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Essay / Research Paper Abstract
This 3 page paper discusses Steven Pressfield’s historical novel “Gates of Fire,” a fictional account of the battle of Thermopylae. Bibliography lists 1 source.
Page Count:
3 pages (~225 words per page)
File: D0_HVprsfld.rtf
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Unformatted sample text from the term paper:
particular Pressfields handling of the military aspects of the battle. Discussion The battle of Thermopylae is mentioned in every world history class, but it took Frank Miller to make it
a household name. His graphic novel 300 and the blockbuster film that followed told of the Spartans who blocked the pass at Thermopylae and held off a huge Persian invasion
force. The film features incredible battle sequences, gorgeous production values and a towering performance by Gerard Butler as King Leonidas, and suddenly everybody not only knows what Thermopylae was, but
some of the lines have entered popular culture. ("Tonight we dine in hell," anyone?) The film is not entirely faithful to history, because it is first and foremost entertainment.
The same can be said of Pressfields novel, which is not a textbook but a historical novel, meaning that the author has used an actual historical event as his background,
but then added in characters and situations of his own. In doing so, he can explore the battle from a new perspective rather than being limited by what we know
actually happened. History says that the Spartans were killed to the last man, so Xeones, the narrator, is Pressfields own creation, a "device" through which he tells not only
the story of the battle, but the story of Spartan life as well. Pressfield structures the book so that Xeones narrates his life and training while a prisoner of the
Persians. This allows Pressfield to give readers the background of Spartan discipline as well as describing the battle. Perhaps the most telling incident in the back-story deals with Tripods death.
Tripod grasps a bar to keep from falling during a whipping; all he needs to do to stop the beating is to let go. But he refuses to do so
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