I am fascinated by Greek mythology (as well as that of other cultures,) and I find that we can connect ourselves and our lives to those we see in myth. I have taken to refering to myself (whenever I have to wear one of those lovely "Hello my name is... stickers) as a Herculean Hamlet and/or a Sisyphian Prometheus.To explain: Hercules is assigned the twelve labors, which he completes, much to the shock and awe of all he is surrounded by, he will forever be remembered as one who acts, who labors. Hamlet's fatal flaw is his overthinking, or as he puts it "thinking too precisely on the thing" He says "I do not know why yet I live to say this things to do." I feel myself a Herculean Hamlet because I am always thinking things through, always thinking precisely on the thing, and constantly at labor to complete tasks. There is an underlying irony I am aiming at as well, the oxymoronic juxtaposition of one who acts all the time (Hercules) and one who doesn't act enough (Hamlet) is meant to create a sense of tension in the audience (you being the audience, those who would seek to view my play).A Sisyphian Prometheus: Sisyphus hornswaggled the gods after his own death and tried to cheat the system, and when he was finally brought under ground (way underground, we're talkin' land of the dead here) his punishment was to forever and ever push a large boulder up a hill, only to have it roll back down just as he was about to reach the top. So down he'd have to go, to push it back up. Now while I don't seek to hornswaggle anyone I do relate to his efforts, I feel, almost too much, to stay an idealist sometimes, that the work I do amounts to little more than a rock and a hill. This is also where the Prometheus element comes in. Prometheus stole fire from the gods and gave it to man, so that the fledgling creature would survive and not die off completely. So by labeling myself a Sisyphean Prometheus I am trying to get at the idea that I am forever pushing that rock up a hill, and having it roll back down, but all in an attempt to help mankind survive and thrive. (As a sidenote, Camus posits the theory that Sisyphus draws some form of pleasure from the brief respit when he travels back down the hill to start again. I disagree, I draw the most pleasure working that damned rock up that hill. I know it will roll back down, but (to steal an allusion to yet another Greek myth (Pandora)), I hope each new trip up that hill that I will succeed. Maybe that's why I became a teacher. Each new year is a journey up that hill with that boulder. Each new year is a new chance to reach the summit (Here I'll leave you with an inside pun, (the whole "reach the summit" thing) a pun becuase the school motto of the high school I teach at and am an alumnus of is "The summit is our goal.)"To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield" girls layout powered by HOT FreeLayouts.com / MyHotComments
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