This paper represents the final culmination of a theater senior project. The project consisted of an analytical research paper, performance in a mainstage department production, and supporting process documentation. I portrayed Myrrha, Hunger, Zeus, and others in a production of the play Metamorphoses. Through research on Mary Zimmerman’s 1998 play Metamorphoses, adapted from the works of Roman poet Ovid, this thesis grapples with the historical meaning of the myth of Myrrha. A polarizing figure, Myrrha was cursed to fall in lust with her father. By exploring of portrayals sexual assault onstage, I tackle themes of audience relationships to trauma and taboo subjects. I seek to understand the importance of her story in a modern context, specifically considering the #metoo movement and increasingly public discussions around sexual violence, rape culture, and systematic oppression. I stress our responsibility to understand how codifying stories on stage impacts audiences. This project also contains my conceptualization for the characters I portrayed in Metamorphoses, my rehearsal journal, and post-show reflections. In these sections, I detail the acting theory behind my characters as well as the steps we took to adapt Metamorphoses for our community.

J.R.R. Tolkien was not only an author of fantasy but also a philologist who theorized about myth. Theorists have employed various methods of analyzing myth, and this thesis integrates several analyses, including Tolkien’s. I address the roles of doctrine, ritual, cross-cultural patterns, mythic expressions in literature, the literary effect of myth, evolution of language and consciousness, and individual invention over inheritance and diffusion. Beyond Tolkien’s English and Catholic background, I argue for eclectic influence on Tolkien, including resonance with Buddhism. Tolkien views mythopoeia, literary mythmaking, in terms of sub-creation, human invention in the image of God as creator. Key mythopoetic tools include eucatastrophe, the happy ending’s sudden turn to poignant joy, and enchantment, the realization of imagined wonder, which is epitomized by the character of Tom Bombadil and contrasted with modernist techno-magic seeking to alter and dominate the world. I conclude by interpreting Tolkien’s mythmaking as a form of mysticism.

<p>The epic hero Diomedes is, in my opinion, considered a marginal hero, as he is relegated to a backbench in ancient Greek thought and ideology. I examine why this is the case, considering his role and impact in Homer's <em>Iliad</em>. Greek society valued its epic heroes beyond the words of the poets, yet some heroes received much more attention that others as central characters in tragedy and iconography, consequently regarded as favourites by mass audiences. I believe that examining a marginal hero like Diomedes is important in order to understand why Greek culture generally disregarded some warriors in favour of others, especially in the case of Diomedes, who displays heroic virtues more evidently than several other heroes who have received more attention. Overall Greek attitudes toward him offer an intriguing perspective on the epic heroes and the ways in which the Greeks idealized them. An examination of Greek literary, visual, and religious spheres of influence effectively aid in determining the reasons behind this phenomenon. In summary, this work attempts to understand Greek attitudes towards a hero who has received very little scholarly attention. The concept of the epic hero requires analysis of even the most neglected characters; one cannot understand Odysseus, Achilles, or Hector without examining Diomedes, who has a notable role in the very same tradition as the aforementioned heroes.</p> / Master of Arts (MA)

<p>This dissertation is an attempt to study and comment upon the text of Aeneid 11. In so doing it has been necessary to trace the literary origins of the characters concerned in the hope that this would give some consistent direction to their characterization.</p> <p>Since the world's first historians had been Greeks who had associated history with epic poetry,considering that "history owed its technique and its very existence to Homer and other Greek poets" and that "Athenian tragic drama in the fifth century B.C ... also influenced Greek historical writing" (M.Grant. The Annals of Imperial Rome,10), history and poetry were inextricably woven together as Virgil's Shield of Aeneas clearly indicates (Aeneid 8.626 ff.). That this rapport would have some bearing upon Vergil's work is an aspect noted by a number of scholars who see the Aeneid in terms of allegory,a point of view which I have attempted to explore in treating Aeneid 11.</p> <p>In assessing Vergil's major heroes and his heroine Camilla,it was necessary to evaluate both descriptions and behaviour patterns of other major characters throughout Vergil's epic.As a result of this,my awareness of Vergil's knowledge of ambiguous writing techniques grew and it seemed to me that a subtle manipulation of mythology and Roman history would provide an excellent vehicle for both characterization and narrative of outstanding personages of Vergil's own era.</p> <p>Vergil's deliberate yet sensitive treatment of his major characters,his variatio in the use of typology,his highlighting of motivation and interests,of the horrors of war in which the young and frequently the innocent suffer on both sides,his recording of public debates between prominent politicians and pen portraits of regal furiosae,all find their counterparts in the period of civil strife which ensued after the assassination of Julius Caesar. The sympathy and humanitas of Vergil for all concerned,mirrored in his generally successful attempt to write aequo animo,might be summed up in Aeneas'desperate groan as he views the battle-scenes and carnage depicted on the walls of Juno's temple at Carthage: sunt lacrimae rerum et mentem mortalia tangunt (Aen.1.462).</p> / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

The complicated issues surrounding translation studies have seen growing attention in recent years from scholars and academics that want to make it a discipline and not a minor branch of another field, such as linguistics or comparative literature. Writ large with Antigonick, Carson showcases the recent Western push towards translation studies in the American academy. By offering up a text that is chaotic in its presentation, she bypasses the rigid idea of univocality. By giving the text discordant images, she betrays the failed efficacy of sign and signification, and by choosing a text to be performed and mutually participated in, she exceeds ideas of the individual subject as the site of authorship. Ultimately, Carson enacts a theory of translation that critically deconstructs translation itself.