Ink and Insights: The World Literature through the Eyes of BEEd

“The Aeneid: Odyssey of Destiny and Empire” by Virgil is an epic poem that unfolds the heroic journey of Aeneas, a Trojan prince destined to found the great Roman Empire. The narrative commences with Aeneas fleeing the burning city of Troy after the Greeks’ victory in the Trojan War. Endowed with divine guidance, Aeneas faces numerous challenges, embodying the theme of destiny. The gods play a pivotal role, manipulating events to ensure Aeneas fulfills his destiny. Venus, Aeneas’s mother, consistently intervenes to protect and guide him. Juno, however, opposes Aeneas due to her resentment towards the Trojans. This divine interference shapes the destiny of Aeneas and underscores the larger theme of fate versus free will. Aeneas’s journey is marked by encounters with various characters, each representing different facets of human nature and societal values. His love affair with Dido, the Queen of Carthage, illustrates the conflict between personal desires and the duty to fulfill his dest...

SUMMARY Oedipus Rex is a Greek tragedy by Sophocles. It portrays these views through Oedipus' decisions, which are motivated by a desire to fight his fate. The city is plagued at the start of the play, and Oedipus, determined to find a cure, sends his brother-in-law Creon to visit the Oracle at Delphi. Creon returns with the information that the disease will be over if the killer of the former monarch, Laius, is apprehended. Oedipus takes on the task of uncovering the truth and bringing the murderer to justice, unintentionally setting in motion a chain of events that would lead to his own demise. The struggles between Oedipus and his search for truth, Teiresias, Creon, and the Messenger and Shepherd move the story along, stressing important themes such as fate, blindness, pride, and identity. Oedipus' inability to effectively negotiate these tensions leads to his downfall, offering as a cautionary tale about the dangers of hubris and the unavoidable consequences of one's ch...

SUMMARY Odysseus is the king of Ithaca, who is trying to return home after the Trojan War. Ten years have passed since the fall of Troy, and the Greek hero Odysseus still has not returned to his kingdom in Ithaca. A large and rowdy mob of suitors who have overrun Odysseus’s palace and pillaged his land continue to court his wife, Penelope. She has remained faithful to Odysseus. Prince Telemachus, Odysseus’s son, wants desperately to throw them out but does not have the confidence or experience to fight them. One of the suitors, Antinous, plans to assassinate the young prince, eliminating the only opposition to their dominion over the palace. Unknown to the suitors, Odysseus is still alive. The beautiful nymph Calypso, possessed by love for him, imprisoned him on her island, Ogygia. He longs to return to his wife and son, but he has no ship or crew to help him escape. While the gods and goddesses of Mount Olympus debate Odysseus’s future, Athena, Odysseus’s strongest supporter among t...

SUMMARY Zeus, the chief of gods and the immortal king of Mount Olympus held a celebration in honor of the marriage of Peleus and Thetis without inviting Eris, the goddess of chaos. It was in the middle of this feast that Eris arrived, uninvited and resentful. Therefore, to sow discord among the gods, she threw a golden apple into the banquet, on which was written "for the most beautiful. Three goddesses demanded the apple. Hera, Athena, and Aphrodite. Zeus, knowing that choosing one over the other two would result in more conflict, then assigned the task to Paris, prince of Troy, who had a reputation for being a fair judge among the gods. As each of the goddesses really wanted the apple, they showed themselves to Paris in all their beauty and appeared naked before him. Each of them offered the prince a gift as an incentive in return for the apple. Hera promised him all the kingdoms of Europe and Asia Minor. Athena offered him wisdom in battle, and Aphrodite promised him the love o...