arrow shot at his heel, killing him shortly. While the mythological origin refers to a physical vulnerability, idiomatic references to other attributes or qualities that can lead to downfall are common.
Next, I’d like to take Nike Inc. for example, Nike, which is a U.S. manufacturer of
athletic shoes, apparel, and sports equipment. If you have read Greek mythology, you may know that Nike is a Greek goddess, who personifies victory. In western world, the name of Nike is very familiar with them. They can easily remember the brand. Nike Inc. also used a symbol of the Greek goddess of the trademark wings SWOOSH, on behalf of “speed and dynamic.” From my point of view, a good name of a company or brand is one of the secret of its success.
Therefore, the Greco-Roman mythology is rich, extensive and profound. Also, it has
contributed tremendously to the progress of the western culture.
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Chapter Two The Influence of Greco-Roman Mythology on
English Literature
2.1 The Mythological Theme of English Poetry and Drama in the Period of Renaissance
As an important carrier of Greek and Roman culture, the Greco-Roman mythology has
exerted profound influence on English literature. Especially in the period of Renaissance, the ancient myths served as sources of lively inspiration for artistic creation.
Renaissance refers to the rebirth of people’s interests in Greek and Latin classical art and
literature. Actually, there are a great number of British scholars who have translated a vast quantity of Greek and Roman literature works into English language during the 16th century. And English literature has developed with a great speed in Elizabethan period. The most distinctive achievement is the drama. The lyrical poetry has also developed and was remarkable for its variety and freshness and romantic feelings. England has become “a nest of singing birds”, because of a vigorous literary culture in both poetry and drama. In this period, many British poets and writers have adopted the Greek and Roman myths as the theme of their works.
Edmund Spenser is often regarded as “the poet’s poet.” He is generally considered as the
greatest non-dramatic poet of the Elizabethan period. He wrote the great epic poem The Faerie Queene. This great epic poem had a strong influence on English literature. It is not only written in a special verse form, which has since been called the Spenserian Stanza, but also used a lot of classic myths, abundant allusions from classical and medieval myths, and metaphor. He borrowed a lot of the great epics of antiquity: Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey and Virgil’s Aeneid. The following is the excerpt from The Faerie Queene.
“Like as whylome that strong Tirynthian swaine, Brought forth with him the dreadfull dog of hell, Against his will fast bound in yron chaine, And roring horribly, did him compel
To see the hatefull sunne, that he might tell To griesly Pluto, what on earth was donne, And to the other damned ghosts, which dwell
For aye in darkenesse, which day light doth shonne: So led this Knight his captyue with like conquest wonne.”
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[Edmund Spenser (1552-1559): The Faerie Queene VI.XII.35]
In Greco-Roman mythology, Pluto is the Roman name of Hades, he is the god of the
underworld and the dead, terminally ill, and those wounded in battle. Pluto rarely leaves the underworld. He rules the dead assisted by various demonic helpers, such as Thanatos and Hypnos, the ferryman Charon, and the hound Cerberu’s. Spenser’s poem used a lot of metaphor to stand for the evil forces so as to convey the heroic knights.
The epoch of Renaissance has witnessed a particular development of English drama.
There were emerging a group number of great dramatists, such as Christopher Marlowe, William Shakespeare and Robert Greene. There’s no doubt that all of them have allusively cited from the Greek and Roman mythology at all times in their works. Therefore, I’d like to take one of them, William Shakespeare, for instance.
Certainly, William Shakespeare is the most influential writer in all of English literature.
Also, he is the most important playwright of the English Renaissance. During the 22 years of his literary career, he produced 37 plays, 54 sonnets and some famous long poems. No wonder people say that Shakespeare belongs to the 16th century.
Shakespeare embraced the English Renaissance movement through his works in many
works. His works always shine with the flame of humanity. In his plays, Shakespeare showed his great knowledge of the ancient Greco-Roman mythology, while previous playwrights would have put little attentions on it. Since Shakespeare, we can definitely find that he retold some classic stories of ancient Greek and Roman myths. Lots of ancient Greek and Roman mythological images were cited, which played an important part in Shakespearean dramas.
