Christy Ng 11/8/19 Period 2 - Blog #1

Modern Mythology 2020

11/08/2019

Christy Ng - Period 2

Today in class we worked amongst our groups to break down into detail some of the Brief Myths Arranged Alphabetically. Each group chose 2 of the individually myths from the reading to summarize and write: the plot, thematic & symbolic elements, how the myth shows similarity between the gods and humanity, and its connection to modern times. 

My group chose the two myths of Arachne and Marpessa and broke them down into this:

Arachne

Plot

A talented mortal named Arachne claims that she can weave work that is superior to that of Athena. As a result, they had a challenge to determine the better weaver. When Athena saw that Arachne’s work rivaled her own work, she was furious and hit Arachne on her head. Arachne was so humiliated that she hanged herself. Minerva felt bad for her and turned her into a spider so she could continue to weave.

Thematic and Symbolic Elements

• Another example of the danger of claiming equality with the gods; it is dangerous to challenge the gods.
• Athena demonstrated mercy when she turned Arachne into a spider to allow her to continue to weave.
• Hubris is the hamartia that will eventually lead to your downfall: Arachne got too prideful of her talent and challenged Athena.

Similarity Between Gods and Humanity

• Both humanity and gods are very prideful and capable of wrath 
• Demonstrates an example of how even the gods are capable of mercy.

Connection to Modern Times

• These lessons can still be applied today: we still need to respect boundaries and to stay humble of your abilities.
• Explains the spiders ability to weave webs.

Marpessa

Plot

Marpessa gave consent to Ida, a hero, to be carried off. They were in love but Apollo also fell in love with her. Zeus allowed her to choose who she wanted to be with and she chose Ida. 

Thematic and Symbolic Elements

• It wasn’t about which of the men was better but who she wanted to be with. 
• It strays from the dichotomy of women that we learned yesterday where women either had to be enduring or seen as monsters. It shifts the purpose of love from child bearing and lust to a love mutual to both people. She was given the opportunity to choose her path. 

Similarity Between Gods and Humanity

• Apollo, like many Gods, are unfaithful most of the time to their lovers. Great example: Zeus. However, most of the time they still take advantage of the woman and the woman usually don't have a choice to pick who they want. 

Connection to modern times

• Ida was given a choice of who she wanted to be with rather than being taken by force or having to endure. It is also one of the few times that we have seen consent taking place in Greek mythology.
• Marpessa chose a mortal instead of a God which reminded us of modern times where many choose true love instead of a higher status.
  
  

Reflection:

I believe this activity was a good way to be able to understand some of the individual myths of the reading Brief Myths Arranged Alphabetically. Since there were so many myths in the reading, it would have been hard to go over them all as a class. It is a good opportunity for group work and to break down the myths individually and then share with the class what we learned. Since each group covered two of the myths, we would be able to understand in further detail the plot, thematic & symbolic elements, and connection to modern times of 12 total myths. 

Overall, the activity was an excellent way for students to do more research into their myths and then share their findings to the class to help them further understand the myths as well. For example, one group shared about the myth of the Amazons. I thought it was interesting how they shared how the myth was connected to modern times because of the theme of women and empowering women. It also sparked an interesting conversation about whether or not they ever existed. 

I believe that what I learned from this activity will be relevant, as many of the lessons taught in these brief myths are still relevant today. Even though these myths are short and we haven’t gone into great detail with them, they are still important and relevant because of the little lessons that they teach us. For example, the story of Arachne teaches us to not overstep our boundaries and to stay humble. This, of course, is a very important lesson that we still keep in mind today. Overall, I can understand how these short myths were still important to Greek society because although they are brief, they do teach lessons and have themes within them and are good cautionary tales to tell.