The following characters and events are common allusions in poetry and prose. Knowing them well will help you raise your AP score. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ In Genesis, Abraham was asked by God to sacrifice hisbeloved son, Isaac. Abraham got ready to obey. At thelast moment, his hand was stayed by an angel of theLord. Isaac was spared and Abraham received theLord’s blessing.This story is symbolic of man’swillingness to make the ultimate sacrifice to demonstrate his faith and trust in God. It is also symbolic of the idea that faith shall be rewarded. In Samuel II, Absalom was David’s favorite son who was killed in battle while attempting to usurp his father’s throne. David grieved: “O my son Absalom, my son, my son Absalom!”The word alludes to paternal grief, and to a lost and faithless son. William Faulkner usedAbsalom! Absalom!as the title of the novel. In Greek legend, Achilles was the hero of Homer’s Iliadwho was the model of valor and beauty. He slew the Trojan hero Hector but was himself invulnerable to wounds because his mother Thetis had held him by the heel and dipped him in the river Styx. Later he was slain by Paris who shot an arrow into his heel, which had not gotten wet.Today the term, “Achilles’ heel” refers to the vulnerable part of a person’s character. In Greek mythology, at Byblosin Lebanon a beautiful baby boy was born and left without parents to care for him.Aphroditefell in love with him, and placed him in the care of the goddess of the underworld for safekeeping. Unfortunately when she went back to claim the boy, the other woman had also fallen in love with him and would not give him up. As a compromise it was agreed the boy would live half of the year with each of them. Nurtured by the love of these two women,he grew into a handsome and influential young man in the hills above Byblos. He became known as'adon, which meant "lord," and then as Adonis. Tragically, one of the male gods became jealous of Adonis. The rival changed himself into a wild boar and fatally gored the handsome young man. As Adonis lay dying in the arms of Aphrodite, drops of his blood spilled out and stained the anemone flower crimson red . This symbolizes death and resurrection; the ills of youth and beauty, and the ills ofjealousy. In Greek mythology, he was the king who sacrificed his daughter Iphigenia to win the gods’ favor for his war against Troy. Also of Orestes and Electra and unfaithful husband of Clytemnestra.Daughter of Oedipus who performed funeral rites over her brother Polynices in defiance of Creon’s order.Her story can be seen as symbolic of the choice between the gods’ authority and civil authority, or the choice between justice and law.
