To start off, I found this story quite boring. There wasn't
any excitement or major twist and turns. It was just a disappointment for me.
Growing up, Greek mythology was one of my favorite subjects to learn. I reread
the story of Orpheus and Eurydice before I read this poem, and it’s just
exactly how I remembered it. Then I read the poem and was pretty much saying
what the hell is this…
The way this poem started, I could have recited it myself
once I got to the part where Herodis went missing. She literally disappeared in
the air, and was just gone. Once that happened, I knew exactly what was going
to come next. This story was like a repeat for many of the other stories we
have read. Queen goes missing, King goes into disguise and follows.
What also confused me was the description about the other girls in the castle. Some stood without heads, some without arms, some had wounds, giving birth?! Like what, its like zombie land or something. Everyone is just crazy looking.
BUT! The one thing that surprised me in this poem was the fact that there was no violence or gory what so ever, which should have been included because in the real story, Orpheus gets ripped apart. Secondly, the ending. THE ENDING! A happy ending? No way. The whole part where Orfeo “pretended” to just be a minstrel to see if his steward was still loyal made it seem like a whole new story was about to begin. I didn't like that at all. The author really took a stab at the ending by making it different.
What also confused me was the description about the other girls in the castle. Some stood without heads, some without arms, some had wounds, giving birth?! Like what, its like zombie land or something. Everyone is just crazy looking.
BUT! The one thing that surprised me in this poem was the fact that there was no violence or gory what so ever, which should have been included because in the real story, Orpheus gets ripped apart. Secondly, the ending. THE ENDING! A happy ending? No way. The whole part where Orfeo “pretended” to just be a minstrel to see if his steward was still loyal made it seem like a whole new story was about to begin. I didn't like that at all. The author really took a stab at the ending by making it different.
Next, why the emphasis on the “impe-tree?” I really didn't
understand how the importance of this tree made it resemble the true story they
are trying to convey. Herodis was identified under this “impe-tree” twice in
the story. Why exactly was this important? In the real story, Eurydice died
because of a snakebite, nowhere in the story does she actually come back to
life and live. In Sir Orfeo, Herodis doesn't die at all! It was a complete
mess. I mean, I really enjoyed how Orfeo sacrificed his royalty and honor to go
save his wife from who knows what. Isn't that cute??
The one thing that I really liked about this poem was the
emphasis on how much going away for ten years really changed a man. Orfeo
literally went from riches to rags. Weird huh? The author described Orfeo only
having a “pilgrim’s cloak, neither a tunic or a hat or shirt or anything like
that” (228-230). Also, at the end of the story, he is described with having, “How
long the hair is on his head! Look how his beard hangs down to his knee! He is
as wrinkled as a tree!” (508-510). You can just imagine the way he looks by
this description. It really shows how long Orfeo has been gone that not even
his own people can recognize him.
As I mentioned in some of my previous blogs I also loved and enjoyed Greek mythology growing up. I agree that the story was a tad dull at times but adding the mix of mythology made it a tad more interesting at times. I agree and liked your section where you wrote how ten years changed a man. it had a realistic approach to the situation and how things change over time.
ReplyDeleteI totally agree that the ending shouldn't have been drastically changed from the story it was based off of, Orpheus. I just don't understand why it was necessary to make a Greek tragedy have a happy ending. I think it would've been a nice change of pace to not see everything work out for once, which sounds bad, but it's true! I want to be able to see that people suffer sometimes because everyone suffers, even if I can't make a connection to it personally.
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