Sehun Bolaji
Rhetorical Analysis
Orpheus and Eurydice
In the myth, Orpheus (Son of Apollo and Calliope) has fallen in love with a beautiful woman who goes by the name of Eurydice and had fallen in love with her and was happily married to her until she had met her premature death by being bitten and poisoned by a snake. In an attempt to get her back, he played his lyre in sadness which had moved even that of the Greek gods which allowed him passage and protection so he would be able to travel to the underworld and get his wife back but under one condition, the condition he doesn’t look back at her until they both leave the underworld. In fear that he was being tricked by the god of the underworld Hades, he looks back at a time of weakness and uncertainty and sees her soul being dragged back to the underworld, unable to see her again unless he dies, which happened soon after. The theme of this myth is the importance of faith, the importance of trust. By him losing faith in the Hades his wife was forced back to the underworld, where they are unable to see each other for as long as Orpheus lived. The tone of the myth was romantic and cruel as shown by the unfathomable love Orpheus and Eurydice had shared for each other, and how sudden Eurydice has died and how Orpheus mistake caused him to lose her for as long as he lived. One target audience for this myth could be for married couples. In order for you to be with your loved ones till death do you must have faith in each other, to trust each other or just like Orpheus, you could lose that loved one forever, due to one little mistake. The rhetorical appeal for this myth is pathos as shown by love and sadness being the dominant emotions in this story. They use these emotions to get the moral of the story across and to move the readers.
Work Cited
https://www.greekmyths-greekmythology.com/orpheus-and-eurydice/
