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Tre kvinnor vid graven: Om Markusevangeliet och Iliaden

Sturesson, Maria LU (2013) TEOM72 20122
Centre for Theology and Religious Studies
Abstract
In the Homeric Epics and the Gospel of Mark Dennis R. MacDonald concludes that the author of Mark’s Gospel wrote a story recalling motifs and themes of Homeric epics, and that the Gospel of Mark imitated those epics with regard to characters, plot elements, and even emulated the elements used.The approach of MacDonald is intriguing yet it fails to discuss the consequences of such a relation for the interpretation of the Gospel.

Using an intertextual approach, this essay attempts to compare the motif of the women at the grave, in Mark’s Gospel and the Iliad. And the question of the thesis is what an intertextual comparison of this motif might render for the understanding of the abrupt ending of Mark. The intertextual analysis of the... (More)
In the Homeric Epics and the Gospel of Mark Dennis R. MacDonald concludes that the author of Mark’s Gospel wrote a story recalling motifs and themes of Homeric epics, and that the Gospel of Mark imitated those epics with regard to characters, plot elements, and even emulated the elements used.The approach of MacDonald is intriguing yet it fails to discuss the consequences of such a relation for the interpretation of the Gospel.

Using an intertextual approach, this essay attempts to compare the motif of the women at the grave, in Mark’s Gospel and the Iliad. And the question of the thesis is what an intertextual comparison of this motif might render for the understanding of the abrupt ending of Mark. The intertextual analysis of the motif of three women by the grave shows that there are few similarities between the Gospel and the epic. The differences, however, are of importance when it comes to understanding the
expression of Mark’s story. The contrasts between the stories of life and death, silence and speech become the inverted themes of the intertextual reading of the motif. The characters themselves are portrayed in different narrative modes, in Mark through focalizing, and in the Iliad, through the characters’ own speeches.
Similar to both stories are the women’s actions as actions that refect on the whole narrative itself. The reported silence in the end of Mark points to the story itself as an instance of tragic irony. The
laments of Andromache, Hecuba and Helen in Iliad 24 refect the whole epic by the adress to different parts of the war and their speeches thus become a narrative mise-en-abyme. Implied throughout the study of intertextuality between the Gospel of Mark, and the Iliad,
then, is the question of women’s narrative and narration. In the Iliad the lamenting women become an image of the poet while in the Gospel of Mark the women are silenced. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Sturesson, Maria LU
supervisor
organization
course
TEOM72 20122
year
type
H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
subject
keywords
Mark 16, women, Iliad 24, intertextuality, female narration, narratology
language
Swedish
id
3450799
date added to LUP
2013-02-11 09:45:41
date last changed
2015-12-14 13:35:27
@misc{3450799,
  abstract     = {{In the Homeric Epics and the Gospel of Mark Dennis R. MacDonald concludes that the author of Mark’s Gospel wrote a story recalling motifs and themes of Homeric epics, and that the Gospel of Mark imitated those epics with regard to characters, plot elements, and even emulated the elements used.The approach of MacDonald is intriguing yet it fails to discuss the consequences of such a relation for the interpretation of the Gospel.

Using an intertextual approach, this essay attempts to compare the motif of the women at the grave, in Mark’s Gospel and the Iliad. And the question of the thesis is what an intertextual comparison of this motif might render for the understanding of the abrupt ending of Mark. The intertextual analysis of the motif of three women by the grave shows that there are few similarities between the Gospel and the epic. The differences, however, are of importance when it comes to understanding the
expression of Mark’s story. The contrasts between the stories of life and death, silence and speech become the inverted themes of the intertextual reading of the motif. The characters themselves are portrayed in different narrative modes, in Mark through focalizing, and in the Iliad, through the characters’ own speeches.
Similar to both stories are the women’s actions as actions that refect on the whole narrative itself. The reported silence in the end of Mark points to the story itself as an instance of tragic irony. The
laments of Andromache, Hecuba and Helen in Iliad 24 refect the whole epic by the adress to different parts of the war and their speeches thus become a narrative mise-en-abyme. Implied throughout the study of intertextuality between the Gospel of Mark, and the Iliad,
then, is the question of women’s narrative and narration. In the Iliad the lamenting women become an image of the poet while in the Gospel of Mark the women are silenced.}},
  author       = {{Sturesson, Maria}},
  language     = {{swe}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{Tre kvinnor vid graven: Om Markusevangeliet och Iliaden}},
  year         = {{2013}},
}