Welcome Everyone

Name: Jayati ThakarRoll No. 30Semester 4Department of EnglishM. k. Bhavnagar universityGujarat India.

The influence of Greek myths on Barnes’ ‘The Sense of an Ending’

Course No. 13 New Literature

1. Myth of ‘Eros and Thanatos• Three Greek Deities:

Eros

Hypnos

Thanatos

Eros:Stands

for love.The urge for life.

‘Eros’ Eros: The Greek God of love and of the energy and will to

live. The son of Aphrodite and Ares, the Goddess of love and

pleasure, and the God of War respectively. Is known as ‘Cupid’ in Roman Mythology. Wielding a bow and arrow to shoot people on the verge of

falling in love and leading them to procreation and enjoyment of life. Sometimes illicitly bonds were create between God and Goddesses.

This deity is primarily associated with such earthly pleasures of the physical plain.

Eros and Cupid thus signify the lust for life in humans as they grow and thrive to exist.

Hypnos: Stands for

‘Sleep’.

Hypnos

• Hypnos: The God of sleep and a son of Nyx (Night) and Erebus (Darkness).

• The word ‘Hypnotism’ derived from… • for sleep forms a major inevitable part

of every human's existence and he is associated with the peaceful passing on of a person from wakefulness of life to dormancy of inactivity.

Thanatos: Stands for ‘Death’ & urges for death

Thanatos• Thanatos: The God of Death and Hypnos' twin brother as well

as Eros' counterpart.• Thanatos' symbols consist of the symbol Theta, the

poppy, butterfly, sword and the Inverted Torch.• Thanatos represented non-violent and peaceful death.• comes on swift wings to deliver humans from the pains

of daily life and all its complications, cradling them in the gentle sway of Death's peaceful crib.

• Lord Thanatos is an utterly needed deity for in the world without such death there will forever be Chaos and disorder.

Death

Sleep

Life

Three basic pillars of Human Existence

Freudian Psychoanalytic Theory:

Eros- Life Drive

Thanatos- Death Drive

• It was originally proposed by Sabina Spielrein, which was then taken up by Sigmund Freud in 1920 in Beyond the Pleasure Principle.

• Eros, the tendency toward survival, propagation, sex, and other creative, life-producing drives.

• The death drive is sometimes referred to as "Thanatos” in post-Freudian thought, complementing "Eros", although this term was not used in Freud's own work, being rather introduced by one of Freud's followers, Welhem Stekel.

• the death drive is the drive towards death and self-destruction.

Eros and Thanatos in ‘The Sense of an Ending’

• Sex and Death• Robson’s relationship and his ‘Suicide’• Adrian’s relationship and his ‘Suicide’

Camus’ Philosophy (Subverted concept of

‘Suicide)

• Suicide - “A deed of Bravery” (narrator)• “Suicide was the only true philosophical

question.” – Camus• “..any responsible, thinking individual should

have the right to reject this gift that had never been asked for…”

• ‘Triumph of Thanatos over Eros’

2 Oedipus Rex

• Myth of “Oedipus Rex” (at minute ground)• Tragic investigation into past (Both works

have)• Sexual bondage with “mother”• Curses – (here) Tony’s role in Adrian’s suicide– Tony’s latter to Adrian

Work Sited:

• <http://aminoapps.com/page/mythology/9914854/eros-hypnos-thanatos >.

• <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_drive>.

• Submitted to:• Department of English• M. k. Bhavnagar university• Gujarat • India.

Thank You