Mr. Varnell
Creation Essay
The Genesis and Greek creation stories are both similar and different in how they use literary archetypes.
Both the Greek and Genesis creation stories utilize the villain archetype. “Cronus swallowed each of his children as they were born” (Greek Creation). This proves that Cronus is filling the role of the villain archetype. His lust for power is so great that he selfishly sacrifices his own children. “The tree –of-life was in the middle of the garden, also the Tree-of-knowledge-of-Good-and-evil” (Genesis Story). In some way the Tree of Eden played the villain archetype it was a temptation to Eve. Beside the serpent it was half of the problem in the Genesis story. These examples show both stories using the villain archetype.
The Greek and Genesis creation stories also contrast, with the former having an epic battle or father/son and the latter a garden archetype. “The Hecatoncheires rained down hundreds of boulders with such a fury the Titans thought the mountains were falling on them. They broke and ran giving Zeus victory” (Greek Creation). Zeus and his allies fought in an epic against the titans. Zeus waited his whole life for this battle between his father and him. “Cain had words with his brother. They were out in the field; Cain came at Abel his brother and killed him” (Genesis Story). Cain’s anger and jealousy led him to kill his own brother, which would be a perfect example for sibling rivalry. Cain decided he couldn't take it anymore, so it resulted in his epic battle with his brother. Both the Greek and Genesis story use lots of different archetype examples, they use this to defy their stories.