Mythology Book Report and Review Paper Example

The paper will entail a book review and report on Mythology. The book review will require assessment of the value of the book,summarise the content ,express opinions in personal level and recommendations of the book if any.the book report will entail the plot analysis, character and theme analysis, the setting and the time the book story takes place and also giving examples of quotes found in the books.

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Edith Hamilton is a renowned writer she was born in 1867 in Dresden Germany. Among her works include the Greek way, Roman way, and Mythology. The book mythology was created after she went through primary sources which included Sophocles, Ovide, Homer, Virgil, and Hesiod.The book was published in 1942 and was greatly accepted by the public. The book has a content of twelve chapters which are divided into three parts. The book was set in ancient Greece.

The story takes place in ancient times during the creation of the earth and human beings. The stories start at the beginning of time and continue through a few generations of gods and goddesses until they begin to associate with human beings. As a result, it leads to a wide range of conflict between humans and the gods. The book contains many myths on olden Rome and Greece and short overall view of Norse mythology. It's a tradition that standard mythology cannot be presented in any lined form; mythology entails stories and characters which are not explained until later in the book.

The book, Mythology, begins with a foundation in the study of mythology and the understanding of nature. Edith makes an introduction of major gods and a description of the formation of the world. Mount Olympus is the dwelling place of all the twelve gods who are :Zeus, who was the paramount among Olympians, his wife and sister Hera his sister; Athena ,his daughter; Hermes and Ares who are his sons , Artemis and Apollo the offspring of Zeus;Zeus associates Poseidon and Hades; his fellow Hestia and Aphrodite the companion to Hephaestus. Edith named the gods in their original Greek forms. Apart from the twelve gods mentioned above, two other gods lived on earth, and they were the Demeter who was Zeus sister and Dionysus who was his son.

The world was created from chaos according to mythology .the first gods who were the titans were congenital from the union of earth and sky. His son Zeus overthrew Cronus, who was the leader of the titan because he had defeated the air. A fire was given as a form of protection to men after the gods created them. There existed disreputable love affairs between gods and men. A misunderstanding arose between Thisbe and Pyramus and resulted in both of them killing themselves in the outskirt of their township. The sons of the gods were monsters who lived on the earth. The created men were given fires as a way to protect themselves from dangers.

The quest for the Golden Fleeces led men to have the first great journey. Jason was the leader of a band of heroes who went across the Aegean to claim the fabled coats. During this period Belleprone became friends with the winged horse, Pegasus, while Phaethon tried to drive to the chariot of the sun he died.there are several other myths that are illustrated in the book .foe everything that Midas touched she wanted it to became gold. After Leto, who was the mother of Artemis and Apolo, was abandoned by her husband.she meandered over the earth and found an island to settle in. Despite Orion being a giant he was lustful and later changed into a constellation.

The thematic concerns portrayed in the book include; beauty which is among the significant aspects of Greek myths.it is considered to be more important than morality. Physical attractiveness in many instances causes trouble.There is a conflict between Apollo and Trojan the matter being Helen's beautiful appearance. Orpheus makes beautiful statues as compared to Hades. Hatred grows in Daedalus because his nephew makes attractive inventions. As a result, he kills his nephew.

Secondly, another theme is on generosity Metaneira receives Demeter who is hidden as an aged lady. Dictys adopted baby Perseus and Danae when she was left alone. Kindness is a crucial element of open-handedness. Another dominant theme is fate. Many characters go through a lot to alter fate .the impossibility of any immortal and mortal to have a change in prescribed outcome stems from three fates, firstly sister Clotho who swirls the thread of life. Secondly, Lachesis, who does the work of assigning each person a destiny and lastly Astropos who takes with him scissors to snip to the end the thread of life.

In the book, many quotes are made by characters in the book.For instance "if I must slay the joy of my house, my daughter. A father hands stained with dark streams flowing from the blood of a girl Slaughtered before the altar" Agamemnon speaks the words in part four of chapter one after realizing that the Greek ships can no longer sail Troy unless Iphigenia who is his daughter is sacrificed in order to make peace with the angry Artemis (Hamilton).

Secondly, "We stand at the same point of pain. We too are crying, calling to us with tears, mother, I am all alone. To the dark ships now they drive me, and I cannot see it you, mother"(Hamilton). These phrases were articulated in Euripides by the Trojan women at the fall of Troy , it depicts the useless devastation that is brought by the war.

Book Review

In reviewing the book, mythology contains different myths which explain the originality of men the gods and how they used to rule the universe. My favorite element of Hamilton's work is that she tells the reader her source of the stories before retelling the stories. Hence I learned the difference between the Romans writers approach to the gods and that of the Greek writers. Through mythology, I learned that the origin of some stories was from storytellers and others told with humor.

Mythology is a great start to learning the elements of the tales. Hamilton is an exemplary scholar of both Homer and Vigil but when she retells these classic stories giving them more life in a manner that is entertaining to both the children and the elderly and they can find it more enjoyable. In my opinion, this work has not dated all, and I think even modern readers would be in need to find an elaborate outline of Greek mythology.

Works cited

Hamilton, Edith. "MYTHOLOGY 5." (1984).Retrieved from http://sites.uci.edu/humcorebeauchamp/files/2015/09/Hamilton_Mythologies_excerpt_TrojanWar.pdf