Penelope And Sarah Essays - Book Of Genesis, Abraham, Vayeira

Penelope And Sarah BEHIND EVERY GOOD MAN IS A GREAT WOMAN Most ancient texts were written by men. It is important to remember this. The writers made sure that men were always the heroes, the powerful ones-- the important ones. Women always seem to lay in the background. However, we must not blame this solely on the writers. Historically, women have not been treated as equals. One cannot help but observe that in the specific area of family life a widespread social and cultural tradition has considered women's role to be exclusively that of wife and mother. As a wife, a woman was expected to obey and serve her husband. Men saw women as, what they believed to be, the fulfillment of God's intention: It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper as his partner (Genesis 2.18). Despite these biases, women play a central and crucial role in many historical texts. Even if the men are always the heroes, behind every good man is a great woman. Let's explore these two great women: Penelope from Homer's Odyssey, and Sarah from Genesis. They are both shadowed by the greatness of their husbands. However, if we read carefully, we can make them come out of their hiding place and let their true beauty shine! Sarah is the faithful and loving wife of Abraham. God favors Abraham and makes great plans for him. God promises Abraham that he will become ?a numerous people? (Genesis 17). However, becoming ?a numerous people? is impossible without the aid of women. Thus, Sarah plays an important role in God's historical purpose. Sarah plays an important role in Abraham's life too. She is a devoted wife that seems willing to do anything for her husband. When they are about to enter Egypt (Genesis 12.10) Abraham says to Sarah, ? I know well that you are a woman beautiful in appearance; and when the Egyptians see you, they will say, ?This is his wife'; then they will kill me..?. Abraham, of course, wants to save his life. He, therefore, tells Sarah to say she is his sister. Abraham thinks only of himself. The Egyptians shower Abraham with gifts. His content with such material possessions take precedence over the well-being of his wife. However, Sarah doesn't complain. She complies with her husband's wishes. By doing this, Sarah not only brings wealth to her husband, she also saves his life. Sarah's dedication doesn't stop there. Her devotion to her husband is also seen in Genesis 16. Here, Sarah, after being barren for some time, tells Abraham to, ?go in to my slave-girl; it may be that I shall obtain children by her.?. Sarah is not pleased with her decision. She performed this sacrifice for her husband-- again. We can see her frustration and disappointment when she tells Abraham, ?May the wrong done to me be on you!? Looking at this statement, it seems that Sarah was forced to ?give? her slave-girl to Abraham. However, it was she that made this suggestion. Was she forced by Abraham, and the author just failed to mention this? Maybe she felt forced by society. It is, after all, a woman's ?role? to please her husband. Without Sarah's faithful actions there would be no Abraham. Without Abraham there would be no ?numerous people?. Without ?a numerous people? millions of nations would not exist. Sarah seems pretty important now, doesn't she? Another important woman in literature is Penelope from Homer's Odyssey. She, like Sarah, is extremely faithful. Her husband, Odysseus, sailed with his army in an expedition twenty years ago and hasn't returned since. In his absence, the nobleman of Ithaca and the surrounding states have converged upon his palace, hoping to win the hand of Penelope. She, ever faithful to her husband's memory, will not remarry. She goes to great lengths to keep from having to chose one of the suitors as a husband: ?She set up a great loom in her palace, and set to weaving a web of threads long and fine. Then she said to us [the suitors]: ?Young men, ...wait... until I finish this web, so that my weaving will not be useless and wasted' (II, line 94)?. Penelope never intended to finish the web,

Creative Metaphor - Definition and Examples

Creative Metaphor s A creative metaphor is an original comparison that calls attention to itself as a figure of speech. Also known as a  poetic metaphor, literary metaphor, novel metaphor, and unconventional metaphor.  Contrast with conventional metaphor  and dead metaphor.  American philosopher Richard Rorty characterized the creative metaphor as a challenge to established schemes and conventional perceptions: A metaphor is, so to speak, a voice from outside logical space. It is a call to change ones language and ones life, rather than a proposal about how to systematize them (Metaphor as the Growing Point of Language, 1991). Examples and Observations Her tall black-suited body seemed to carve its way through the crowded room.(Josephine Hart, Damage, 1991)Fear is a slinking cat I findBeneath the lilacs of my mind.(Sophie Tunnell, Fear)The apparition of these faces in the crowd;Petals on a wet, black bough.(Ezra Pound, In a Station of the Metro)Yeatss Dolphin-torn . . . SeaThose images that yetFresh images beget,That dolphin-torn, that gong-tormented sea.(W.B. Yeats, Byzantium)- Although this last line is acutely visual, its three main items, dolphin, gong and sea are as much literal as metaphoric elements of the scene: the poem had begun with the cathedral gong ringing out over the sea, and had gone on to speak of the dolphins in the waters around Byzantium. Of course, dolphin and gong also stand for something elsethe vitality of the living animal, the majesty and authority of religion over the spirit, but they do this primarily as images. Direct metaphor is reduced to a subordinate position here, in the words torn and tormented, since neither of them can literally be applied to water. The first very vividly catches the force with which the dolphin leaps from and returns to its elements. The second communicates the extent to which that element is troubled by the demands of the spiritual.(Stan Smith, W.B. Yeats: A Critical Introduction. Rowman Littlefield, 1990)- By using metaphors, much more can be conveyed, through implication and connotation, than through straightforward, literal  language. Take the case of . . . that literary metaphor dolphin-torn: what exactly is Yeats suggesting about the sea, and how else could this have been expressed? Just as writers convey meaning more open-endedly when they use metaphorical language, readers interpret less narrowly than they would literal language. So meaning is communicated between writer and reader in a less precise way, even though the metaphors may seem concrete and vivid. It is this imprecision, this fuzziness of meaning, which makes metaphor such a powerfu l tool in the communication of emotion, evaluation, and explanation too.(Murray Knowles and Rosamund Moon, Introducing Metaphor. Routledge, 2006) Creative Metaphors Outside LiteratureThe chaotic category creative metaphor includes typically literary examples such as novel metaphors and poetic metaphors. The crucial question is, however, whether it is possible to extend this category beyond literary examples. If this is possibleand an examination of the terms creative and creativity suggests that it isthen it will be possible to find many creative metaphors even in political discourse which is, actually, not very famous for being creative.(Ralph Mueller, Critical Metaphors of Creative Metaphors in Political Speeches. Researching and Applying Metaphor in the Real World, ed. by Graham Low, Zazie Todd, Alice Deignan, and Lynne Cameron. John Benjamins, 2010)Communicating Through Metaphors- Even though our individual stories are different, we communicate through the common language of metaphor by embodying our ideas in images and details. By ruminating upon ourselves, we also conjure stories of others. By this acknowledgment of othe rs experiences, we address a whole range of social, political, and cultural issues.Its impossible to live every life, fight every war, battle every illness, belong to every tribe, believe in every religion. The only way we come close to the whole experience is by embracing what we see both inside and outside the window of the page.(Sue William Silverman, Fearless Confessions: A Writers Guide to Memoir. University of Georgia Press, 2009)- The ground of appropriateness for a new insight provided by a creative metaphorthe compelling condition of the new similarity, what suggests that it fitscannot be restricted to a complex of established perspectives. For it is this complex, or some part of it, that is challenged by the new insight.(Carl R. Hausman, Metaphor and Art. Cambridge University Press, 1989)   See also: MetaphorLove Is a MetaphorThirteen Ways of Looking at a MetaphorUsing Similes and MetaphorsWhat Is a Metaphor?