Prometheus, a titan in Greek Mythology, is famous not only for his role in the creation of the world, but also the bringing of fire and weapons to mankind. Homer alluded to his feats in the epic poem, The Odyssey.
Prometheus was the son of Iapetus, his father, and Themis, though some claim that his mother was Clymene. Ever since people have been writing about Prometheus, there have been variations in his attitude and personality. The poet Hesiod claimed that Prometheus was a trickster as much as a troublemaker and that Prometheus was sly, cunning and deviant. The Greek dramatist Aeschylus described Prometheus as a champion of humanity, for he had endured many hardships, and that Prometheus also represented a person’s willingness to stand up for what they believe in.
There are also many versions of the same myth that support both of the aforementioned opinions. When man received fire some versions say that Prometheus stole it from the Gods and was punished, others say that Prometheus went to Olympus where he lit a torch, and thus gave fire to man. He was punished for not telling Zeus who would bear the child that would overthrow him (Much like his father Cronos, Zeus had a prophecy that one of his children would overthrow him and the other Olympians). Either way Prometheus’s punishment was that he was chained to Mount Caucasus and a buzzard would eat his liver everyday, and every night his liver would grow back. Prometheus was later freed by Hercules (Heracles), but some myths say that Chiron took his place on the mountain.
If somebody were to look at the creation of the world through the Greek myths, that person would see that in the beginning Epimetheus populated the world with its beings. Epimetheus (which means afterthought in Greek) made one big mistake. This mistake was that he gave all of the animals the best gifts; strength, courage and cunning to survive and also fur, feathers and shells to protect themselves. After realizing his mistake Epimetheus went to his brother Prometheus (which means forethought in Greek) for help. After a short time Prometheus thought of a way to make mankind superior.
He fashioned man upright like the Gods, unlike the animals. He then went to Olympus, where he lit a torch and brought down fire to man. For fire would be better protection against anything else, be it fur, feathers, swiftness or even strength (Hamilton 86).
And now, thought feeble and short-lived,
Mankind has flaming fire and there from
Learns many crafts. (Hamilton 86)
With fire, man was able to light up the night, cook their food and scare away many potential predators. From fire, man was also able to forge weapons, armor, tools, and other great marvels of art. With these weapons and armor, man waged war and hunted for food. With these tools, man made buildings, clothing, farmed the land and sailed the seas. With fire, the knowledge and versatility of men grew. With fire, man lived longer. With longer lives, man had more to time to forge friendships, build, and grow beyond the animals and expectations of the Gods. With fire, man built empires.
With all of this under their belt man began to venture into the previously unknown. Men began to take quests for themselves and for other reasons. Among these quests and voyagers there was a man by the name of Odysseus, who undertook the quest now known as the Odyssey, which means many journeys. It was on this quest that Prometheus played a large role that many do not think of. Then again, is there any quest that can be possible without the deeds of Prometheus?
Odysseus’s journey began with him leaving his kingdom of Ithaca to fight in the Trojan War. Here he fought and killed with the weapons and tactics of the time, one tactic now known as the Trojan horse, was sprung from the clever mind of Odysseus himself. Here Odysseus fought for ten long and bloody years. His trip return however would be full of misfortune, for at the end of the war Odysseus forgot the Gods who had helped him and bragged, saying he had done it single-handedly. The first obstacle that Odysseus faced, that he had indirect help from Prometheus was on the island of Polyphemus, a Cyclops.
On this island Odysseus and members of his crew were trapped in the cave of Polyphemus, the youngest Cyclops on the island. In order to escape Odysseus was again proved how clever he was. The crew gave Polyphemus wine which soon knocked him out. The crew then took a sharpened stake and rolled it through flames until it was very hot. From here they maneuvered themselves above the Cyclops and drove the stake through his one eye, permanently blinding him.
There have been several other times when Prometheus’s gifts to man were used. These involve the cooking, fighting, hunting and more. A major role of these gifts was when, at the end of Homer’s epic poem The Odyssey, Odysseus and his son and two servants reclaimed the home of Odysseus from the many suitors who wanted to marry Penelope, Odysseus’s wife.
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As far as everything went (I apologize for not replying earlier) my teacher gave us a list of greek characters to do. Our task was to write about their involvement in the odyssey. By not...clarifying more about the variationg in the myths I left room for the reader to decide which one he/she liked more (thats why I went on to describe the different versions on Prometheus). Starting with the second to last paragraph I had to recap the odyssey (which after reading I thought made the essay a bit boring). If I could I would have loved to continue writing more about Prometheus, but alas, I could not. As far as saying if you liked the essay I've got another one, I'm pretty sure its titled my construction report. I throw in a lot my own ideas, and I really liked reading it, but going for the main piece of the project (which was writing about each field of construction) got boring to read. If you know a way to sort of 'liven up' my essay, please tell.
Hey Matthewmazer! Hope you're having a good day.
Don't worry too much about the paragraphs now, though if you try to space it a little better in the future then it would be much appreciated. The more readable something is, the more reviews you get.
