Review of Mary Renaults The King Must Die

A detailed Summary of Review of Mary Renaults The King Must Die

Review of Mary Renault's The King Must Die

Mary Renault tells a wonderfully dashing tale of the classic Hero Theseus, who was said to have lived shortly before the time of the Trojan War. Although the book is very appealing to me the author did not follow the classic legends in several aspects. This can be a good technique and does bring newness to the story, however some departures changed the very fabric of the tale. In Renault's story many details are added that give the tale much more flavor. Finally, all told Mary Renault wrote a very believable tale of Theseus, and may have even done a better job than the ancients in bringing the story to life.

Mary Renault departed from the classic story of Theseus in the following ways. Theseus, in the classic legend was the cousin of Hercules and was built very much like him, Renault writes him as a smaller man with wit to make up for his size, and not a cousin of Hercules. Theseus does ponder on Hercules several times in the story, like he is a long dead hero. This is also misleading because Theseus and Hercules lived at the same time; they were in fact friends. In Euripides when Hercules is driven mad and kills his family, he is consoled

Mary Renault tells such a sweeping tale of the classic Hero Theseus, that I am sure even Euripides wound have approved of it. Although the book did not follow the classic legends in several aspects, this can be forgiven in most respects do to the excellent craftsmanship of the writer. Some departures changed the very fabric of the tale, and in these few examples, such as the changing of the sail, I have to argue that the story should not have been changed. In Renault's story the many details that have been added give the tale much more style and content in most instances. Mary Renault wrote a remarkably believable tale of ancient Athenian Hero, and in many ways did a better job than the ancients in bringing the story to life for masses.

The wonderful amount of detail that Renault adds to the story is amazing indeed. The way she wove in little details from the originals in a believable manner made the story much more fun and added an ancient flavor that I think would have been difficult to achieve otherwise. The little episodes with the string, for example, paralleling the legend in which Theseus carried the twine into the inescapable labyrinth to give him a means to leave after killing the Minota

Some common words found in the essay are:
Apollodorus Ovid, Euripides Hercules, Mary Renault, Theseus Euripides, Trojan War, Theseus Theseus, Bull Dance, Crete Theseus, Hercules Theseus, Athenian Hero, mary renault, renault's story, story theseus, classic hero theseus, bringing story life, legends aspects, changed fabric, story details, fabric tale, cousin hercules, departures changed, changed fabric tale, departures changed fabric, details added, tale classic hero,

Approximate Word count = 813
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: Miscellaneous

join now Save Paper

Saved Paper

Save your papers so you can locate them quickly!

Newest Essays

Testimonials

"Thank You So Much!!! You have saved me once again!!!"
Jack M.
"With so many papers to chose from, I was able to get ideas to help me with all of my classes. Thank You!"
Brian P.
"I've used this site for the last 3 years to help me come up with ideas for my papers."
Sara J.
"I use this site every week to help me write my own papers!"
Rachel W.
"I love this site!!!"
Marie N.