here's the essay I wrote on this prompt for my school is assume you had the same one lol
Explanation:
May 21, 2021
Interactions of Characters Shape the Theme in The Judgment of Midas
In “The Judgment of Midas”, based on Greek Mythology, Midas became friends with Dionysus, the god of wine, who offered him a gift. Midas was greedy and chose the golden touch where everything he touched turned to gold. He realized it was a terrible curse and begged the wine god to take it back. Later in his life, Midas was judged and music contest between the nature god, Pan, with his reed pipes, and Apollo, the music god, playing his golden lyre. Apollo was the winning choice for everyone except Midas. Due to his bitter experiences with gold, he could no longer see the music from Apollo’s Golden Lyre as beautiful and Apollo punished him by giving him donkey ears. So Apollo wants everyone to know that Midas had the musical taste of, and was stubborn as a donkey. The theme of “The Judgment of Midas” is don’t be greedy or unjust because there will be consequences and the interactions between the characters in the passage shape this theme.
The theme of “The Judgment of Midas” is shown through the interactions between Midas and Dionysus. Midas “had chanced to befriend Dionysus…; and when he was asked to choose some good gift in return, he prayed that everything he touched might be turned to gold”(2). He came to hate gold and begged “the gift that was a curse” to be taken away(2). Midas’s greediness causes him to be punished with a curse. Dionysus knew that too much of a good thing can be bad but let Midas be the judge of that so Midas could figure it out the hard way. Their interaction contributes to the theme of the passage to not be greedy and judge wrongly.
The interaction between Apollo and Midas in which Midas “refused to acknowledge Apollo lord of music” shapes the theme to not be greedy or judge unjustly because consequences follow(6). For Midas, “the looks of the god dazzled his eyes unpleasantly and put him in mind of his foolish wish years before. For him there was no music in a golden lyre!”(6). Midas was wrong and unfair when he contradicted Apollo was the winner of the contest and choose Pan instead. So Apollo did “not leave such dull ears unpunished. At a word from him they grew long, pointed, furry, and able to turn this way and that (like a poplar leaf)—a plain warning to musicians. Midas had the ears of a donkey, for everyone to see!”(7). Apollo punished Midas for judging unfairly. The theme of “The judgment of Midas” is that there are consequences for bad actions like being greedy or judgmental and the interactions between characters develop that theme.
In “The Judgment of Midas”, the theme is there is punishment for bad actions such as greed or unfair judgment. The interactions between the character of Midas with Dionysus and Apollo shape that theme throughout the passage. Dionysus gives Midas a reward but he is greedy for gold and gets cursed instead. Then he is unfair to Apollo in a music contest because of his bad memories of gold so Apollo punishes what he believes is bad taste in music by giving him Donkey ears. The character Midas gets punished multiple times because of the bad things he does. The interactions between characters in “The Judgment of Midas” shape the theme of the passage.
