The Face That Launch'd A
Thousand Ships
by Christopher Marlowe
Meaning:
A reference to the mythological figure Helen of Troy. Her
abduction by Paris was said to be the reason for a fleet of a thousand ships to
be launched into battle, initiating the Trojan Wars.
Origin:
Christopher Marlowe, in Doctor Faustus
(variously dated between 1590 and 1604), referring to Helen of Troy, or as
Marlowe had it 'Helen of Greece':
Was this the face that launch'd a thousand ships
And burnt the topless towers of Ilium?
Sweet Helen, make me immortal with a kiss.
Christopher Marlowe
Christopher Marlowe, also known as Kit Marlowe (baptised 26 February 1564
– 30 May 1593), was
an English
playwright, poet and translator of the Elizabethan era.
Marlowe was
the foremost Elizabethan tragedian of his day. He greatly influenced William
Shakespeare, who was born in the same year as Marlowe and who rose to become
the pre-eminent Elizabethan playwright after Marlowe's mysterious early death.
Marlowe's plays are known for the use of
blank verse(無韻詩) and their overreaching protagonists.
Doctor
Faustus
(play)
The Tragical History of the Life and Death of Doctor
Faustus
, commonly referred to simply as Doctor
Faustus
, is a play by Christopher
Marlowe
, based on the German story Faust.
Irony
Irony (from Ancient Greek εἰρωνεία
(eirōneía), meaning "dissimulation, feigned ignorance"[1]), in its
broadest sense, is a rhetorical device, literary technique, or event in which
what appears, on the surface, to be the case, differs radically from what is
actually the case. Irony may be divided into categories such as verbal,
dramatic, and situational.
Verbal, dramatic, and situational irony are
often used for emphasis in the assertion of a truth.
Dramatic irony
This type of irony is the device of giving
the spectator an item of information that at least one of the characters in the
narrative is unaware of (at least consciously), thus placing the spectator a
step ahead of at least one of the characters.
For example:
In Oedipus the King, the audience
knows that Oedipus himself is the murderer that he is seeking; Oedipus, Creon
and Jocasta do not.
Hubris:
Hubris (/ˈhjuːbrɪs/, also hybris, from
ancient Greek ὕβρις) means, in a modern context,
extreme pride or self-confidence; in its ancient
Greek context, it typically describes violent and excessive behavior rather
than an attitude. When it offends the gods of ancient Greece, it is usually
punished.
Hubris often indicates a loss of contact with reality
and an overestimation of
one's own competence
, accomplishments or capabilities, especially when
the person exhibiting it is in a position of power.
Ancient
Greek origin
:
In ancient Greek, hubris referred to
actions that shamed and humiliated the victim for the pleasure or gratification
of the abuser. The term had a strong sexual connotation, and the shame
reflected on the perpetrator as well.
Hamartia
The term hamartia derives from the Greek ἁμαρτία,
from ἁμαρτάνειν hamartánein, which means
“to miss the mark” or “to err”. It is most often associated with
Greek tragedy, although it is also used in Christian theology.
In tragedy, hamartia is commonly understood
to refer to
the protagonist’s error or flaw
that leads to a chain of plot actions culminating in a reversal from their good
fortune to bad.
Tragic
flaw, tragic error, and divine intervention:
Aristotle mentions hamartia in Poetics. He argues that is a powerful
device to have a story begin with a rich and powerful hero, neither
exceptionally virtuous nor villainous, who then falls into misfortune by a
mistake or error (harmartia). Discussion among scholars centers mainly on the
degree to which hamartia is defined as tragic flaw or tragic error.
字根字首
*ab-: away, from
eg. abduct
abdicate
abnormal
*spect-: see, observe, look, watch over
eg. Inspect
Prospect
Spectator
*adui-: to listen
eg. Audio
Audible
audiovisual
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