Transcript The Quest for the Golden Fleece

The Quest for the Golden Fleece
The Golden Fleece Dream
by William Prosser
Essential Question
• What does it take to be a good leader?
• Why are mythical and real-life quests
important? What can we learn from them?
• What are some famous quests?
• What is the Golden Fleece?
• What makes a hero?
• Does being a hero automatically make you a
good person?
Exposition or the background of the
story
• A Greek king was going to sacrifice his son
Phrixus to save his people from a famine.
When the boy was on the altar to be killed,
Hermes sent a ram with a fleece of pure gold
to pick up both he and his sister and carry
them to safety. (Yes, it was a golden flying
ram.)
Background, continued…
• Phrixus’s sister, Helle, fell off the ram over the
strait between Europe and Asia and drowned.
That strait now bears her name: the
Hellespont. Phrixus landed in modern Turkey,
were he was taken in by its king, Aetes.
Phrixus sacrificed the ram to Zeus (remember
who gave it to him…) and gave the fleece to
Aetes.
Background…
• Meanwhile, back in Greece, Phrixus’s uncle
was King. A guy named Pelias usurped the
throne. The ousted king’s son was Jason,
which makes Pelias Jason’s uncle, and Jason
the rightful heir to the throne.
• Why would Pelias offer Jason this means of
reclaiming the throne???
The prophesy….
• An oracle has foretold that Pelias would die at
the hands of a kinsman wearing one shoe.
Imagine his surprise when Jason walked in
with one shoe on! Jason said he had come to
claim the throne, and Pelias told him he would
give up the throne and kingdom if Jason
would go to Colchis (which is in Turkey) and
bring back the fleece.
• Look for UNDERSTATEMENT in the play.
• Look for SLANG in the play.
• Look for VERBAL IRONY in the play.
Argonauts’ journey
The Argonauts
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Heracles (Hercules)
Castor
Pollux
Orpheus
Achilles’ father Peleus
Atalanta
• Jason has a “sponsor” in his quest for the
fleece. Name this goddess.