Celtic Hero On The Other Hand example essay topic

Mythology is found in every culture that a person can image. From the Greeks, to Egyptians, to the Celtics. According to The American Heritage Dictionary, mythology is: a body of myths about the origin and history of a people. Although each culture's myth's are different, they are also alike in ways. Characters may have different names and back rounds but they do a lot of the same activities and rituals. However, in each of the myths told, each region, whether it be Greek, or Celtic, there are also main differences in the characters.

In Greek mythology, one of the hero's is a man named Oedipus. He is a hero in the Greek culture because of his strong mind and wisdom he holds. On the other hand, in Celtic Mythology, there is a hero by the name of Cuchulainn. He is a hero because of his strength and power.

Celtic and Greek mythology also differ in some of there endings of there myths. In Oedipus' case he is on top of the world and fights these mental games then in the end he is a ruined man. The Greek hero's have more human emotion involved in the endings, as for the Celtic endings the hero comes out on top and ready for more. Oedipus, a hero in all of his stories, is not the hero because he can kill everyone, but simply because he can out think everyone. Don't misunderstand, he is also very physically strong. 'He was the strongest and most athletic of the youths of his circle and aroused the envy of many' (Gray 48).

He could fight with the best of them, but he is mostly remembered for his wisdom, his wit and his intelligence. When he became king of Thebes, he did so not by fighting for it with a sword or his fists but with his mind. The town had just lost there king and was endanger from the monstrous Sphinx, who had taken over the town. Oedipus came and saved the day by solving the riddle that no other man could. The riddle was: A thing there is whose voice is on, Whose feet are two and four and three. So mutable a thing is none That moves in earth or sky or sea.

When on most feet this thing doth go Its strength is weakest and its pace most slow. (Grant 221) Because he solved the sphinx riddle, she knew that she had come across some one much smarter than her and so she left and died because of her own rage. To the entire town Oedipus was known as a hero and was crowned King of Thebes. Cuchulainn, a Celtic hero, on the other hand was more noted for his strength and brute instead of his intelligence.

Cuchulainn is famous for his battles and how he overcame so many odds in order to be victorious. 'We are told that the young hero Cu Chula in wished to appear older to attract worthy opponents in battle' (Lincoln 94). Cuchulainn loved to fight and would do anything in order to look older so he could fight older people. In one attempt to look older Cuchulainn took some berry juice and grass and made a beard out of it. It is said that, by the time he was five years old, he had the strength any man and one story said that he had seven toes on each foot, seven fingers on each hand and seven pupils in each eye, that was why he could kill so easily.

People had there first taste with his strength when he was five and found out about the 'boys corps' that lived with his uncle Conchobar. He went to test them, bring his weapons and he started to play uninvited and the boys were not one bit pleased. They started to fight him and he took care of fifty of them. He fought all over the place and was famous around his land.

He fought in many contest that other great men of the time didn't have the guts to fight. He went places no other men would go because of various reasons. 'Dorm olla caused a vision of Remain to rise before Cuchulainn's companions, which made them so home-sick that he had to proceed alone' (Mcculloch 143). Cuchulainn was a great warrior and won all of his battles and was well respected for this, and this is why he was known as a hero.

Cuchulainn's battle's he never came out of the fight down or beaten. He was always on top and the savior unlike the Greek hero Oedipus. Cuchulainn was in a battle with two other brave warriors, Loegaire and Con all, to see who would get the champion's portion a feast for Conchobar. The men went through many tough and vigorous tasks fighting many people and over coming many obs ticals. Cuchulainn of course came out the winner in each and everyone of the challenges. Some of the tasks the other two men would not even attempt but Cuchulainn would not back down and won.

In his case everything that he did he came out on top and was never down. That is very unlike Oedipus and that is were Celtic and Greek hero's differ. In the poem Oedipus the King, written by Sophocles, the king of Thebes, Oedipus (named that for his swollen feet due to an incident that occurred when he was a child) finds out terrible news. He finds out that the that Apollo had told him and his parents has come true.

