The Myth of Osiris and Isis

Nove Joy L. Deleña
Title: The Myth of Osiris and Isis
Author: Anonymous
Literary Type and form: Folktales/ Myth
Literary Approach: Mythological Criticism
I - Elements of the story
Main Characters
 Osiris
 Protagonist
 Egyptian Pharoah who
rigned over Egypt in the
very early beginings
 King of the dead
 Isis
 Protagonist
 Sister & wife of Osiris
 Harpocrates
 Protagonist
 Horus the infant, son of
Osiris
 Seth
 Antagonist
 Evil brother of Osiris.
 Cruel and jealous of Osiris
 Ra
 King of the gods.
 Nut
 Sky goddess, mother of
Osiris.
 Geb
 Earth God, father of Osiris.
 Thoth
 God of wisdom.
 Silene
 Moon goddess.
 Horus
 Brother of Osiris.
 Seth
 Evil brother of Osiris.
 Cruel and jealous of Osiris
 Nephthys
 Sister of Osiris
a. Settings
 Land of Babylos
 Phoenicia
 Red Sea
 Set in Egypt
b. Plot (Traditional structure)
 Introduction/Exposition
The story begins first son of Geb and Nut,
Osiris was tall, slender, and handsome, with jet
black hair. When his father, Geb, gave up the
reigning power over Egypt and retired into the
heavens, Osiris took over the kingship and
married his sister, the beautiful Isis. Under his
wise authority the Egyptians were persuaded to
renounce cannibalism. He taught them farming
and the pleasures of music, and he framed a just
legal code for them. Egypt flourished peacefully
under his rule. Meanwhile, Osiris, Isis husband
went off to civilize the rest of the world and
brought the same blessings to Europe
 Rising Action
The rising action of this story is when his
ugly and evil brother with red, coarse hair like an
ass's pelt. This was Set, a born plotter who
envied the power and attractiveness of his elder
brother. Set had another reason for hating Osiris:
His own wife, Nephthys, had conceived a child
by Osiris — the jackal-headed Anubis. By bribery
and cunning Set gained many allies during
Osiris' absence, and together they devised a
plan for the king's death.
 Climax
The climax of the story is when Isis
learned of her husband's death she traveled
along the Nile in the deepest grief, searching for
the chest containing Osiris. She found Anubis,
who had been abandoned by Nephthys, and she
nursed and educated him. Isis continued looking
for Osiris through repeated discouragements,
until one day she learned the chest had sailed to
Phoenicia, where a tamarisk tree had enveloped
it within its trunk.
 Falling Action
Aided by Nephthys, Isis revived Osiris
through magic and conceived a son by him. And
Set then put her in prison, from which she
escaped with the help of Anubis. Isis fled to the
swamps of the Nile delta and, living like a
peasant, she gave birth to Osiris' son, Horus the
hawk, born to avenge his father's murder. Horus
suffered intense pains throughout his childhood,
and only his mother's witchcraft managed to
save him. Horus grew to manhood as a valiant.
 Resolution

The story Together Horus and Isis
pursued Set, and when they met the fighting was
even more intense. Set managed to grab Horus'
eye and tear it out, but Horus wrested it back
and finally drove Set into the Red Sea forever.
 Conflict
Man vs. Man
(Protagonist against Another)
c. Point of View
In this story the point of view is third
person or omniscient. The narrator is telling the
story.
d. Theme
The theme that being portrayed to this
story is struggle between the powers of good
and evil.
II - Interpretation of the Title.
The Egyptian myth entitled “the myth of
Osiris and Isis”, the main figures of the myth
symbolize the physical features of Egypt itself.
Thus, Osiris represents the Nile with its annual
flooding and withdrawal; Isis represents the
fertile farm land of Egypt, which was made
fecund by the Nile; Set represents the arid desert
that separates the Nile and the fertile land; while
Nephthys stands for the marginal areas between
the farm land and desert. This naturalistic
approach may stem from the fact that the lineage
of these gods symbolized forces of nature —
earth, sky, air, moisture, the sun.
III - Gained Insights
The main features of the myth are largely
moral, depicting the eternal struggle between the
powers of good and evil. One point worth
remarking about some Egyptian gods, such as
Ra, Shu, and Geb, is that they suffer the same
vicissitudes as earthly monarchs. They reign for
a while in Egypt, their power begins to dwindle,
and they retire into the sky, leaving their kingdom
to a son. Moreover, Osiris has a mortal body and
dies like any man. And he must be restored to
life through magic and love. One can link this to
the annual death and rebirth of vegetation, but it
has more to do with the idea of the soul's
immortality and a regeneration beyond the
grave.
The myth of Isis and Osiris illustrates the
power of love and how it can transform us
irrevocably. For over three thousand years—
before 3000 b.c. to the second century a.d.—Isis
was worshiped in Egypt as the mother goddess
of the universe. She had two brothers, Osiris and
Set. Osiris was responsible for the fertile soil and
Set ruled the barren desert.
Nove Joy L. Deleña
Title: The Happy Man
Author: Naguib Mahfouz
Literary Type and form: Prose Fiction/Short
Story
Literary Approach: Psychological Criticism
e. Characters and characterization
The happy man
 He is the protagonist.
 He is on the state of mind of being
stressed in work until he realizes
that he is happy.
Happiness
 The happy man’s antagonist.
Bashir
 The man’s servant
 He is low-class, and not closed
with his master.
 He gets embarrassed when the
man asked him if he considered a
happy man, because it was the
first time addressing him as a
companion or friend.
 He is a static character because
his personality remains the same
throughout the story.
The Doctors/therapists/psychiatrists
 These are the professional
individuals that the man sought for
help.
 They are too static characters, for
they are nothing more than what
their job was.
f. Settings
The settings change throughout the story
since it is in the view of his daily life.
 Home
 Office

