World Literature Multi-Genre Project

LIFE

Win Topatana

World Literature F

28 May 2012

Table of Contents

Preface ----------------------------------------------------------------- 1

Anchor Paper ---------------------------------------------------------- 2 - 5

Entries

       Oedipus Rex Poem ---------------------------------------------- 6

       Oedipus Rex Letter -------------------------------------------- 7

       Oedipus Rex Newspaper --------------------------------------- 8 - 10

       The Inferno Poem --------------------------------------------- 11

       Hell Instruction Manual --------------------------------------- 12

       The Tempest Poem -------------------------------------------- 13

       Prospero’s Island Map ---------------------------------------- 14

Works Cited --------------------------------------------------------- 15

Preface

            The three stories, Oedipus Rex, The Inferno, and The Tempest contain similar ideas, even though it has completely different plots. These stories all contains the concept of a person’s journey, betrayal, and the punishment of one’s bad sins. The seven entries in this package contain poems about each story to illustrate each person’s journey, what they did, and their punishment. There is a letter from Oedipus to his father to illustrate Oedipus’s journey, and a newspaper about Oedipus’s downfall to illustrate the punishment one gets from betraying. The hell instruction manual is made to illustrate the punishment of what one gets for each bad deed. As for the map of Prospero’s island, it is made to illustrate the journey of the people who betrayed Prospero on the island. I hope this would be enjoyable for anyone who read this. Thank you!

Anchor Paper

            Every single person’s life contains lots of events. Within one’s life, there are happiness and sadness, fun and boring moments, and success and failure. Since one would meet lots of things within one’s lifetime, life could be called as a journey. The main reason why other creatures would view humans as an evil creature would be because they betray others. Betraying is one of the worse sins to commit; since it would destroy the other person’s both physically and mentally. After all of the sins that humans committed during their lifetime journey, they will often end up with a punishment. For those people who did bad things, they will be punished in the end of the story. As for the people who did good things, they will be rewarded in the end of the story. Oedipus Rex by Sophocles, The Inferno by Dante Alighieri, and The Tempest by William Shakespeare, all have different plots with similar ideas. These three stories all contains a person’s journey, their betrayal, and their punishment in the end of the story.

            The characters within the story Oedipus Rex, The Inferno, and The Tempest include a person’s journey. In Oedipus Rex, Oedipus goes through all of the trouble just to escape his fate. Oedipus’s fate was to kill his father and marry his mother. To prevent this fate from happening, Oedipus’s parents decide to kill Oedipus by leaving him on Mount Kitharion. Luckily, Oedipus was saved by a shepherd, and that shepherd took Oedipus to the king and queen of Corinth, the place in which Oedipus is raised. When Oedipus grows up, he then knows his fate and tries to escape it. He ran out of Corinth and met his real father, King Laius, on the place there three roads met. At this place, Oedipus had killed his father unknowingly. Oedipus then continues his journey and solved the riddle of the sphinx, saving the city of Thebes. Since the king is missing, Oedipus then became the king and married Queen Jocasta, which is his mother. Through all of the events that Oedipus had faced, Oedipus had a very long journey throughout his lifetime (Classic Notes). In The Inferno, Dante had gone through hell, seeing what the punishments were according to the sins. The journey through the nine circles of hell is filled with obstacles, increasing Dante’s knowledge about hell and the evil side of humanity (NOVA ONLINE). In The Tempest, Prospero have had a very difficult journey in his lifetime. Prospero was betrayed by his brother, Antonio, and was isolated on an island with a half-human creature Caliban, a spirit Ariel, and his daughter Miranda. Prospero’s life on the island, and the way he used to go back to his home country is filled with obstacles. This is the main journey that Prospero has gone through in the story.