That is, that he would kill his father and marry his mother and that she will bare his children. When he finds out that it has actually happened his wife / mother kills her self and he plucks his eyes out with pins, because he does not believe that he is worthy of seeing anything that is beautiful. This is all the end of the story and it shows how in Greek mythology things have a tendency to turn bad in the end. In the beginning everything was great.

He had earned the spot of King when he uncovered the Sphinx riddle and everything was going good and the people loved him and respected him to the utmost. 'You cannot equal the gods, your children know that, bending at your altar. But we rate you first of men' (Sophocles 985). In the end of the story he was a battered and broken man. He finds out that the man he thought was his father was not and that the women he loved as his mother was not his mother either. It turns out that he unknowingly killed his real father and is married to his mother and had children with her.

He moved from the people he thought were his parents so that he wouldn't do that. The story starts out with the hero on top of the world and ends with the hero beaten and broken. People of Thebes, my countrymen, look on Oedipus. He solved the famous riddle with his brilliance, he rose to power, a man beyond all power. Who could behold his greatness without envy? Now what a black sea of terror has overwhelmed him.

Now as we keep our watch and wait the final day, count no man happy till he dies, free of pain at last. (Sophocles 1025) Although many of the hero's and god's of other cultures myths have a lot in common, you will also find the in them as well. The Celtics and the Greeks all believe in hero's in their stories, but the hero's usually are for different reasons and have different endings. In the case of Oedipus and Cuchulainn, they are both on top of the world but Oedipus has a major down fall and ends up in the dumps and get's exiled from the place he is such a big hero. Cuchulainn on the other hand stay's on top once he is there and there is nothing that will bring him down. Another difference is that Oedipus was a hero not for his muscles or his fighting ability but for his mind.

It's kind of like the old saying, 'I love you for your mind not you body'. Cuchulainn is kind of the opposite, he was a hero because of his fighting ability and the number of opponents he killed. In both case they were hero's and there myths will live on forever. Greek mythology was believed to be developed from the primitive religions of the people from Crete. They believed that all things had spirits, and that some possessed magical powers. As time passed these objects were developed into animals and gods with human form.

Mythographer Euhemerus wrote in 300 BC, that myths "were distortions of history and that gods were heroes who had been glorified over time. Greek gods resembled humans in form and had human feelings and emotions. Unlike Hinduism and Judaism, Greek mythology didn't teach a specific way of worship or spiritual teachings. Before all the gods existed there had been the Titans, sons and daughters of the earth (Gaea) and of the heavens (Uranus). According to Hemoid the poet, there were twelve of them: Oceanus, Coe us, Cir us, Hyperion, Iapetus, Cronus, Thea, Rhea, Themis, Mnemosyne, Phebe, and Teth is.

The Titans rebelled against their father, and deposed their father under the leadership of Cronus. Then Zeus, son of Cronus, overthrew his father. This made him the first and most powerful god. He and eleven other gods ruled the universe. The Greeks believed that their gods lived together on mount Olympus, and from there they interfered and socialized with mortals.

But all gods were jealous, envious, selfish and often fought among themselves. Only Zeus was known to be just. Among all the gods, there were only twelve chief gods called Olympians. They were: Poseidon, Zeus, Hera, Apollo, Athena, Hephaestus, Art amis, Ares, Demeter, Hermes, Hestia, and Aphrodite. The gods became associated in three domains: the heavens, the sea, and earth.

In the heavens lived Zeus and his wife Hera, who was the queen of the heavens. Other gods in the heavens were Hephaestus, god of fire, Athena, goddess of wisdom and war, Apollo, god of light poetry and music, Artemis, goddess of wildlife and the moon, Ares, god of war, Aphrodite, goddess of love, Hestia, goddess of the heart, and Hermes ma sanger of the gods and ruler of science and inventions. Inthe sea, Poseidon, with his wife Amphitrite, and lesser gods such as Nereids and Tritons. On earth ruled Demeter, goddess of agriculture, Dionysus god of wine and pleasure, was accompanied by other gods like Satyrs, Centaurs, and Nymphs. Satyrs were creatures with legs of a goat and body of a monkey or human. Centaurs were creatures that had body of a horse and an upper body of a man.

