Literary Allusions

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Literary Allusions

• By Erin

Includes Noah, Oedipus, Pandora and more!
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Pandora

• Historical/Cultural Context
• A Greek myth used to
• explain how women came to
• be and how all the evil in the
• world came to exist.

• Connotations
• Deceit, evil, despair,
• disobey, woman, trickery

• Explanation
• The gods punish Prometheus for stealing
• their fire by creating a beautiful, talented,
• deceiving and charming woman named Pandora,
• who married his brother. Zeus sends Pandora
• a box for her wedding present telling her never
• to open it, but when no one is looking, she does
• and ends up releasing all the evilpoverty,
• sickness, greed, vanity, slander, warinto
• the world, leaving only hope in the box.

Learn more about Pandora here!
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Oedipus

• Historical/Cultural Context
• Oedipus was an oral story
• Originating in the 7th or 8th century
• B.C. It has changed many times
• throughout the years. It tells the story
• of the life of a mythical Greek king of
• Thebes.

• Connotations
• Complex, mother, suicide,
• tragedy, prophecy, king,
• unknown, irony, hubris

• Explanation
• Oedipus was born to a king and when he was born
  it
• Was prophesized that he would kill his father and
  marry
• His mother. The king attempts to kill him, but he
  ends up
• surviving unknown by the king. He grows up and
  ends
• Up meeting his unknown true father on the road. A
• Dispute arises and he kills him. He then meets a
  sphinx
• on the road and solves the riddle. The thankful
• Thebeians make him king and he ends up marrying
  the
• kings widow, Jocasta, who is unknowingly, his
  mother.
• Eventually, Oedipus figures out that he killed
  his real
• father and his married his mother so he stabs his
  eyes
• out and Jocasta kills herself. The End.

Learn more about Oedipus here!
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Odyssey

• Historical/Cultural Context
• One of the two major Greek
• Poems written by Homer. It is
• A sequel to The Iliad.

• Connotations
• Faithful, intelligent, beautiful,
• Journey, hero, brave

• Explanation
• The epic poem written by Homer
• Is the second in a two-part series.
• It continues the story of Odysseus
• Describing his 10 year long
• Journey home. In his hometown, unruly
• Suitors are requesting his wifes hand
• In marriage because they all assume
• Odysseus to be dead. The story follows
• The familys separation and final reuniting.

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Noah and the flood

• Historical/Cultural Context
• The story of Noah and the flood
• is written in the Bible in the book
• of Genesis chapters 5-9. But the
• The story is also evident in many
• Other cultures and religions.

• Connotations
• Faithfulness, righteousness
• Loyalty, wickedness, flood,
• Humanity, covenant

• Explanation
• God sees mans wickedness on Earth and decides
• to flood the Earth and kill everyone except Noah
  and
• His family because he is a righteous man.
• God tells Noah to build an ark and gather his
  family and a male and female of every kind of
  animal. The flood comes and all humanity is
  destroyed for 40 days and 40 nights. Noah sends
  out a white dove who brings back an olive branch
  signifying the flood was over. God then makes a
  covenant with all people in the sign of a
  rainbow that he will never again flood the
  earth.

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Nirvana

• Historical/Cultural Context
• Nirvana is sort of like the
• heaven of Buddhist culture.
• One is reaches nirvana is
• completely at peace with
• himself and is devoid of
• ignorance.

• Connotations
• Peace, harmony,
• intelligence, Buddhism,
• clarity

• Explanation
• The Buddhists explain nirvana as "the
• unconditioned" mind, a mind that has come to a
• point of perfect lucidity and clarity due to the
• absence of volitional formations. This being is
• described by the Buddha as deathlessness and
• as the highest spiritual attainment. It is the
  natural
• result that accrues to one who lives a life of
• virtuous conduct and practice in accordance with
• the Noble Eightfold Path. It is the antinomy of
• samsara which keeps beings forever wandering
• through the impermanent and suffering-generating
• realms of desire, form, and formlessness.

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Nemesis

• Historical/Cultural Context
• Nemesis is one of the many
• Greek Gods. She is
• celebrated in many Greek
• poems and stories and there
• are also many Greek and
• Roman festivals to honor her.

• Connotations
• Avenge, retribution,
• punishment, crime, hubris,
• irony

• Explanation
• Nemesis is the Greek spirit of divine retribution
• against those who succumb to hubris, or vengeful
• fate personified as a remorseless goddess. The
• name Nemesis is related to the Greek word
• meaning "to give what is due". Nemesis is now
• used as a term used to describe one's worst
• enemy, normally someone or something that is the
• exact opposite of oneself but is also somehow
• similar.

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Nebuchadnezzars Dream

• Historical/Cultural Context
• The story of Nebs dream appears
• in the Bible in Daniel II. Many
• different religions recognize this
• occurrence and interpret it many
• different ways.

• Connotations
• Test, dream, foreshadowing,
• premonition, faith, trust in
• God

THE DREAM Daniel tells Nebuchadnezzar that he
dreamed of a large, brilliant statue or idol
standing before him. This statue had a head made
of fine gold, a chest and arms of silver, a belly
of brass, legs of iron, and feet made partly of
iron and partly of clay. Then a stone, cut out
without the use of hands, enters the dream. It
strikes statue at its feet of iron and clay,
smashing the entire idol to pieces until it is
dust. As the wind blows the dust away, the stone
becomes a great mountain that fills the whole
earth. THE INTERPRETATION Nebuchadnezzar
himself, king of Babylonia, is the gold head of
the statue. After Babylonia will come another
empire that is of inferior quality to his,
presumably represented by the chest and arms of
silver. After that empire will come a third one
of brass, followed in turn by the fourth empire
of crushing iron, that crushes all others. This
fourth empire will later be divided, however, and
end up as the feet and toes that are partly clay
and partly iron.

• Explanation
• Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylonia, is troubled by
  recurrent
• nightmares that he refuses to tell his dream
  interpreters. He
• threatens his dream interpreters with death and
  destruction of
• their property if they do not tell him the dream,
  as well as the
• interpretation. When they cannot do this, the
  king then orders
• the destruction of all wise men in his kingdom.
  This includes
• Daniel, who then goes to the king and asks him
  for a chance to
• tell him what his dream was, and the
  interpretation of it. This is
• granted, for then the God of Heaven reveals the
  dream and the
• interpretation to Daniel, who thereupon explains
  it to
• Nebuchadnezzar as presaging what shall be in the
  last days.

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The End