            These three stories Oedipus Rex, The Inferno, and The Tempest, all show betrayal in the human society. In Oedipus Rex, Oedipus had unintentionally killed his father and married his mother. To kill one’s father, even without knowing it, is also called betrayal, because killing one’s father is just like killing half of oneself since one is 50% made from father, and 50% made from mother (Classic Notes). In The Inferno, Dante had gone through hell and seen all of the main sins that humans do. The greatest sin that humans could do is betraying. Dante also met lots of treacherous people such as Marcus Brutus whom betrayed his friend Julius Caesar. Those who betray others will be sent to the deepest circle of hell. For example, those who betray other people’s trust will be sent to the eighth circle of hell, and those who are traitors to their kindred, country, guests or hosts, and benefactors, will all be sent to the ninth circle of hell (NOVA ONLINE). In The Tempest, Prospero was betrayed by his very own brother, Antonio. Since Antonio is greedy for power, he then wants to kill his brother in order to gain more power. Prospero’s slave, Caliban, also betrays Prospero. In the story, Caliban tries to kill Prospero for freedom. The main reason why people betray is because of the benefits that they will get after they betrayed someone (Psychological Sciences).

            “You reap for what you sow”, what one did will definitely come back and effect that person. The stories Oedipus Rex, The Inferno, and The Tempest, have every character that betrayed their superior received their punishment in the end of the story. In the story Oedipus Rex, Oedipus had killed his father and married his mother. After Oedipus knew that he killed his very own father and married his mother, he then gouged his eyeballs out and exiled himself. Oedipus punished himself like this because he does not think that he could face his father and mother in the afterlife. This is why and how Oedipus punished himself (Classic Notes). In The Inferno, Dante had seen how all the sinners are punished in hell. Every bad deed that one did will be punished during the afterlife. Betraying, according to Dante, is the worse crime that one could do. The punishment for betraying other people’s trust is being split in half by a sword, and the punishment for being traitors to their kindred, country, guests or hosts, and benefactors is being frozen in ice for eternity (NOVA ONLINE). In The Tempest, Prospero had punished the king’s company that betrayed him by creating the tempest, and illusions that make them go crazy. All of the bad deeds that the characters in these three stories did are punished by the end of the story. This is why there is a saying “you reap for what you sow”.

            In conclusion, every person’s life contains a journey that leads them to their successes and failures. The life of a person is what their journey is. In the three stories, every single character had gone through a journey in their life. Humans are considered ugly because they betray other people. In the three stories, some characters betray other people unknowingly, and some characters betray other people on purpose. Betraying is still betraying, there are no excuses to it, and those who did those bad deeds will be punished. In the three stories, all of the characters that betrayed other people were all punished. Some punished very badly, but some do not. It does not matter about the punishment; all it matters is that those who did bad things must be punished. In order to be able to live happily both in the material world and the afterlife, just do good things on the world, go through a great journey by helping others, and all that waits in the future would only be happiness.

ENTRIES

Oedipus Rex Poem - Fate

To be born with fate,

this is what everyone hates.

Oedipus doomed from birth,

put on mount Kitharion at first.

Left there for a checkmate,

just to end his fate.

Suddenly the shepherd came near,

he saw the baby crying with tears.

Oedipus saved from death,

able to continue his breath.

One day, at the place where three roads met,

everything happened according to what is set.

Unknowingly Oedipus killed his own father,

and married his widowed mother.

Years passed by happily,

everyone lived harmoniously.

Until the day when the plague strikes,

this is the time that no body likes.

The riddle that is extremely mysterious,

is all seen by the blind Teiresias.

Fate was revealed,

and everything is sealed.

The criminal was he,

Oedipus now disgraced and can not see.

Oedipus Letter to Father

Oedipus Rex Newspaper

The Inferno Poem - Hell

Being in hell,

is not so well.

The first circle is for those who do not believe in God,

the unbaptized, great historical figures, and a more lot.

These people can not go to the heavenly realm,

they can only stay at the Limbo it seems.

The second circle is for the lustful,

those who ignore God and are love-full.

The infernal storm that lashes at the sinners,

slicing through the skin, layer by layer.

The third circle is for the gluttonous,

they will be eaten by three-headed dog that is ravenous.