Nymphs were were spirits presiding over an aspect of nature usually represented as a maiden. Hades ruled the underworld, populated by spirits of the dead, located at the center of the earth. Three Universal Deadly Sins Throughout history, mankind has looked back to the past, to seek the truth about morals, religion, and how they both impact and define civilization. Stories and myths from ancient Greece show overbearing resemblance to our own Bible as both shun the many temptations of our soul either by teaching the value of a characteristic or warning of the 'ill fruits reaped'. Dante Alighieri revealed in his Divine Comedy that 'Pride, Envy, and Avarice are the three sparks, [the three universal deadly sins] that have set these hearts on fire' (Bartlett 80). This statement is quite true for these three enticements have existed evidently in belief systems and moral codes since the creation of fire.

One of the most obvious portrayals of avarice or greed in Greek mythology is the tragic story of King Midas and his golden touch (Coolidge 90). Midas longed to be the wealthiest man in the world and asked the most foolish request of Dionysus -- to have the golden touch. Too late Midas realized his folly, for as he dined, the food and ale in his mouth quickly turned to hard metal. Midas shocked at the fate he had bestowed upon himself left the great hall in search of Dionysus, the god of festival, but came across his daughter. Unfortunately before heeding his warning, she gave her father a loving embrace and immediately turned to the yellowish element (MacPherson 49-50). Midas survived but paid the eternal price.

Through this toil, he learned that no matter how precious gold is, once down to bare essentials it can not buy back love or life lost or even sustain life. The Christian Bible incorporates this myth's moral interpretation as well. One of the most notorious even! ts that teaches Christians of today the dangers and repercussions of greed is the story of Jacob and Esau. Because of the birth order, Esau was entitled to the inheritance in its entirety, leaving Jacob, once his father died, virtually destitute. Defying his brother, father, and family for the sake of avarice, Jacob used trickery to deceive his father and steal the inheritance (Genesis 25: 13). In this instance, Jacob's theft and departure results in a family torn to pieces.

This lesson of greed turned disaster is a valued one that today's society must incorporate in order to reach a higher level of being. Unfortunately, pleasant epithets such as 'acquis i tive ness' and 'determined' that are viewed in the business world as favorable mask this foul character trait in our present culture. Today, there are no gods and goddesses to openly and immediately prosecute the cupidity and so this character trait spreads like wild fire from one cut-throat to the next. Instead, the greed! y realize their blunder only at death when they fall from the glorious gates of Heaven to fiery depths of Hell, where they can covet only fire from their neighbor. Mythological and biblical text most often target arrogance of all moral lessons. The Bible clearly warns, 'Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall' (Proverbs 16: 18).

One of the many myths in Grecian time that cautions the vile effects of hubris is the folk-tale of Arachne (Switzer 25). Arachne was so skilled in the art of weaving that observers came from miles around to watch her enchanting motions on the spinner produce such magnificent tapestries. Over time, the girl's head began to swell with the influx of compliments. Soon she began to openly boast about her work being superior to that of any god or goddess (de Loverdo 149). One day when Arachne claimed 'to be equal to the immortal gods themselves' in her exceptional talent to a crowd of commoners, an old woman stood up and advised her to 'ask pardon of Athena for your words' (Coolidge 24). After Arachne scoffed at this advice, the old woman dropped her robe and revealed her true identity t! o be Athena.

The overconfident Arachne 'led the goddess to one of the great looms and set herself before the other' (Coolidge 25). The two immediately began. While Athena wove a tapestry depicting the gods and goddesses in all their splendor, Arachne wove one illustrating their deceptive romances: Zeus' disguise as a bull, as a swan, as the husband of Alcmena and as shower of gold; as well as ruses by Apollo and Poseidon (MacPherson 46-47). Furious over the perfection and arrogance of the girl's work, Athena tore the tapestry to shreds. She then turned the excess threads into a cobweb and declared to Arachne, 'live on wicked girl and spin, both you and your descendants' (Coolidge 26).

