlying the narrative in this chapter is trust, as well as its opposite—mistrust. After the crucial favor that Rama has done for Sugreeva by eliminating Vali in Chapter 6, Sugreeva has agreed to join Rama in action after four months. But the end of the rains finds Sugreeva hopelessly intoxicated. The element of trust also features in the discussion between Rama and Hanuman. Lurking below the surface is the theme of illusion versus reality. Rama equips Hanuman with an elaborate suite of physical details and signs so that he may be able to recognize Sita. He also gives Hanuman his ring so that the monkey may present it as a recognition token to Sita. By the end of the chapter, the doubts planted about Rama's alliance are mitigated by the trust established in the abilities, determination, and integrity of Hanuman. Success or failure in this venture, the reader must feel, depends on the courage and good judgment of this key character in the epic. At the close of the chapter, the wise old bear Jambavan, together with Jatayu's brother Sampathi, urges Hanuman to focus on crossing the sea to Lanka.

Book 21: Summary and Analysis

Summary The contest begins. Penelope brings out Odysseus's bow, and Telemachus tries and fails to string it three times; on the fourth attempt, his father signals him to stop with a quiet shake of the head. The suitors begin to take turns, and each of them fails as well. Antinous finally requests that they postpone the contest for a day. Odysseus finally reveals himself to Eumaeus and the servant Philoetius and fills them in on his plan of revenge. They agree to help. After the suitors have all failed to string the bow, Odysseus asks if he might try. He strings it with ease and shoots an arrow through the 12 axes. He and Telemachus turn to face the suitors together, and Telemachus draws his weapons. Analysis Telemachus's failed attempt to string the bow is probably meant to put the suitors off any suspicion they might have felt. That he comes close to stringing it suggests he is nearly as strong as his father. He obeys his father's silent instruction, of course; he is not the one in charge. He also asserts his importance when he attempts to keep his mother out of harm's way. He knows the slaughter that is about to happen and wants to keep her safe. Odysseus's ability to string the bow and shoot an arrow through the 12 axes speaks to his heroic strength. The scene is also important because, not only does it reveal his real identity to the suitors, but it also shows that he is stronger and more capable than they are. The book ends on a riveting cliffhanger that marks fine storytelling. The lasting image of father and son, armed and bent on exacting their revenge, compels the reader—and the action—forward.

Book 24: Summary and Analysis

Summary The final book of The Odyssey opens in a different location from the previous chapter, with Hermes bringing the souls of the dead suitors to the Land of the Dead. There they meet Achilles and Agamemnon, who ask how so many young warriors could have died. After one recounts the tale, Agamemnon contrasts the betrayal he suffered at the hands of his own wife with Penelope's steadfast loyalty. Odysseus visits his father, Laertes, who seems old and broken. He does not recognize his son; Odysseus does not say who he is. As the old man laments the loss of his son, Odysseus is overcome and reveals himself. After he proves the truth of his claim by showing a scar and recounting memories, the two reconcile and enjoy a lunch Telemachus helped prepare. The families of the slain suitors are seeking revenge on Odysseus, but Athena intervenes to help Odysseus avoid another fight. She causes the families to forget their losses, and Odysseus is once again installed as Ithaca's revered king. Analysis Many readers have questioned why The Odyssey doesn't just end with Penelope and Odysseus reuniting. But the final book wraps up a few important plot points. Remember that Odysseus encountered his mother in the Land of the Dead, and she informed him of his father's suffering. Odysseus's reunion with his father provides another resolution and also solidifies the father-son motif that runs throughout the epic. It is telling that Athena appears undisguised at the conclusion of the book. She gives direct orders from the gods for peace in Ithaca. This seems to be a notable message that it is futile to oppose the will of the gods.

