This quote brings me back to the discussion we had in class on the spectrum of insanity and evil and how the two are separate but overlap. Raskol's inability to contain his laughter reveals he's bordering on the edge of insanity if he hadn't already crossed over. The imagery in reference to the redness of his face confuses the tone of the act of Raskol's recent crime to his current giggly and childlike state through the reference of something as naturally beautiful as a peony, and dramatizes his current mental state.

I think the irony implored in Don Quixote's obsession with naming is really interesting as I thought more about it after our discussion in class today (sorry abut the late homework!). By being so obsessed with living his life as the character he imagined, Don Quixote even went as far as to rename the "characters" in his adventure in order to have them fulfill a role he deemed crucial to the story. Ironically, this severely limited the character's attributes to the singular one he named them after. For example Dulcinea could've be an incredibly dynamic, intelligent, adventurous person (the type we like to read about), but instead because of Don Quixote's desire to live a fantasy, he inevitably limited her role and the roles of the people around him.

I found this passage interesting because the stanza begins with a line that is reminiscent of a Homeric simile. Although this simile is not continued over several lines, the use of "As" at the beginning of the sentence and "so" to signal the transition was the structure used in every epic simile we've encountered thus far. Here it appears that the bride is emphasizing her groom's rarity among a pool of otherwise bland or unimportant men. I think the next line is also important to note because it reintroduces patriarchal values as the bride "sat in his shadow," a line with multiple meanings in the context of this poem.

I find that Odysseus’s unrelenting will to return to his family is among his most admirable qualities. Even in modern standards, it would be hard to have faith in a man who literally has goddesses throwing themselves at him. Although he is prideful, conceited, and otherwise an overall very flawed person I do believe that his returning to his family and saving his wife will inevitably be his redemption arc in this epic.

This line, through a menacing tone, is intended to signify the beginning of Hektor’s decline. Before this major shifting point in the story, Hektor has been portrayed as among the most “reasonable” in the ranks of the Trojans. Before this point his authority had not been put into any question, and had it been, his character would’ve been expected to take others into account. Instead this confrontation between Hektor and Poulydamas is reminiscent of the encounter between Agamemnon and Thersites in the beginning of the epic. Recalling this incident, Thersites had acted as a voice of reason-- bringing into question Agamemnon’s pride as well as the end goal of the Trojan War. The similarities between these two encounters-- both involving authority figures, both offering warning, and both resulting in the anger of those called into question-- reveals a parallel between the opposing forces that rule the epic, reinforcing the blurred distinctions of good and bad in the fight for glory.