These people don’t use their resources properly,

they use everything inefficiently.

The fourth circle is for the hoarders and the spendthrifts,

they got loads of weights to lift.

They destroyed the lights of God’s holiness,

because of their greediness.

The fifth circle is for the wrathful and the sullen,

these are the souls that have fallen.

They are the one that have anger overcame,

and lies in hell toward themselves they blame.

The sixth circle is for the heretics,

they do not believe in God and think that they are perfect.

They are burned in a tomb,

waiting for their doom.

The seventh circle is for the violent creatures,

blasphemers, sodomites, and usurers.

They are tortured for eternity,

boiled in fresh blood, bitten by harpies, and burned constantly.

The eighth circle is for the frauds,

these people betray other people’s trust.

These sinners run around in a circle without speaking a word,

they are then split apart by the punishing sword.

The ninth circle is for the traitors,

it includes betraying to one’s kindred, country, guest or host, and benefactor.

These sinners are frozen in ice,

frozen for eternity like a dead mice.

To avoid living in the torturous hell,

help others, live a sustainable life, and do things well. 

Hell Instruction Manual

Circle	Sin	Punishment
1 – Limbo	- Good people that lack the ideology of God’s savior - The unbaptized	Live in the Limbo for eternity
2 – The Lustful	- Excess of sexual passion - Souls which made pleasure of their hope, with reason and love of God second	An infernal storm that lashes at the sinners in darkness
3 – The Gluttonous	- Those who do not use resource properly - Those who produce nothing but garbage	Ravenous three-headed dog ripping and tearing the sinners with its claws and teeth
4 – Hoarders / Spendthrifts	- Those who do not regulate their expenses - Those who destroyed the light of God by thinking about nothing but money	Regularly being smashed by weights
5 – Wrathful / Sullen	- Souls that have anger overcome themselves	Having rage against oneself and attacking their own body
6 – The Heretics	- Those who do not believe in God, and makes other people believe in other religions	The sinners will be burned in a tomb to death for eternity
7 – The Violent	First Ring - Those who are violent to their neighbors Second Ring - Those who committed suicide or do not love themselves Third Ring - Blasphemers - Sodomites - Usurers	First Ring Being boiled in boiling fresh blood for eternity. Second Ring Turned into trees that are constantly torn by the Harpies Third Ring Wander in hot sands and slowly being burned
8 – The Frauds	- Those who betray other people’s trust - Thieves - Hypocrites - Flatters - Simonists	Sinners walking in a circle and being split apart by a sword
9 – The Traitors	- Traitors to kindred - Traitors to their country - Traitors to their guests or host - Traitors to their benefactors	The sinners are frozen in ice for eternity

The Tempest Poem

Prospero being the duke of Milan is just a thing in the past,

now isolated on an island he last.

The tempest that he created,

brings the traitors to the bait.

Prospero made Ferdinand and Miranda fall in love,

and the rest of the king’s company starve without any dough.

Caliban the slave betrayed his master,

but for him to success, he needs to improve himself further.

Ariel the honest spirit,

acting just like a cupid.

He wanders around following Prospero’s direction,

waiting for his freedom and perfection.

At last, everything settles down,

the king’s company seems to regret it sounds.

Prospero will return to Milan and become the duke once more,

never again on the island and be bored.

The king’s company has regretted,

and asks Prospero to forget.

Prospero forgives them all,

and returns to the city of the law.

Caliban and Ariel now freed,

and left to do things as they be.

Prospero's Island Map

Works Cited

Fitness, Julie. "Betrayal, Rejection, Revenge, and Forgiveness." Psychological Sciences. Purdue University. Web. 30 Apr. 2012. 

"Oedipus Rex Analysis." Classic Notes. Ball State University. Web. 30 Apr. 2012. 

Thompson, Diane. "Dante Study Guide." NOVA ONLINE. Northern Virginia Community College, 09 Apr. 2007. Web. 30 Apr. 2012.