 Many different medical clinics
 Meeting hall of the newspaper
building (where he works)
 Set in Egypt
 The main setting of this story is in
the clinic.
g. Plot (Traditional Structure)
The story begins the “Happy Man” is
introduced and shows how unbelievably happy
he is. His usual mood is the opposite, “for he
usually got up with a terrible headache from
working late hours or with a hangover from too
much drinking in wild parties”. He explains this
abrupt happiness as if his organs were”
functioning in perfect harmony with an
overwhelming feeling
 Rising Action
The rising action of this story is when the
man starts to seeks explanation of his
overbearing happiness. Because of too much
confusion towards his emotion cause him to start
loosing sleep and miss work.
 Climax
The climax in the story is when he
realizes that he can no longer continue his life
being this happy so he decides that there is
something wrong with him, his emotions and he
goes to different clinics to seek help from the
psychiatrist.
 Falling Action
The falling action occurs when the man
visits many different clinics to find explanations
and answers to his overbearing happiness and
tries to figure out his internal conflict. Until he
found a specialist that encounters similar cases
and recommends him to go to session twice a
week.
 Resolution
The story ends with him at last he
found a specialist that encounters similar cases
and recommends him to go to session twice a
week. In the end he decided to finally accept his
happiness.
h. Conflict
Person vs. Self
The man’s conflict takes place within
himself. He is fighting with himself and feels like
the life he used to live is far away from the
reality.
i. Point of View
In the story “the happy man”, the point of
view is third person or omniscient. The narrator
is telling the story.
j. Theme
The theme of the short story portrays
what “happiness” and how this contributes to
being human. Normal human feel various
emotions; happiness, anger, excitement,
sadness, madness and etc. That having
overbearing happiness is impossible; this story
also looks at self-identity, his outlook on life and
pressures as well as values.
II - Interpretation of the Title
The short story entitled “The Happy Man”,
the title itself emphasize the fact that the
happiness he feels became everything for him,
because he could only feel happiness and no
other emotions. To be human needs to feel
various emotions and face different phases of life
and gain experiences to feel that the life that you
live is worth living. The word “happy”, was the
definite word that would describe him.
A philosophy of life that emphasizes
personal choice and subjectivity, which is the
idea that our everyday choices, actions and
reactions determine who and what we are. In the
happy man the significant theme is what it
means to be human. It could be explained by
three aspects. The pressure and reality derived
from this world is waiting us to face, the
sentiments we experienced enrich our life and
add flavor to the outlook of life and the most
importantly, to create self-identity.
His short term goal is to get an answer to
why he is so happy.
“ I haven’t come to see you because I’m ill but
because I’m happy!” “Happiness is not the key to
life”. We need to capable feel of various
emotions to feel that we’re human and in order to
have a balanced life. In the story definitely shows
us that without experiencing various emotions;

