timex500
10-11-2007, 01:44 AM
I'm writing an essay for World Literature and I need help with my argument. When I read it myself it reads really weak. The essay so far.:(
Roman culture valued the community's greater goal than that of the Greek culture which valued the goals of the individual. Romans understand living for the community works for the society and not for the individual, sacrificing the individual's own goals for the better of the community makes them the better society in terms of virtue. Greek culture encouraged individuals to seek their own fame to reach eternal fame and fortune. But the fact can only be that every Greek and Roman citizen go to the same place when they die, Hades (Hell). In their (The Greeks) journey for immortality, they speed through their life, not experiencing the love of a wife, raising a family and to see their children grow into adults. Regardless of their destiny or their fate they all enter into eternal damnation in Hades. The Romans and the Greeks each had their own values (virtues). Greeks, their kleos which means the attempt to attain great fame which can grant a man immortality. Romans have pietas which is duty to family , the gods and the father, the veneration of their society. Kleos compared to pietas brings into question the argument of which one values society, and in turn assisting the survival of that cultures civilization. An example, when five individuals all go after three gold bars, eventually greed will lead to anger and the death of all of them except for the last man standing. Instead of these five individuals working together to acquire the three gold bars, they examine their own desires and disregard the potential for the success of all them. They fail because of their own desires and their disregard for the will of the people which can benefit them. Relating this the Odyssey and the Aeneid, one author chose to depict their main character as selfish, their denial of their own fate and the latter author was commissioned to depict a strong character that embraced his fate, his duty to the god's will.
Roman culture valued the community's greater goal than that of the Greek culture which valued the goals of the individual. Romans understand living for the community works for the society and not for the individual, sacrificing the individual's own goals for the better of the community makes them the better society in terms of virtue. Greek culture encouraged individuals to seek their own fame to reach eternal fame and fortune. But the fact can only be that every Greek and Roman citizen go to the same place when they die, Hades (Hell). In their (The Greeks) journey for immortality, they speed through their life, not experiencing the love of a wife, raising a family and to see their children grow into adults. Regardless of their destiny or their fate they all enter into eternal damnation in Hades. The Romans and the Greeks each had their own values (virtues). Greeks, their kleos which means the attempt to attain great fame which can grant a man immortality. Romans have pietas which is duty to family , the gods and the father, the veneration of their society. Kleos compared to pietas brings into question the argument of which one values society, and in turn assisting the survival of that cultures civilization. An example, when five individuals all go after three gold bars, eventually greed will lead to anger and the death of all of them except for the last man standing. Instead of these five individuals working together to acquire the three gold bars, they examine their own desires and disregard the potential for the success of all them. They fail because of their own desires and their disregard for the will of the people which can benefit them. Relating this the Odyssey and the Aeneid, one author chose to depict their main character as selfish, their denial of their own fate and the latter author was commissioned to depict a strong character that embraced his fate, his duty to the god's will.