e Strife For a Straight Life: The Examination of Mortal and Divine Relations :: Classics

The Strife For a Straight Life: The Examination of Mortal and Divine Relations "A straight and perfect life is not for man." - the Nurse in Hippolytus The idea that fate is rooted from the interconnection of divine beings whose will is played-out by mortals, is a highly enriched belief that is capitalized on by many Greek tragedians. Among those who suggest that there is an endless cycle of good will, revenge, uncertainty, and punishment is the Greek dramatist, Euripides. His work, Hippolytus, is an excellent example of a well-written Greek tragedy that informs readers of the intermingling of divine power and a mortal's free will. Hippolytus, however, would not be able to serve this primary function without the elements which compose Greek tragedy in its entirety. Therefore, a detailed investigation into the characters of Hippolytus, and their divine counterparts, is necessary to better understand how Euripides evokes the need for divine intervention and also, why the divine is inspired to transpire revenge. Aphrodite, the goddess of love and sensuality, who delivers a long monologue about the forthcoming events, sets the play. This is quit common in Greek tragedy. This technique builds suspense because the audience wants to see if the plot she reveals is actually going to happen. The plot she presents is that of her own; she seeks revenge of the mortal prince Hippolytus. It is apparent that she has been insulted by him and does not go out of the her way to say: " For this prince of Theseus' seed Hippolytus, child of that dead Amazon, And reared by Saintly Pitheus in his own Straight ways, hath dared, alone of Trozen, to hold me least of spirits and most mean, And spurns my spell and sees no woman's kiss." (Euripides, 3) Hence, Aphrodite builds her case of revenge on this petty act of transgression and states, "That vengeance that shall make all well with me." (Euripides, 5) In other words, she will feel better once Hippolytus' transgression has been "justified" by her. Furthermore, she reveals her character as sort of selfish when she contends, "For there is, even in a great God's mind, that hungered for the praise of human kind." (Euripides, 2) Here, Aphrodite expresses the need to be praised and worshiped. Therefore, it is safe to conclude that she feels neglected, and even jealous of Artemis. This jealousy builds rage in Aphrodite and justifies her need to seek revenge on not only Hippolytus, but also Phaedra and Theseus. Hippolytus, on the other hand, is a man of virtue and chastity. He practices resistance to the temptation life has to offer.

“Good Will Hunting”: Cognitive Dissonance Essay

Will Hunting, played by Matt Damon, in the movie â€Å"Good Will Hunting† is the epitome of a psychological paradigm. He can be analyzed in so many ways, touching on many of the different fields of psychology. The most interesting thing about Will is the cognitive dissonance he goes through throughout the film. He is torn between these two cognitions, both of which contradict each other. One of these cognitions is the fact that he is an orphan from South Boston, meaning he should only have a low pay job and live there for the rest of his life. It would be wrong of him to forget about his roots and try to become something of himself, which would be unfair to his friends who aren’t as blessed as Will. On the other hand, he is a profoundly smart individually; to such a degree that Prof. Gerald Lambeau compares him to Einstein. He knows he has potential to get out of South Boston and possibly do many great things with his superior intelligence, but he makes himself believe he doesn’t want to because of this other cognition. This cognitive dissonance he bares is the one main thing that keeps him from making a concrete decision of moving on to be something better. His intelligence is also something spectacular to look at, especially from a psychological approach. Although he has a much higher intelligence than others, the intelligence he has is concentrated on only one aspect of intelligence. His Componential intelligence is so over developed that it possibly caused the underdevelopment of his Contextual intelligence and emotional intelligence. His Componential intelligence is obviously much higher than others, which is seen when he works these complex math equations with such ease. His lack of Contextual intelligence is made very clear by Sean Maguire, his psychologist, played by Robin Williams. In one particular scene, Sean breaks down Will by stating that every response Will has to anything comes from a book. None of his responses come from real world experiences and therefore he has no real knowledge of the things you just can’t learn from books, such as love. One example is when Will speaks about Sean’s wife, he obviously had no knowledge of the pain or suffering Sean went through, but acted as if he did because he analyzed a painting Sean did. He is also lacking emotional intelligence substantially, which is shown regularly throughout the film. The scarcity of this part of his intelligence is possibly due to the fact he was beaten numerous of times as a child. This  caused his intelligence to possibly becoming immature in some parts and highly established in others. An example of this is evident throughout almost all the scenes with his somewhat girlfriend Skylar, played by Minnie Driver. He doesn’t quite know how to deal with relationships, mainly because he is lacking in this part of his intelligence, especially those relationships with the opposite sex. Through numerous of sessions with Sean and the aide of Skylar and his friend Chuckie, Will begins to confront this Cognitive dissonance. Not only does he realize that he indeed has a gift that needs to be utilized, but he also confronts this emotional intelligence deficiency by maturing it a bit and realizing that it’s not always bad to let someone inside and discover who you really are. By the end of the story Will has matured vastly in all aspects of Cognition. His emotional intelligence has increased greatly along with his Contextual intelligence. He also has found some Cognitive Consistency, which is what many people long for, especially those with extreme cognitive dissonance such as Will did.

My Semester in Greece Essay - 921 Words

I had so many experiences that I feel as though I lived an entire chapter of my life in Greece. nbsp; My adventure began in Athens. I took a three week class entitled Discovering Ancient Athens on Site. The professor was excellent, and I was able to visit some of the most important historical sites in the western world. Imagine seeing a machine used to allot fair and impartial juries over two thousand years ago. Or standing in the room in which Socrates drank hemlock to end his life. The foundations of western society, both governmental and cultural, were laid in ancient Greece. I am very curious in the governmental and economic structures in the world today, and I found studying ancient Greece to be helpful in understanding†¦show more content†¦Everyone in our apartment loved the fresh fruits and vegetables and the social exchange between buyer and seller. I could not imagine such an event taking place weekly in downtown Indianapolis. nbsp; After three weeks in Athens, I spent six weeks on the island Paros taking courses in modern Greek (language). The six weeks I passed in Paros were indescribable. From a large polluted city, I arrived onto a beautiful, peaceful Greek island. Every day would begin with class. The afternoon would be spent studying, eating lunch, and when time permitted, sifting on the beach. More classes were held in the afternoon, and each night held a feast. Some weekends were spent traveling to exotic islands like Santorini and Mykonos. Others were spent on Paros. Along the way, I was able to catch a glimpse of Greek island life. nbsp; The culture on Greek islands is such that it must be experienced. Everyone is incredibly laid back. Meals are enjoyed, not just eaten. Dinner is a social event that often runs into late night or morning. One thing about Greece is that everyone is very social. This is simply the culture. People go for coffee, for dinner, or just for a walk to speak together. Everyone is always out, and everyone is always talking. And when people talk, they talk about everything. Nothing is left out of the discussion, and no topic is feared.Show MoreRelatedEbt Crisis Essay776 Words   |  4 Pageson islands that use the same currency as my geopolitical issue but not involved in the predicament. Being unaware about issues on the other side of the world made me realize on intriguing economic debt crisis that is going on in countries that seem like they are holding together. Greece and the European was a great issue to discuss and view both sides before since I was unaware that there was a long going crisis going on in this side of the world. 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