Sign Up Now
Get instant access to over 1 million+ study documents
OR
Already registered? click here to login
By creating your account, you agree to our terms of service, privacy policy and student honor code.
Sebrina Whitener
The "Hitler Myth": Image and Reality in the Third Reich
I chose Hitler as my subject for a variety of reasons, most of which will be discussed as I outline the most important parts of this book. Hitler, in history, has always stood out to me as somewhat of a mythical figure. A man who has left an indelible mark of evil in our time and in our minds. But with all powers of both good and evil, these stories of men and of events have a tendency to grow in size and in truth over time. This is why I chose The "Hitler Myth" as my book. I wanted to understand the persona and power behind this man.
Based largely on the reports of government officials, party agencies, and political opponents, Ian Kershaw's book details the creation, growth, and decline of the "Hitler myth." As an author, he demonstrates the integrating forces within the Third Reich and shows us how it was a vital element in the attainment of Nazi political aims. According to him, the Nazis used "image-building"...
Kershaw greatly enhances our understanding of the German people's attitudes and behavior under Nazi rule and the psychology behind Hitler's persona. (318)
"Hitler's Myth" helps us understand just what went into the damage and domination of Hitler and how he was able to attain such power. He shows us how much game-playing and other mind magic went into his acts of evil and how he got so many of the Germans to follow him in his plight.
Over time, myth becomes its own thing regardless of reality. It generates its own images. "The sense of history not only dictates perception of the past, but is a template for the future which will "repeat" the past. Historical myth is one type of "fact" that must be decoded as well as courageously doubted." (128) For, as we know only too well, the myth of the Holocaust has for forty years been more compelling than reality, and not only for people of Jewish descent. This is something the…
Bibliography
Kershaw, Ian. The "Hitler Myth": Image and Reality in the Third Reich. Oxford: Clarendon Press; New York: Oxford University Press, 1987.
Mythology The classical myths of Greece and Rome have much in common with medieval myths, because ultimately, all myths have elements in common. The Greek and Roman myths dwell most often on heroes, Gods, and Goddesses. Their characters are larger than life - someone the reader can look up to. Medieval myths also heavily rely on heroes who commit heroic deeds, such as Charlemagne and King Arthur. One difference is many
With respect to the mythology of the male gods, Zeus, Apollo, and Hephaestus seem to be a combination that matches the dynamism of their female goddess counterparts. These gods represent the good and the bad of males; they also represent the spectrum of power and balance of male energy. There is no one god or goddess myth that I feel fully represents the tension between male and female gods because
Interestingly, Venus is a goddess of love, beauty, and fertility, which is significant, since she was literally created from the male genitalia, and males were more strongly linked to sexuality than females, even at that point in Roman history. In the rest of Roman and Greek mythology, Venus/Aphrodite generally plays a benevolent role, though she does use influence women to use their sexuality in inappropriate ways, such as the
"Yeats's flight into fairyland begins in his early childhood with Celtic folklore, 'the chief influence of [his] youth,' and climaxes in his early twenties with the 1888 publication of his first book" (Ben-Merre 2008). Yeats was commissioned to "gather and record the fairy and folk tales of the Irish peasantry" in what eventually became Fairy and Folk Tales of the Irish Peasantry (Foster 76). "The collection includes descriptions of
Myth Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings follows the basic concepts and structures of classical mythology, including having heroes who embark on journeys of self-discovery, and those journeys of self-discovery are often thrust upon them. For example, Odysseus in Homer's Odyssey did not want to get thrown off course after the Trojan War. It was Athena and Poseidon's fighting that led to Odysseus's fateful storm that caused him to flit from
However, there are everything from language barriers to misunderstandings and demands between mothers and daughters. In this, it could be the story of any mother and daughter anywhere, because it tells the tale of two different generations with different ideas and different aspirations. The characters reconcile in the end, so as in many myths, the ending is "happy" and gives hope for the future, and teaches a lesson at