"Cassandra"

Paper Summary:

This paper discusses the novel, "Cassandra," written by Christa Wolf. It discusses how the novel is a woman's view on war and why it is given such importance. The paper discusses the plot of the story and the style in which Wolf wrote it. The paper briefly compares Wolf's "Cassandra" with Homer's "Iliad" which is an account written by a man on the same topic.

From the Paper:

"In Cassandra however, he can still boast but doesn't always get away with it. In a rather accusatory and insulting tone, Wolf referred to Achilles in this way: "A fiend in battle so that everyone would see he was not a coward, he did not know what to do with himself once the fighting was done...And this is the man to whom Calchas the seer later had to turn over his daughter." (83) Cassandra believed that Achilles' brave soldier act was but only a facade. While Homer mentions facts to capture the essence of Achilles' personality, Wolf uses observation and perception to get her results. The bottom line was the same in both cases: Achilles was an arrogant fool. But Homer said it in much different manner than Wolf. And this is what sets Cassandra apart from male accounts of Trojan War."

Sample of Sources Used:

• McDonald, W. E. "Who's Afraid of Wolf's Cassandra-or Cassandra's Wolf?: Male Tradition and Women's Knowledge in Cassandra." Journal of Narrative Technique. Ypsilanti, MI (JNT). 1990 Fall, 20:3, 267-283.
• Russi, Roger Ph.D. Dialogues of Epic Figures: Christa Wolf's Kassandra, Monique Wittig's Les Geurilleres, and Marion Zimmer Bradley's The Firebrand. Diss. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 1993. Ann Arbor: A Bell & Howell Company, 1993.
• Wolf, Christa. Cassandra: A Novel and Four Essays. Trans. Jan Van Heurck. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, Inc, 1984.
• West, Stephanie. "Christa Wolf's Kassandra: a Classical Perspective." Oxford German Studies (OGS). 1991-1992, 20-21, 164-85.

More papers on "Cassandra":

• Essay # 68088 : "Cassandra: A Woman Scorned "
• Analytical Essay # 64866 : "Cassandra in "Agamemnon"
• Essay # 10022 : "Why Clytaemnestra Must Kill Cassandra"

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