Jules Verne1) Examine source 5.1. What audience do you think this image was made for?
Hint: Look at the people in the image. 2) What is the intention of the image [5.1]? What purpose does it serve? 3) Does Source 5.1 tell you anything useful about the Kraken's mythology? 4) What are some of the limitations of Source 5.1? Is it reliable? Hint: Look at the date, nationality and other features. |
Ancient Creatures1) What does source 5.3 tell you about the Scylla?
2) By the language, can you tell what audience this was directed to? 3) How useful is this source? Does it tell you anything about sea monsters? 4) Does the Scylla have a very similar resemblance to the Kraken? If so, how? 5) Do you think Scylla and Kraken are directly related in folklore somehow? Why do you think that? |
SKYLLA (or Scylla) was a monstrous sea goddess who haunted the rocks of certain narrow strait opposite the whirlpool daemon Kharybdis. Ships who sailed too close to her rocks would lose six men to her ravenous, darting heads. Homer describes Skylla as a creature with twelve dangling feet, six long necks and grisly heads lined with a triple row of sharp teeth. Her voice was likened to the yelping of dogs. This description of Skylla is probably derived from the imagery of words associated with her name : namely, "hermit-crab" (Greek skyllaros), "dog" and "dog-shark" (skylax), and "to rend" (skyllô). In classical art she was depicted as a fish-tailed sea-goddess with a cluster of canine fore-parts surrounding her waist.
5.3 |
Pierre Dénys de Montfort1) In Source 5.4, do you think Montfort has overreacted to the French sailor's reaction of "squids attacking his ship"? Why/why not?
2) Montfort often presented his artworks to authority as proof of the Kraken. Do you believe this would be acceptable? Why/why not? 3) How useful are Sources 5.4 and 5.5 of explaining Montfort's scientific goals? 4) How reliable are 5.4 and 5.5 at the legitimacy of the Kraken's existence? |
Moby Dick1) What do you think the "wild voice" was trying to say about the squid that they had just encountered?
2) What creature was Melville making homage to and why do you think this is? 3) Were the people of the time aware of the Kraken? 4) Do you think that this chapter of Moby Dick involving the Kraken would have highlighted this? |
Starbuck still gazing at the agitated waters where it had sunk, with a wild voice exclaimed- "Almost rather had I seen Moby Dick and fought him, than to have seen thee, thou white ghost!"
"What was it, Sir?" said Flask. "The great live squid, which, they say, few whale-ships ever beheld, and returned to their ports to tell of it." 5.6 |
Image & text sources
Sarah Sawyer. (2011). Mythic Creatures: The Kraken. Available: http://www.sarahsawyer.com/2010/10/mythic-creatures-the-kraken/. Last accessed 30/8/14.
Édouard Riou. (1864). The Illustrated Jules Verne. Available: http://jv.gilead.org.il/rpaul/Voyage%20au%20centre%20de%20la%20terre/. Last accessed 30/8/14.
Aaron J. Atsma. (2000). SCYLLA: Sea Monster. Available: http://www.theoi.com/Pontios/Skylla.html. Last accessed 30/8/14.
Édouard Riou. (1864). The Illustrated Jules Verne. Available: http://jv.gilead.org.il/rpaul/Voyage%20au%20centre%20de%20la%20terre/. Last accessed 30/8/14.
Aaron J. Atsma. (2000). SCYLLA: Sea Monster. Available: http://www.theoi.com/Pontios/Skylla.html. Last accessed 30/8/14.