Friday, November 8, 2013

In Book 11 of "The Odyssey", why can’t Odysseus hug his dead mother?

When Odysseus encounters his mother Anticleia in the Underworld, she explains why they are not able to embrace one another:

" . . . All people are like this when they are dead. The sinews no longer hold the flesh and bones together; these perish in the fierceness of consuming fire as soon as life has left the body, and the soul flits away as though it were a dream."

No comments:

Post a Comment

In Act III, scene 2, why may the establishment of Claudius's guilt be considered the crisis of the revenge plot?

The crisis of a drama usually proceeds and leads to the climax.  In Shakespeare's Hamlet , the proof that Claudius is guilty...