The Parallelism Between The Iliad And The Godfather
In chapter two that covers The Parallelism between The Iliad and The Godfather, we illustrated the generic transcendence of the hypotext, The Iliad that the hypertext, The Godfather inherited, by way of Genette’s architextuality. The outcome of this theory, first, showed that both the heroes of our case study are represented as extraordinary figures under the theme of the supernatural. Next, by applying Aristotle’s theory of tragedy on Achilles and Michael Corleone, we discovered that they are tragic heroes that fall under the tragic genre. Finally, due to the hypertext’s immoral themes of revenge and violence, we were able to associate it with the hypotext’s vile atmosphere, this is best summarized in Chris Messenger’s words: “The
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Through Bakhtin’s heteroglossia we were able to demonstrate Puzo’s heroes as multicultural figures in contrast to Achilles’s monocultural identity. Additionally, with his theory of the chronotope, a glance at historical changes were made possible in terms of modern breakdown of religion, and the advancement of cultures from ignorance to literateness, all identified through the heroes speeches and personality. This chapter changed our understanding of the novel by considering it a set of dialogues performed implicitly by the author, and explicitly by the characters. More importantly, by analyzing the speeches of the central characters in Puzo’s novel, we were able to bridge history, social languages, and cultures with literature, a practice unrealizable in the epic, to use Mikhail Bakhtin’s statement: “Genres of epic and novel were often seen as contrastive emblems of antiquity and modernity respectively, and the change in the fortunes of these genres as emblematic of the historical progression of culture and society.” (‘Epic, Novel, Genre’, Ahuvia Kahane, 52). Therefore, the process of novelization through time allowed it to acquire besides the epic genre other voices, or genres, allowing us to draw a hypothesis for the agents of change, particularly, the historical, social, and cultural reasons that led to the transformation of heroism
Through Bakhtin’s heteroglossia we were able to demonstrate Puzo’s heroes as multicultural figures in contrast to Achilles’s monocultural identity. Additionally, with his theory of the chronotope, a glance at historical changes were made possible in terms of modern breakdown of religion, and the advancement of cultures from ignorance to literateness, all identified through the heroes speeches and personality. This chapter changed our understanding of the novel by considering it a set of dialogues performed implicitly by the author, and explicitly by the characters. More importantly, by analyzing the speeches of the central characters in Puzo’s novel, we were able to bridge history, social languages, and cultures with literature, a practice unrealizable in the epic, to use Mikhail Bakhtin’s statement: “Genres of epic and novel were often seen as contrastive emblems of antiquity and modernity respectively, and the change in the fortunes of these genres as emblematic of the historical progression of culture and society.” (‘Epic, Novel, Genre’, Ahuvia Kahane, 52). Therefore, the process of novelization through time allowed it to acquire besides the epic genre other voices, or genres, allowing us to draw a hypothesis for the agents of change, particularly, the historical, social, and cultural reasons that led to the transformation of heroism