The Ramayana: Chapter 14- The Coronation Summary and Analysis

Summary The first few paragraphs of this chapter offer a remarkable examination of Rama as hero. The poet notably observes that the protagonist's behavior with Sita is strange and inconsistent—especially considering his previous behavior regarding Ahalya in Chapter 1 and Sugreeva's wife in Chapter 6. The powerful gods Brahma and Shiva both join the discussion, and Shiva encourages Rama's father, Dasaratha, to descend from heaven to earth and to inject Rama with confidence. Father and son end up, however, discussing Kaikeyi and Bharatha, whom Rama asks his father to reaccept into the royal family. The reader will remember that it was Kaikeyi who derailed Rama's consecration as Dasaratha's royal successor and caused Bharatha to be designated king instead in Chapter 3. The remainder of the chapter recounts Rama's coronation at Ayodhya, delayed after 14 years. Bharatha gracefully yields the supreme rule to his older brother. Analysis Once again the portrayal of Rama in this chapter contains some unexpected elements. The poet explicitly comments on Rama's inconsistency in his distant and chilly treatment of Sita. The gods worry that this human hero must occasionally be reminded of his dual status—immortal on the one hand and subject to human limitations and tribulations on the other. The bulk of the chapter focuses on a long-awaited family reunion for Rama. His father Dasaratha is dispatched from heaven. Rama makes a strong case for Kaikeyi and Bharatha to be reaccepted into the family. The reunion and coronation at Ayodhya proceed without a hitch. The point of this reconciliation is to emphasize that restoration of the balance of justice has been confirmed through family harmony in parallel to the restoration of justice on a cosmic scale. It is in the same spirit as would be found at the end of a play, in which all the actors, heroes and villains alike, hold hands and take a bow before the audience. The effect reminds the reader that life itself is but the illusory lila or play of God on existence, and that, like the breath of Brahma, lasts but a limited time between inspiration and expiration in a cyclical pattern. This does not mean, however, that the basic conflict between demons and deities is resolved: the events of the more lengthy epic the Mahabharata yet to come continues attempts by demons and those humans they are able to manipulate to disrupt the supremacy of the gods.

Early Irish Myths and Sagas: The Destruction of Da Dergas Hostel (pgs. 60-106)

Summary: After Conaire Mór has already broken several of his taboos, he travels south along the coast of Ireland. He is advised to stay the night at Da Derga's Hostel, but as he approaches it, he sees three men dressed in red riding red horses arriving before him. He realises that three red men have preceded him into the house of a red man (as Dá Derga means "Red God"), and another of his geasahas been broken. His three foster-brothers, the three sons of Dond Désa, whom Conaire had exiled to Alba (Britain) for their crimes, had made alliance with the king of the Britons, Ingcél Cáech, and they were marauding across Ireland with a large band of followers. They attack Da Derga's Hostel. Three times they attempt to burn it down, and three times the fire is put out. Conaire, protected by his champion Mac Cécht and the Ulster hero Conall Cernach, kills six hundred before he reaches his weapons, and a further six hundred with his weapons. He asks for a drink as he is cursed with a magical thirst, but all the water has been used to put out the fires. Mac Cécht travels across Ireland with Conaire's cup, but none of the rivers will give him water. He returns with a cup of water just in time to see two men cutting Conaire's head off. He kills both of them. Conaire's severed head drinks the water and recites a poem praising Mac Cécht. The battle rages for three more days. Mac Cécht is killed, but Conall Cernach escapes. [3]CHARACTERS: Etain Conaire Da Derga Miss Buachalla Mac Cecht

