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Saturday's child is what now?
Feb. 22nd, 2020 07:07 pm1. I finished the Fagles translation of The Iliad. There actually wasn't a whole lot of it that I hadn't read before in various textbook excerpts, really only the episode with Achilles fighting the river.
My only remaining question is about Achilles and Briseis. She's clearly an object, a possession, a woman Achilles has looted and stolen like so many sheep or bars of gold. She clearly has no agency or choice in what happens to her. I've assumed that when Briseis is so upset about being taken from Achilles and given to Agamemnon, it's because she's going from a known quantity to an unknown one. Achilles is kind to her, and maybe Agamemnon won't be. But then later when Patroclus dies, Briseis has that one line where she says Patroclus was always kind to her and had convinced her that Achilles was going to marry her when he returned home. So here's the question: Are we supposed to think that Briseis is in love with Achilles? That seems unlikely to me. Are we supposed to think that she's not in love with him but that for a woman in her position getting to marry her captor/rapist eventually is like the best possible outcome and she's upset at that potential going away because Agamemnon is super clear that she's just going to be his sex slave? Are we supposed to think that Achilles is in love with Briseis? That seems super unlikely to me; Achilles is pissed at Agamemnon, not because he's taken the woman Achilles loves, but because Agamemnon has unforgivably insulted his honor. Right?
( Goodreads review )
2. Power Rangers Beast Morphers new season started this morning! Whooooo! ( spoilers )
3. Fiona and I were outside in the sunshine for two hours today. It was glorious. It has rained nonstop for weeks. I haven't seen the sun in forever.
4. Y'all are good people. Thank you for the handholding and kind words on my last post. I appreciate it. I am still upset and anxious, but I have decided that googling diseases is an absolute dumbass use of my time, so I shall refrain. *hugs*
5. Today I learned that the Puritans called the indigenous people of the Americas "children of darkness" because they lived in the woods with no electricity or other utilities. /student quotes
My only remaining question is about Achilles and Briseis. She's clearly an object, a possession, a woman Achilles has looted and stolen like so many sheep or bars of gold. She clearly has no agency or choice in what happens to her. I've assumed that when Briseis is so upset about being taken from Achilles and given to Agamemnon, it's because she's going from a known quantity to an unknown one. Achilles is kind to her, and maybe Agamemnon won't be. But then later when Patroclus dies, Briseis has that one line where she says Patroclus was always kind to her and had convinced her that Achilles was going to marry her when he returned home. So here's the question: Are we supposed to think that Briseis is in love with Achilles? That seems unlikely to me. Are we supposed to think that she's not in love with him but that for a woman in her position getting to marry her captor/rapist eventually is like the best possible outcome and she's upset at that potential going away because Agamemnon is super clear that she's just going to be his sex slave? Are we supposed to think that Achilles is in love with Briseis? That seems super unlikely to me; Achilles is pissed at Agamemnon, not because he's taken the woman Achilles loves, but because Agamemnon has unforgivably insulted his honor. Right?
( Goodreads review )
2. Power Rangers Beast Morphers new season started this morning! Whooooo! ( spoilers )
3. Fiona and I were outside in the sunshine for two hours today. It was glorious. It has rained nonstop for weeks. I haven't seen the sun in forever.
4. Y'all are good people. Thank you for the handholding and kind words on my last post. I appreciate it. I am still upset and anxious, but I have decided that googling diseases is an absolute dumbass use of my time, so I shall refrain. *hugs*
5. Today I learned that the Puritans called the indigenous people of the Americas "children of darkness" because they lived in the woods with no electricity or other utilities. /student quotes
