Monday, December 3, 2012

Perseus and Theseus Discussion



I have noticed that in the ancient Greek tales of Perseus and Theseus both the main protagonists had showed clear signs of arrogance and overconfidence. Dictys's brother Polydectes, the king of the island had fallen in love with Danae, but Perseus did not like him and protected his mother from him. Dictys decided to send Perseus away in disgrace, so he devised a plan. His plan was to invite guests and to make them each bring a horse as a gift under the pretext that he was giving them to Hippodamia, the tamer of the horses. Perseus did not bring a horse, but he told Dictys to name a gift that he could bring instead; this action showed Perseus's arrogance since he was very confident that he could bring any gift that Dictys wants. Dictys told him the head of medusa and Perseus agreed. Instead of showing humility and apologizing Perseuses was very overconfident in his abilities and thought that he could easily slay medusa. Though the journey to confront medusa was long and dangerous Persues was very arrogant and continued forth on his adventure. Finally, he cut off medusa's head, a journey that no mortal dreamed of. Without Perseus's arrogance and overconfidence, he would have never undergone the dangerous journey to obtain medusa's head for somebody that he despises. Later on Perseus discovered a savage giant snake that was attacking Ethiopia. Perseus was very confident of his abilities after he managed to cut off Medusa's head, and he decided to battle the monster snake. Although Perseus had beaten the giant snake, he showed clear signs of overconfidence and arrogance, since he did not make any plans or strategies when he considered fighting the snake, instead he immediately begun fighting the snake with no preparation. Without Perseus's overconfidence and arrogance he may have never attacked the giant snake, just like most other men would not at the time.
                    Furthermore, Thesues also showed visible signs of arrogance and overconfidence on his adventures. The King Minos of Crete had his son killed by assassin in Athens., so he demanded his son's assassins, but the king of Athens did not know who the they were, so he gave up Athens to the king of crete. King Minos ordered that in nine-year intervals Athens would send seven courageous youths and seven beautiful maidens to Crete to be devoured by the minotaur. Eventually Theseus volunteered to take the place of one of the youths and went to Crete with no weapons; this action clearly shows his arrogance and overconfidence, because he had signed up to fight a monster that everybody wants to avoid. Furthermore, Theseus had decided to go to Crete bare-handed, even though many youths have died against the minotaur. Theseus eventually saw the minotaur and then he started to fight it; this action clearly showed Theseus's overconfidence since he had no hesitation when he attacked a monster that has killed many humans. Even though he eventually he stabbed the minotaur in the throat with a sword, Theseus's decision to go enter the maze in the first place shows clear signs of overconfidence.

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