Immediately after, Arachne was transformed into a spider. Similarly, many valuable tales in the Bible teach of the dangers of being overly-proud. No other compares to the tribulations of King Nebuchadnezzar. This Babylonian King's success was evident with his besieging of Jerusalem.! As a result of his many conquests, King Nebuchadnezzar turned into a boastful leader. The Lord aware of his overbearing egoism warned him of his disastrous future through his dreams, but it did little good.

Twelve months later while looking over his thriving city, Nebuchadnezzar asked, 'Is not this the great Babylon I have built as the royal residence, by my mighty power and for the glory of my majesty... ' (Daniel 4: 30). With the words fresh from his lips, an angel descended from heaven to describe his fate. His own people would dethrone and banish him.

The Lord sentenced him to 'live with the wild animals' and 'eat grass like cattle' (Daniel 4: 32). Like Arachne, a god punished King Nebuchadnezzar for his hubris. Both of these tales demonstrate the tragic effects of arrogance. People everyday in our modern world suffer from this habit, a sickness that can only be altered by a life shattering event. Sadly though, life requires these events for humans to see the imm or! al error in their ways and bleak outlook in their after-life. Hopefully, each infected sufferer can turn each personal occurrence into a stepping stone for a cleaner, happier life.

Envy like pride and avarice strikes the weak and plagues the mind. Philip Bailey stated it best in his A Country Town when he remarked, 'Envy's a coal comes hissing hot from hell' (Bartlett 55). In mythological text, Hera is the epitome of envy. Although Zeus proved to be an unfaithful mate by courting Europe, Dana"e, the virtuous Alcmena, Leda, and Io, Hera's persecutions of his concubines and illegitimate offspring exudes with fiery envy. Hercules received a great deal of Hera's torment. This half-god bastard although destined to be praised and honored was the principal suspect of Hera's vengeance (de Loverdo 128).

This wrathful goddess cast down a fit of madness into the head of Hercules that caused him against his will to savagely murder his wife and children (Macpherson 59). An additional instance involved the lovely maiden Io. After being transformed into a cow, Hera ordered a beast with 100 eyes to guard her. Zeus aided her escape from the sentinel. But be for! e he could transform the youth back to normal, Hera unleashed a maddening fly to antagonize her for the majority of her life time (Guthrie 159). When the young maiden, Callisto, 'lied down' with Zeus, this envious wife turned Zeus' paramour into a bear.

Many years later, Hera lured Arcas, Callisto's son, while hunting into Callisto's bear cave. Unaware of his relationship with the beast, Arcas fitted an arrow to his bow and prepared to fire, but Zeus emerged, seized his beastly mistress, and ascended back to the heavens where she shines as the Great Bear. Hera still angered ordered Poseidon to refuse her admittance into his waters. As a result, this constellation never dips below the horizon (Switzer 23).

From these accounts, the Greeks feared Hera and her extreme acts of random torment. In the same way, the tale of Cain and Abel demonstrates the evil unleashed by an envious character-trait. Cain killed his brother because of his uncontrollable envy. Both brothers mad! e offerings to the Lord, but Abel offered valuable 'fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock,' while Cain offered 'some of the fruits from the soil' (Genesis 4: 3-4). The Lord looked with favor at Abel's sacrifice but dissatisfaction at Cain's. Because of this dishonor, Cain escorted his brother into the desert and slew him.

When he returned to Eden, the Lord, knowing what had transpired, informed Cain that because of his envious action he was cursed to restlessly wander the earth (Genesis 4: 6). These two scenarios illustrate the dangers of harboring such an immoral quality. Both Hera and Cain were looked down upon for the evil character trait he / she stood for. It is important though to understand the underlying lessons that express the evils of envy. Humanity has existed for over two thousand years, and yet the same human traits of lies, deceits, and immoral acts remain within each soul today.

