How can we explain where myths come from and what they mean? This lecture looks at the various ways that scholars have attempted to analyse and interpret classical myths. Through ritual theory to Freud and Jung’s psycholanalytical theories, and the Structuralism of Lévi-Strauss to ideological frameworks, such as Marxism and gender theory, to Post-structuralism, we ask whether one theory ever fits all sizes of myth, and how cultural context has come become a significant factor in how we look at these mythological narratives.

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