Did this particular tropos exist in old texts?

Discussion about the New Testament, apocrypha, gnostics, church fathers, Christian origins, historical Jesus or otherwise, etc.
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Giuseppe
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Did this particular tropos exist in old texts?

Post by Giuseppe »

The question is about this tropos:
  • the hero of the story defeats various enemies,
  • one in particular of these enemies is defeated again and again by the hero of the story, sometimes even in a grotesque way,
  • differently from other enemies, this particular enemy never dies, to make the point that he returns to attack, only to be defeated again and again by the hero of the story.
  • Usually, this particular enemy has a particular fate in the end of the story of the hero.
  • The function of the fate of this particular enemy is to exalt, by contrast, the force of the hero of the story.
I have seen in action this tropos in a modern TV fiction, where the enemy-always-loser is this guy.

The tropos appears to figure also in Life of Josephus, where the hero (Josephus himself) defeats again and again his enemy Jesus b. Sapphat, so I wonder if there is some irony in the Josephus's episode of the three crucified, assuming that the survived among them was just Jesus b. Sapphat.

Are there other examples?
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GakuseiDon
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Re: Did this particular tropos exist in old texts?

Post by GakuseiDon »

Giuseppe wrote: Sun Aug 01, 2021 10:29 pm The question is about this tropos:
  • the hero of the story defeats various enemies,
  • one in particular of these enemies is defeated again and again by the hero of the story, sometimes even in a grotesque way,
  • differently from other enemies, this particular enemy never dies, to make the point that he returns to attack, only to be defeated again and again by the hero of the story.
...
Are there other examples?
Wow! It's as if they are talking about you and me! :cheers: As the old saying goes: 'Everyone thinks they're Batman, but really they're a Batman villain. Even Batman.'
Giuseppe
Posts: 13732
Joined: Mon Apr 27, 2015 5:37 am
Location: Italy

Re: Did this particular tropos exist in old texts?

Post by Giuseppe »

:thumbup: :lol:
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