Questions
Facts and Details:
1. What is Actaeon’s favorite sport?
2. What has Actaeon trained his hounds to do?
3. Who is Diana?
4. What did Actaeon do when he heard someone bathing in the pond?
5. What did Diana do to him?
Reading Comprehension:
1. Why was Diana so angry with Actaeon?
2. What was the first thing Diana thought about doing to him?
3. How did the choice she made turn out to have the same ending for Actaeon?
4. What happened immediately after the story ended?
In your own words...
The story of Diana and Actaeon has been told for thousands of years, but people still disagree over it. Was Diana too cruel to him? Was he just a normal, curious person, or did he violate her privacy and deserve what happened to him? What do you think? Write an essay defending one character, or the other.
Backgrounders
We thought long and hard about this story. Not only is there the issue of voyeurism, but the fate of Actaeon is particularly harsh.
But the story illustrates so many important issues that we felt it belonged in the collection.
Issues of personal privacy are at the heart of “good touch, bad touch” lessons. And
modesty is not a bad topic for discussion.
In addition, there is the issue of “letting the punishment fit the crime.” While Diana’s harshness has been debated for centuries, the irony of the young hunter’s death has a timeless appeal!
But the story illustrates so many important issues that we felt it belonged in the collection.
Issues of personal privacy are at the heart of “good touch, bad touch” lessons. And
modesty is not a bad topic for discussion.
In addition, there is the issue of “letting the punishment fit the crime.” While Diana’s harshness has been debated for centuries, the irony of the young hunter’s death has a timeless appeal!
Vocabulary extenders
Hunting with hounds is almost universally banned these days, except when the hounds track the animal and chase it up a tree or bring it to bay for hunters. But the type of hunting Actaeon practiced was quite common until a century ago, and it has provided our language with several expressions.
The term “hounding” means to pursue relentlessly, and can just mean the pursuit. But it generally includes a sense of doing harm, as hounds would as they ripped at the animal they were pursuing, until they finally “brought it down.”
“Go to ground” also comes from hunting. That’s when the fox, badger or other quarry ducks into its burrow. When a criminal or other fugitive “goes to ground” it means he’s hiding out rather than fleeing.
“To keep someone at bay” means to keep them from attacking you. When a stag or other large quarry would turn on the hounds and attempt to defend itself, it was “at bay.” Of course, this would only last until the hunters arrived, but the term means temporarily ending the attack without achieving victory.
To bay also means to make the noise a hound makes which is between a bark and a howl, and it comes from the same word that means to yawn, or gape. If something is “held in abeyance,” it means action on that item is postponed. That term doesn’t come from hunting, but it’s from the same root: Imagine hounds standing baying, and staring, at their quarry.
The term “hounding” means to pursue relentlessly, and can just mean the pursuit. But it generally includes a sense of doing harm, as hounds would as they ripped at the animal they were pursuing, until they finally “brought it down.”
“Go to ground” also comes from hunting. That’s when the fox, badger or other quarry ducks into its burrow. When a criminal or other fugitive “goes to ground” it means he’s hiding out rather than fleeing.
“To keep someone at bay” means to keep them from attacking you. When a stag or other large quarry would turn on the hounds and attempt to defend itself, it was “at bay.” Of course, this would only last until the hunters arrived, but the term means temporarily ending the attack without achieving victory.
To bay also means to make the noise a hound makes which is between a bark and a howl, and it comes from the same word that means to yawn, or gape. If something is “held in abeyance,” it means action on that item is postponed. That term doesn’t come from hunting, but it’s from the same root: Imagine hounds standing baying, and staring, at their quarry.
Answer Key:
Facts and Details:
1. deer hunting
2. chase deer and kill them
3. The goddess of the hunt
4. He snuck up to spy on them.
5. She turned him into a deer.
Reading Comprehension:
1. He was spying on her while she bathed
2. She was going to shoot him with her bow and arrow.
3. Turning him into a deer doomed him to death.
4. His hounds killed him.
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