happiness, anger, excitement, sadness,
madness and etc., we can’t have a balanced life.
Nove Joy L. Deleña
Title: The Peasant who became King
Author/Reference: Baldonado, R.S. Franco.
A.O.,et al. (2013), Readings From World
Literature. Great Books Publishing: Quezon
City
Literary Type and form: Prose Fiction/Folktale
Literary Approach: Mythological Criticism
a. Characters and characterization
Main Characters
 Anubis/Anpu
 Elder brother of Bata
 Bata
 Protagonist
 Younger brother of Anpu
 Have a good heart (divine
heart)
Minor Character
 Wife of Anpu
 Who attempt to seduce Bata
 Antagonist
 Pharaoh
 Wife of Bata
 God Ra
 The gracious God who
helped Bata.
b. Settings
 In the house
 Field
 Near the river and valley of Acacia
 Egypt
c. Plot (Traditional structure)
In this Egyptian myth there were once two
brothers the eldest named Anpu and the younger
one named Bata. The younger one Bata lived
with his eldest brother and his wife, were Bata
lived with Anpu as he were his own son. Bata
was the person who drove the oxen to the field, it
was he who also ploughed the field, and who
harvested the grain.
 Rising Action
Anpu’s wife got jealous of Bata and
decided to destroy him to his brother. She made
an evil plan, where she made a romantic gesture
and asked the younger brother Bata to lay with
her in which Bata denied. Upon Anpu’s return he
found his wife laying on the floor in total
darkness and asked what was wrong. The
Anpu’s wife lied by accusing the younger brother
Bata of attempting to hurt her and lay with her.
 Climax
Anubis/Anpu the eldest brother attempts
to kill his younger brother Bata, who flees and
prays to Re-Harakhti to save him from his
brother. The god creates a crocodile-infested
lake between the two brothers, across which
Bata is finally able to appeal to his brother and
share his side of the events.
 Falling Action
The brother discussed the whole story
behind the matter and found out the truth. Anpu
went home and found his wife washing the paint
off. Anpu killed his wife.
 Resolution
The resolution in the story is when Anpu
realized the mistake he had done to his brother
while his brother found peace living in the valley
of the Acacia.
d. Conflict
Man vs. Man
(Bata vs. Anpu’s wife)
e. Point of View
The point of view of the story is third person
or omniscient, because the story talks about the
experience of Bata.
f. Theme
The theme of the story is life process where it
tells the experience of the two brothers.
II - Interpretation of the Title
The story of "The Peasant who became
King" describes how a farmer or a laborer who
had been experienced and passed the wrath of
his brother, Anpu restore himself goes
adventures and became king. Good traits, faith
and efforts bring him to the peek. The tale also
has traits peculiar to ancient Egypt, notably that
the main characters are gods as well as kings.

Bata and Anubis are both divine figures
connected with Egypt’s mortuary cults, and their
story is replete with religious symbols of rebirth.
The Egyptian myth “The Peasant Who
Became King” informs individuals that what goes
around comes around or more likely known by
individual’s in society today as karma. In the
case of brothers Anpu and Bata not only do they
display how they inflict harm themselves, but
how their lives as peasants or farmers change
out of spite of cruel and villain women, the
Anpu’s wife. The karma hunts Anpus wife’s dies
by her husband’s hands. Her death displays that
karma takes no pity and that the penalty for the
foul action came just as bad as her intention
was. The truth deliberately always comes out
sooner than anticipated in an easy form or a
rather difficult one as this story. For the wife, due
to her foul actions taken and also the older
brother for judging without knowing both parts of
the story.
The villain women not only caused
disruption in the lives of the brothers but also put
them in the lowest positions of their lives. These
two share similar qualities to those of past myths
where women use their looks primarily to
undermine men. Yet, in the end the both Anpu
and Bata had a great ending despite their
journey despite the villainous women they
married caused strife and chaos in their lives.
This tale gives insight on how the women
(antagonist) destroyed the main characters, and
how Karma does exist and everything from the
past will catch up to each individual at any
period.
In the story there are lots of valuable
lesson that we can get. We can learn how to give
importance and appreciate the value of
relationship of a family and how evil plans fails
against good, specially in the family because
there is a saying that “blood is thicker than
water.” The are valuable lesson portrays in the
story, lessons to the Egyptians in those years the
lessons that can be pass through written and
orally to the next generation.

The Myth of Osiris and Isis

Recommended

Recommended

More Related Content

What's hot

What's hot (20)

Viewers also liked

Viewers also liked (20)

Similar to The Myth of Osiris and Isis

Similar to The Myth of Osiris and Isis (11)

More from Nove Joy Deleña

More from Nove Joy Deleña (8)

Recently uploaded

Recently uploaded (20)

The Myth of Osiris and Isis