On the one hand, Shakespeare used the images or plots of Greco-Roman myths directly to
create his works. In this way, he produced Troilus and Cressida, which borrowed a lot of ideas from Homer’s Iliad. In this work, he told two stories for us, one is the ten-year Trojan War, the other is the tragic love story between Troilus and Cressida. Shakespeare tactfully dealt with the war and love, and reflected a theme of the change of the human nature and value. Also, the long poem Venus and Adonis, which contents are nearly unchanged from the Greco-Roman myths, only some plots have a little updated or rewritten.
On the other hand, Shakespeare drew on the theme or plots of the Greek and Roman
myths, and produced a number of excellent works. Midsummer Night’s Dream, one of the greatest comedies of William Shakespeare, described a group of young people who condemned the church’s asceticism, and sought for free marriages. This comedy has drawn a plenty of inspirations from the Greek and Roman myths. In my opinion, it is a great masterpiece, which showed perfect combinations of ancient Greek and Roman myths and the realistic society of author’s times. Hamlet, one of the greatest tragedies of Shakespeare, it is generally regarded as Shakespeare’s most popular play on the stage. The famous line in the play “To be, or not to be” by Hamlet is often quoted by people. With the development of psychology, some people used the concept of the Oedipus complex to analyze the character of Hamlet.
Macbeth is also one of the Shakespeare’s greatest tragedies, which basically talked about
the rise and decline of Macbeth on his way of being a king. If we read the whole play, we can easily know that the fact that the good-natured Macbeth turned his ambition into wild scheme is largely because of the witch’s temptation and his wife’s influence. Obviously, the three witches are the personification of Medea. Medea is a sensual and charming sorceress of Greek mythology. She was wounded by Ero’s arrows, took Jason’s part in recovering the Golden Fleece and eventually became the hero’s wife. However, in the end, Medea didn’t get her happiness, because of the Jason’s betrayal. Thus, she chose vengeance at last. William Shakespeare took in this attacking character,
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and then opened a new expressional route in his tragic drama, Macbeth.
“Round about the caldron go; In the poison’d entrails throw,－ Toad,that under cold stone Days and nights has thirty-one Swelter’d venom sleeping got… Boil thou first i’ the charmed pot… Fillet of a fenny sanke
In the caldron boil and bake; Eye of newt and toe of frog, Wool of bat and tongue of dog,
Adder’s fork and blind-worm’s sting, Lizard’s leg and howlet’s wing,－ for a charm of powerful trouble Like a hell-broth boil and bubble… Scale of dragon, tooth of wolf, Witches’ mummy, maw and gulf Of the ravin’d salt-sea shark, Root of hemlock digged i’the dark. Make the gruel thick and slab.”
[Shakespeare: Macbeth ACT IV SCENE I]
2.2 On the Use of Greek and Roman Myths in British Romantic Poetry
Romanticism is one of the important trends of thoughts, which flourished in literature,
philosophy, music and art in Western culture during most of the 19th century. The English Romantic period is an age of poetry. The glory of the age is seen in the poetry of William Wordsworth, Coleridge, Gordon Byron, Percy Bysshe Shelley and John Keats.
At first, we have to mention a great person, who is best known for his translation of
Homer’s Iliad －Alexander Pope. Moreover, he used a great number of the Greco-Roman myths in his works. By the middle of the eighteenth century, a large number of English folk literature works about mythological research in England were translate and published. It is because of this special kind of historical background; a group of English Romantic writers had realized the impact of the mythology. So, they consciously applied lots of classical myths into their works.
George Gordon Byron has made a great contribution to the English literature. Commonly
known as Lord Byron, George Gordon Byron was a leading figure in the English Romanticism. Don Juan is his masterpiece. The story of the poem takes place in the latter part of the 18th century. In the third chapter of Don Juan －The Isles of Greece, Byron referred to Phonebus and Delos
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