Inform, Analyse or Explore
So I read through this essay and I'm not entirely sure which one of these three you're trying to do. Was this an essay for school or has this been for fun? Kudos to you if it's the latter.
It seems like you spend a lot of time describing events in this piece and don't often give an analysis/interpretation/exploration of them. One of the coolest things about mythology and literature is that so much is still up for debate! You mention certain inconsistencies between legends but you never develop it that far.
As a writer your opinion counts. I think it would be nice to see more exploration here where you make links between the ideas and try to understand what the myths are trying to say. Alongside that you'll find that you also find what your essay is trying to say.
I didn't notice a specific essay title with this either. It's often helpful to have one to make sure your writing is guided and focused. In my experience it helps a lot!
Argument
This is kind of related to the last point. When you write an essay / article it has to have a direction. Readers very rarely sit down to consume pages of assorted facts that have no structure. If you were bored you (probably) wouldn't just sit down and read the dictionary for fun -- in non-fiction writing structure is very important.
With an essay title it's easy to check if you're on track. Are you answering the question? Are you straying too far from your main point? How does each paragraph add to the argument as a whole? As your teachers will tell you, your conclusion is sometimes the most important paragraph of all.
I can't help but feel that your essay would be greatly strengthened if you had a definite goal you wanted to reach. At the moment it feels like you trail off a bit toward the end, and that's a pity because you've been building the argument of "how important Prometheus is" for a long time. See if you can tie all the strands of the argument together in the final paragraph and you'll find it's much more satisfying to the reader.
Two essays for the price of one?
The way I see it, you have two strong characters of mythology here: Prometheus and Odysseus. Yes you link them together pretty well in this essay, but perhaps there's room for more comparisons? A lot of the essay is spent informing the reader about the pair rather than playing spot the difference which is a shame because the "spot the difference" part always interests me a lot more.
Maybe there is even room for two essays from this one! Both characters have a lot of mythology and perhaps you could explore both of them a lot better if they had their own space. If you broke up the paragraphs some more and developed your argument a bit further then I'd be very interested to read some more.
Overall
Don't be discouraged -- there's nothing really for me to say about your use of the English language. You write well and I can only focus on structure to give constructive criticism, so you should take that as a compliment! If you have a chance, please reply and tell me what you had in mind for this essay -- what you wanted to express and where you wanted it to go -- and I'll see if I can help you develop the argument a bit more.
Good job!
Charlie
Hey Matthewmazer! Hope you're having a good day.
Don't worry too much about the paragraphs now, though if you try to space it a little better in the future then it would be much appreciated. The more readable something is, the more reviews you get.
Inform, Analyse or Explore
So I read through this essay and I'm not entirely sure which one of these three you're trying to do. Was this an essay for school or has this been for fun? Kudos to you if it's the latter.
It seems like you spend a lot of time describing events in this piece and don't often give an analysis/interpretation/exploration of them. One of the coolest things about mythology and literature is that so much is still up for debate! You mention certain inconsistencies between legends but you never develop it that far.
As a writer your opinion counts. I think it would be nice to see more exploration here where you make links between the ideas and try to understand what the myths are trying to say. Alongside that you'll find that you also find what your essay is trying to say.
I didn't notice a specific essay title with this either. It's often helpful to have one to make sure your writing is guided and focused. In my experience it helps a lot!
Argument
This is kind of related to the last point. When you write an essay / article it has to have a direction. Readers very rarely sit down to consume pages of assorted facts that have no structure. If you were bored you (probably) wouldn't just sit down and read the dictionary for fun -- in non-fiction writing structure is very important.
With an essay title it's easy to check if you're on track. Are you answering the question? Are you straying too far from your main point? How does each paragraph add to the argument as a whole? As your teachers will tell you, your conclusion is sometimes the most important paragraph of all.
I can't help but feel that your essay would be greatly strengthened if you had a definite goal you wanted to reach. At the moment it feels like you trail off a bit toward the end, and that's a pity because you've been building the argument of "how important Prometheus is" for a long time. See if you can tie all the strands of the argument together in the final paragraph and you'll find it's much more satisfying to the reader.
Two essays for the price of one?
The way I see it, you have two strong characters of mythology here: Prometheus and Odysseus. Yes you link them together pretty well in this essay, but perhaps there's room for more comparisons? A lot of the essay is spent informing the reader about the pair rather than playing spot the difference which is a shame because the "spot the difference" part always interests me a lot more.
Maybe there is even room for two essays from this one! Both characters have a lot of mythology and perhaps you could explore both of them a lot better if they had their own space. If you broke up the paragraphs some more and developed your argument a bit further then I'd be very interested to read some more.
Overall
Don't be discouraged -- there's nothing really for me to say about your use of the English language. You write well and I can only focus on structure to give constructive criticism, so you should take that as a compliment! If you have a chance, please reply and tell me what you had in mind for this essay -- what you wanted to express and where you wanted it to go -- and I'll see if I can help you develop the argument a bit more.
Good job!
Charlie
you'll have to forgive me, I didn't center what was supposed to be centered after the upload nor I did I distinguish paragraphs.