Analysis of the Interpretations of a Myth

Select several interpretations or retellings of a particular traditional tale from ancient Greek mythology, ranging from antiquity to the present day, and analyze these interpretations, comparing and contrasting them with one another. You should pay particular attention to which variants are selected by the interpreters and what elements are presented as most significant in the story. What kinds of meanings do the interpreters find in the tale? What are the underlying concepts of myth that shape the interpretation of each? How do the differences of interpretation relate to the choice of elements in or variants of the story? Finally, what do you, as an interpreter of myth, find most significant in the story?

You should make sure, in your analysis, to provide a discussion of the possible variants of the story as they appear in the ancient sources, to show which variants are rejected by your interpreters as well as which chosen. While you are certainly encouraged to use the material from your first variants paper for this part of your final essay, please ensure that this information is integrated into the structure of your argument in this paper, not simply cut and pasted in. Likewise, you may use the interpreter you analyzed in your second paper as one of the interpreters for the final paper, but you should make sure to adapt your analysis to the comparisons and contrasts of the final paper. Ideally, your previous papers should provide not only material but also methodological models, and my comments on your earlier papers should help to guide you for your final paper. If, as you rework the material from your previous papers, you have any questions about any of my comments, please do not hesitate to ask.

I would recommend that you check your selections of interpreters with me before you embark on your project, and I would also be happy to provide suggestions for anyone who is having difficulty selecting interpreters. As I suggested for the last paper, you might look at the readings on e-reserves that I have not assigned for a specific class, since many of these readings would provide a reasonable choice of an interpreter.

You should be prepared to present a very brief summary of your project in class Tuesday, April 29, but the final version of the paper is due on Thursday, May 8. The summary presentation (no more than five minutes) should explain how you have defined your myth, what interpreters you have selected and their basic ideas of myth in general and your myth in particular. The papers should be at least 10 pages long (not counting the bibliography or any title page), typewritten, double-spaced, with reasonable fonts and margins (e.g., my default font and margin settings are Garamond 12 point with 1 inch margins). Please number the pages and staple them together. Please ensure that your name is on at least the first page, if not in a header on every page. Also on the first page should be my name, the course title, and the date (single-spaced).

Be sure to cite the sources for your information carefully and accurately so that a reader could quickly and easily check your reference. For ancient primary texts, you should whenever possible cite the book and chapter numbers or the poem or fragment numbers for your quotations, rather than the page numbers from the modern editions. You should, however, give the modern edition from which you drew your translation in your bibliography. For modern secondary sources, you should provide page references for the source in the notes and then give full bibliographic information in the bibliography. You may use any of the standard bibliographic formats as long as you are consistent.

Please ensure that your paper is free from errors of spelling and grammar. I find such errors terribly distracting. The spell-checker in most word processors is somewhat useful, but you should proofread the paper yourself as well. You might try exchanging papers with a classmate and proofreading each other's papers. Another person can often catch the errors you have missed.

Not only are late papers anti-social, but they will be penalized unless you have obtained an extension from me before the day on which the paper is due. For each day the paper is late (including weekend days!), the grade will be lowered by one step (e.g., from 3.7 to 3.3).