The Winter's Tale: Context/Background Info

The Seasonal Structure of the Play The Winter's Tale is one of two Shakespearean plays to foreground in its title one of the four seasons (the other is A Midsummer Night's Dream). The seasons are, indeed, among the primary features of setting in the play. The first three acts are set in winter in Leontes's kingdom of Sicilia and convey a tragic tone. In Act 2, Scene 1 the young prince Mamillius triggers the action by responding to a request by his mother for storytelling when he says, "A sad tale's best for winter." The last two acts take place 16 years later, in summer—"Not yet on summer's death, nor on the birth / Of trembling winter," according to Perdita—first in the kingdom of Bohemia and then back in Sicilia. The emphasis on summer rather than spring—traditionally considered the season of renewal and redemption—suggests that the forgiveness and healing in the play is not enough to completely redeem Leontes's crimes against his family. Debate about the Play's Genre The Winter's Tale, along with four other late plays of Shakespeare, is conventionally classified as a romance. The other members of this group are Pericles, Cymbeline, The Tempest, and Two Noble Kinsmen. All these plays, it is believed, were written between 1607 and 1614. In Shakespeare's day a romance—either in prose or in verse—contained exotic settings, surprising and often supernatural events, a love plot, and at least a partially happy ending. The Winter's Tale, with its lost daughter and a love story, gestures toward the miraculous or supernatural, and settings in Sicilia and Bohemia fit this description relatively well. Like other romances The Winter's Tale makes extensive use of the pastoral—the idealized representation of simple people living rural lives, epitomized in the sheep-shearing festival in Act 4. With roots in antiquity, the pastoral is often treated as a refuge from the sophisticated but corrupt world of court. In Shakespeare's plays, the countryside often offers a place to correct or redeem things that have gone wrong in the court. However, romance is not one of the dramatic types named by the editors of the First Folio (the first published collection of Shakespeare's plays, printed in 1623), in which The Winter's Tale, along with The Tempest, is classified as a comedy—a generally humorous play with a happy ending that often includes a wedding. Some critics have advocated for the designation tragicomedy, a hybrid that contains some elements of comedy and some elements of tragedy. Sources Shakespeare based the first three acts of The Winter's Tale on an exceptionally popular prose romance by his contemporary Robert Greene (1558-92), titled Pandosto: The Triumph of Time (1588). As he often did in his dramas, Shakespeare made significant alterations to his principal source. Among the other sources that scholars have identified are various tales in Ovid's (43 BCE-17 CE) Metamorphoses, as well as the Alcestis of Euripides (c. 484-06 BCE), which was available in England in a 16th-century Latin translation. Unique Staging Issues The earliest record of the play's performance is the eyewitness account of Elizabethan scientist Simon Forman, which describes a production staged at the Globe Theatre on May 15, 1611. Forman focuses on the comic second half of the play and was particularly taken by the deceptive trickster Autolycus—by contrast, modern audiences usually see Autolycus as a minor figure. For many years The Winter's Tale was ignored by theatrical producers, who apparently assumed that the play contained too many challenges for effective performance. According to one theater historian, the play's "problems" included the time gap of 16 years between Acts 3 and 4, the fatal attack on Antigonus by a bear, and the miraculous statue scene at the culmination of Act 5. In the mid-18th century the celebrated actor/manager David Garrick (1717-79) created a stripped-down version of the play, titled Florizel and Perdita, which was performed at his theater, Drury Lane, in London. It was only in 1800 or so that productions of The Winter's Tale became fairly frequent. Far from being regarded as unplayable, it has recently served as a springboard for the fertile imaginations of actors, directors, and set designers.

The Winter's Tale: Themes

Time's Passage In The Winter's Tale time plays a prominent role from the very beginning of the play, when Polixenes frets that he has been absent from his kingdom for a full nine months—also, not coincidentally, the gestation period for the pregnant Hermione, whom Leontes accuses of adultery. Time is often viewed as ominous or burdensome in Shakespeare: in his soliloquy in Act 5 of Macbeth, for example, the protagonist emphasizes the "petty pace from day to day" stretching out "to the last syllable of recorded time." However, in The Winter's Tale time is mostly beneficent. The 16 years separating the two parts of the play is a period of penance for Leontes and of maturation for Perdita and Florizell. Time's passage makes atonement and perspective possible and even allows for a partial sense of rebirth. It is notable that the subtitle of Robert Greene's Pandosto (1588), Shakespeare's principal source for the play, was "The Triumph of Time." The personified figure of Time, taking on the role of an ancient Greek chorus, delivers the prologue to the second half of the play in Act 4, Scene 1. Art and Nature The play dramatizes the convergence of art and nature, an intersection that culminates in the final scene. In Act 4, Scene 4 Polixenes speculates on the union of art and nature when he explains to Perdita the grafting of different varieties of flowers: "This is an art / Which does mend nature, change it rather, but / The art itself is nature." Polixenes's words are breathtakingly fulfilled in the statue scene of Act 5, Scene 3, when Julio Romano's extraordinarily vivid image of Hermione actually comes to life. Even before her restoration, the image of Hermione is striking: "The fixture of her eye has motion in 't," marvels Leontes, "As we are mocked with art." Death and Rebirth By the middle of Act 3 the destructive effects of Leontes's jealousy are clear: both Mamillius and Hermione are reported dead. Death is also the expected fate of the infant Perdita. In Act 3, Scene 3however, when the compassionate Antigonus exposes the baby on the shore of Bohemia, she is rescued by the Shepherd and his son, the Clown. These two characters mark the turning point of the play when the Shepherd says, "Thou met'st with things dying, I with things newborn." After the death of Antigonus and the Sicilian mariners, the play highlights rebirth, reconciliation, and forgiveness. Perdita and Florizellare united; Leontes is reconciled with Hermione, Perdita, Polixenes, and Camillo; and Hermione is, symbolically at least, reborn.