Theseus and the Labyrinth

Sehun Bolaji

Rhetorical Analysis 

Theseus and the Labyrinth

 

The story of Theseus and the Labyrinth is about how a boy named Theseus went to the labyrinth where boys and girls are being sacrificed to the Minotaur to kill the Minotaur and stop the sacrifices forever. He managed to slay the beast and get the daughter of the king to fall in love with him and celebrated his feat after. But then he forgotten to change the sails of the boat from black to white as his father asked him to and because of this his father thought he was dead and committed suicide thereafter. The theme of this story is that you shouldn’t let fun and happiness distract you from more important matters, as shown by how Theseus forgot to change the color of the sails making his father believe he had died in the labyrinth. One audience this myth could have targeted is college students. The reason I chose college students as a target audience is because they can let college parties distract them from doing more important things like studying and their hw, just like how Theseus forgot to change the sails because he was celebrating the death of the Minotaur. The tone of this myth is intense, ironic, and tragic as well as shown by Theseus fighting the Minotaur, finding a way out of the labyrinth, and his father killing himself for thinking his son died when he succeeds in his plan. The rhetorical appeal used in this myth was none other than pathos as shown by tragic ending appeared to be because of one little mistake the main protagonist made. It made the readers feel happy at first then despair as shown by his dad committing suicide for a little misunderstanding.

 

Work Cited

https://www-numi.fnal.gov/offline_software/oldiupages/simulation/theseus_story.html