The Book of Common Prayer pleads in The Litt any 'from all blindness of heart, from pride, vainglory, and hypocrisy; from envy, hatred, and malice, and all uncharitableness, Good Lord, deliver us' (Bartlett 54). Mythological and biblical texts are quite interesting to review for throughout the centuries times have changed; yet people's nature and inclination towards these three vices remain inherent. Once we achieve a higher understanding of the warnings of pride, envy, and avarice, only then can humanity as a whole stand up to the problems and questions that plague our future. Once the deeper meanings of these parables from history are understood, the common moral code becomes evident where only a stone wall stood before. After the enriching meaning of the literature produced by the authors of past or present is interpreted, the! fact is acknowledged that morality is universal. The book Catcher in the Rye tells of Holden Caulfield's insight about life and the world around him.

Holden shares many of his opinions about people and leads the reader on a 5 day visit into his mind. Holden, throughout the book, made other people feel inferior to his own. I can relate to this because although I do not view people inferior to myself, I do judge others unequally. Holden and I both have similar judgement's of people from the way they act and behave. We also share feelings about motivation as well as lack of it. After reading this book, I came to the conclusion that Holden and I are much more similar than I initially believed.

Holden portrayed others to be inferior to his own kind all throughout the book. He made several references as to how people aren't as perfect as he was. 'The reason he [Stradlater] fixed himself up to look good was because he was madly in love with himself. ' (pg. 27) Holden had an inferiority complex. He was afraid of not having any special talents or abilities and used other methods to make him out to be a rough tough boy. 'Boy, I sat at that goddam bar till around one o'clock or so, getting drunk as a bastard.

I could hardly see straight. ' (pg. 150) Holden tried all he could to fit in. He drank, cursed and criticized life in general to make it seem he was very knowing of these habits. I myself have found me doing this at times, also. I, at times, feel the need to fit in to a group and do things similar to what others do in order to gain acceptance by them. I smoked a cigar once with two friends of mine because they kept going on and on about how great cigars were, but that was only once. Holden and I both place people on levels other than our own for amount of knowledge and likeness to ourselves.

Holden used the term 'phonies' to describe more than a few people in this book. He used the term to be what a person is if they don't act naturally and follow other people's manners and grace. Holden didn't like phonies, he thought of them as if they were trying to show off. He didn't like it when they showed off because it seemed so fake and unnatural every time they would do so. 'At the end of the first act we went out with all the other jerks for a cigarette. What a deal that was.

You never saw so many phonies in all your life, everybody smoking their ears off and talking about the play so that everybody could hear how sharp they were. ' (pg. 126) I know many people like this as well. I do not like phonies either. I have many friends who talk using full vocabulary just to try to impress you, and others who make note of everything they see to show you how perceptible they are. People do this when they have a fear of their own individuality and feel that they need to ace different to get people to like them.

Holden and I both dislike phonies. We do not like people who take on roles of others to seem more likeable because they are insecure. Throughout the book Holden displays a lack of motivation for many things in which he should do. Holden couldn't even call up an old girlfriend whom he knew a long time ago. 'But when I got inside this phone booth, I wasn't much in the mood any more to give old Jane a buzz.

' (Pg. 150) Holden also had a problem getting his motivation together in order to complete schoolwork and succeed in his prep school. I have similar problems with my motivation and find at times I must be in the mood to do something in order for me to accomplish it. This stems from our experience in the past being that we can get through life, or the part we " ve been through already, with minimal effort. Holden has had this opportunity to notice this as his parents have been shuffling him around to different schools every time he flunks. He feels his parents will be there to move him somewhere else and take care of him every time something goes wrong. I found out in eighth grade that the schoolwork I had was far less than the schoolwork I did and I began to slack off, this caused me to believe that I could get away with minimal true effort in my schoolwork and it has also followed me into other courses of my daily routine.

I find my forgetting to do things and having my parents doing them for me. I find I am basically pampered to my every will and need at home. This is a bad habit though and I am trying to get out of this lifestyle because I realize I won't always have someone to fall back on. Holden and I both have similar motivational problems stemming from our childhood. Holden Caulfield and I are very similar in many ways. We tend to judge different people similar ways.

We both dislike people who act phony because of insecurity. We also both lack motivation because of previous childhood experiences which have shaped our lives. Holden Caulfield and I have began our great journey through life with similar ideas to each other.