▶ Your Answer :
Lucius Annaeus Seneca is one of the most talented playwrights in Rome, but his literature is not frequently studied in world literature classes. Both the reading passage and the lecture discuss whether or not Seneca’s literature is suitable to be mentioned in world literature classes. The reading passage believes that the literature of Seneca is underrated in these days. However, the lecture contradicts the reading’s points with opposing views.
To begin with, while the reading passage argues that Seneca’s works influenced a lot of later authors, especially Shakespeare directly imitated his style in one of his works. However, the lecture actually points out that it is not an enough reason for studying Seneca’s works in world literature classes. He says that even though studying various kinds of work is helpful to students, class time is limited and choices have to be made. Thus, most professors focus on Shakespeare’s works. Also, he states that most readers do not have any difficulty to enjoy what they saw even without learning about Seneca’s works.
On top of that, the reading passage suggests that Seneca has great importance on tragedies. However, the lecture denies the reading’s idea by saying that the beauty illustrated in his works is undercut. The madness and the logic stated in his works are disgusting and too violent. The lecturer insists that the details he gives are too gruesome, which makes his literature totally impossible to focus on anything but violence He talks about one of his works describing an evil uncle who cooked his two nephews and served to their father for dinner as an example.
Furthermore, the reading passage maintains that his works are worthwhile since his plays are the only complete examples of Roman tragedy. However, the lecture claims that with the only reason that he is a Roman tragedian is not adequate for students to learn in general world literature lectures. It is mostly for those students who major in ancient history or ancient Roman civilization. The lecturer asserts that professors should carefully make syllabus and Seneca’s plays do not fit the bill.
For these reasons, the lecture refutes the reading’s idea that Seneca’s literature is worthy of studying in general world literature sessions as an ancient Roman playwright. |