Atalanta is beautiful and fierce. She is in love with Meleager, but she want's to be a warrior. The only daughter of a king, she defies tradition and dresses up as a man in order to hunt with the men. Unfortunately, Meleager is betrothed to another, so their love is forbidden. She can outrun any man, but has the same flaw of any female: she loves beautiful things. During the hunt, she hits the boar with her arrow, and then Meleager deals the death blow. When he gives her the prize, she is revealed to be a woman. This makes Meleager's brothers very angry, and they make some disrespectful comments. Meleager kills them to defend her honor, and Atalanta returns to her home.
Lines from Atalanta:
"I am as good as any man on earth
yet I am woman born and cursed to watch
while others fight for glory and for gold.
That I were born an Amazon warrior
Or son to someday rule my father's throne."
"Alas, my love, you are not meant for me
Yet why should I mourn that which cannot be
Better to be free than shackled to man
Better to fight than subject to man."
Rebecca, did you write those lines? cause they are in perfect iambic pentameter as long as you pronounce warrior with only 2 syllables. that's impressive. I can't wait to get together and work out a plot line. for all this.
ReplyDeleteThanks Kent! Honestly, I just started playing with words in my head until they sounded right. I think we managed to really hammer out the details on our plot last night.
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