As I read through The Tain I found it difficult to follow at some points. Luckily the story came together as I read the introduction and the notes in the back. Although the tale is told well, I wish that the notes were written in context of the story. Although the notes helped to understand the story I didn't take the time to read the notes until the story was over, this caused me not to have all of the information while reading the story.
The Tain and the other myths we've read this semester have been very different from other books that I've read past year. I think female heroins are very important in the stories and Medb was not a terrible lead female character. She started a war all because she was not equal to her husband in cattle, but she was equal in everything else. She would do whatever it takes in order to become equal including wealth, land and sexual favors; she seems like such a spoiled brat.
Exactly - she reminds me very much of Achilles!
ReplyDeleteI also found it difficult to follow along at quite a few points. This definitely wasn't my favorite myth and it was hard for me to get "into" it. But, I enjoyed it nonetheless.
Megan,
ReplyDeleteLike you I didn't read the notes until the end of the story. I actually noticed the little numbers throughout the text and knew there were notes somewhere but didnt find them until after I read the whole story. I wish I would have read them as I was reading the story. And I agree, I also thought Medb was a spoiled brat!