Argumentation I have always thought that the Greek culture is one of the most valuable treasures of our European

heritage. Arts, philosophy, sciences were all flourishing there, as well it is the homeland of democracy. From among all these the mythology is what really captured my attention. As a child I was fascinated by the mythological tales, reading stories about Hercule, oseidon, the fights of Ares or !eus. I consider the Greek myths as imaginative, interesting and fordulatos as the "oman mythology. It is really ama#ing what a great effect$ impact these stories had and they still have on various artistic fields. I like very much %ohn &illiam &aterhouse's work because he often chooses Greek and "oman mythological scenes as themes of his paintings. (oreas, )arcissus, allas Athene, Artemis all appear at him, Icarus and the Hesperides, sirens and other mythological creatures. *he painter depicts all these realistically and with rich, vivid colours. *he myth of rometheus and its interpretation appears in several literary masterpieces, I have read about it in the works of Hesiod, %anus annonius, Aeschylus, Goethe and +helley, moreover, Eminescu, -orosmarty and Ady used lots of mythical allusions in their poetry. I would like to discover this mythical world in the creation of *homas Hardy . I am studying with interest how he connects the mythical sites, characters and stories to the elements of the reality in his novels, what he thinks about the events and the way, conte.ts he uses these motifs. I read some interesting peculiarities about *homas Hardy's life and work, features that are worth being the theme of a literary study. His creations are very special, uni/ue not only for their mythical character, but also for their vivid stories, the detalied presentation of characters and his beautiful landscape descriptions. All the above0 mentioned features can e.plain why *homas Hardy is the protagonist of my thesis , while the topic is the mythical world created by him in his novels.

Introduction In ancient times the mythological stories constituted an integral part of literature, as every nation made attempts to e.plain the origin of the &orld, the creation of Earth and 1an. According to the Greek cosmogonic myth, at the beginning there was nothing but 2haos, an empty darkness, a shapeless abyss, out of which certain deitis 3 Erebos04arkness, )y.0)ight, Gaia0the Earth5 came into e.istance. *his is 6ust one e.planation about the way our &orld was created. *he African origin myths tells that at the beginning there were three gods7 )#ame, 1ebere and )kve. )#ame created the Earth, the animals having the elephant, the tiger and the monkey as leaders. 8ater he created the 1an, as an e.clusive ruler over the other creatures. Germanic mythology presents a mysterious ghost that first created the "ealm of Fog in the )orth and 1uspell, the 8and of Fire in the +outh. A 2hristian or %ewish origin e.planation can be found in the (ible in the book of the Genesis, according to which God created the world in si. days. the 1an was created the last day in order to rule over all of the living beings of the Earth , the seventh day God used to rest. *herefore it is understandable that since the ancient times, mythologies are constant sources of inspiration for many artists and writers. *here are four elements of the Greek mythology that appear fre/uently in literary works. According to the Prometheus- myth, the *itan rometheus with the help of allas Athene created man out of clay and stole the fire from the Gods for human use. His act enabled progress and civili#ation. In order to punish him, !eus, king of the 9lympian gods, sentenced rometheus to eternal torment. *he immortal rometheus was bound to a rock, where each day an eagle was sent to feed on his liver, only to have it grow back to be eaten again the ne.t day. *he rometheus myth has at least two types of interpretation in literature. (ased on Hesiod's philosophy, 3*heogony5 the theft of fire by rometheus represented the end of humanity's presumed:happy golden age;, he could be blamed for it. From this point of view the punishment of !eus, the wise and 6ust ruler of the <niverse, is 6ustifiable and correct. *his theory is shared also by the Hungarian poet, %anus annonius.

4ue to the second interpretation,

rometheus is a hero, an e.ample worth to be followed. He

becomes the metaphor of eternal suffering, the prefiguration of the biblical +aviour. rometheus is viewed as the benefactor of humanity by many authors, such as Goethe, +helley, Ady or in Aeschylus's rometheus (ound. As the symbol of deviation, eternity and infinity we can find the motive of the labyrinth. According to the Greek mythology the labyrint was built by the athenian craftsman 4aedalus, He built it for =ing 1inos , who needed to prison his stepson, the beast 1inotaur, part man, part bull.1inos re/uired that seven athenian young men and seven maidens be sent every year as sacrifice to be devoured by the beast.*heseus, the son of the athenian =ing, killed 1inotaur and managed to escape from the labyrinth with the help of Ariadne's thread. *he labyrinth, as literary device, first appears in Homer's epic, the 9dyssey, where the protagonist's wandering on the sea can be interpreted as labyrinth. +imilarly, we can talk about wandering in the desert, as in the short story written by (orges 3 ;*wo =ings and the *wo 8abyrinths;5 or in the 2hristian mythology0 1oses guided the %ews for forty days across the desert. *he well0known novel of +alinger, >*he 2atcher in the "ye; can be interpreted as a teenage search for self0identity and meandering, because in the centre of the novel we have the hero's inner life and self. Stories of initiation can be found especially among the myths of indigenous people. 4uring the initiation the individual is transferred from one state to another, becoming part of a closed circle. In the Greek mythology we find *elete, daughter of 4ionysos, as the goddess of initiation rites. In the ?@th century 1ircea Eliade e.amined these initiation rites in details, they are all transitional rites despite of their different functions. *his transitional feature is actually given by the suspension of everyday routine, events and happenings, characteri#ed also by separation or different trials. 4uring the trials, the individual is going to >die; for something but at the same time he >will be born; for something new. *he social role of these rites is preserved by folk tales, where the hero needs to cross the >initiation road; and very often he dies and resurrects throughout his 6ourney. *he motive of initiation appears in several novels or short stories. &e can mention the short story entitled >*he =ey; by Hungarian writer =os#tolanyi 4e#so or Hemingway's >Indian 2amp;, which presents the >horrors; of becoming an adult. %eanne, the main heroine of 1aupassant's novel,

>A &oman's 8ife; is going to be initiated in the horrors of the world after a period of peace and isolation spent in a convent. *he fourth ma6or theme having a great impact on literature is the motive of transformation or metamorphosis. In the Greek mythology we can find hundreds of e.amples7 *he nymph 4aphne is transformed into a laurel to escape Apollo, the priestess Io is changed into a heifer by the supreme god !eus, !eus used metamorphosis in the course of finding ways of disguising himself when seducing mortal women, he appeared in the form of a bull, cloud, swan or a shower of gold. *he "oman poet 9vid collected about ?A@ transformation stories, which survive as the; 1etamorphoses;.

2lassical and modern writers were deeply affectedby this topic, numerous e.amples can prove this. Fran# =afka's short story >*he 1etamorphosis; presents the transformation of Gregor +asa from human being into a worm, =afka depicts it with e.traordinary elaboration and precision. *he well0known novel of 4aniel =eyes >Flowers for Algernon; the reader can assist to the spiritual and intellectual transformation of 2harlie Gordon, provoked by a medical surgery. +imilarly, premeditated transformation takes place in >4r. %ekyll and 1r. Hyde.;+tevenson's hero 4r. Henry %ekyll believes that there are two distinct sides to men 0 a good and an evil side. He believes that by separating the two man can become liberated. He succeeds in his e.periments with chemicals to accomplish this and transforms into Hyde to commit horrendous crimes, that morally would be unacceptable for a doctor and for any human being. (esides these four themes, several other mythological motives appear in world literature. *he poems of the "omanian poets Eminescu, Arghe#i, (laga abunds in mythical allusions and motives, but they appear constantly in contemporary writings as well.