Daedelus and Icarus

Daedelus and Icarus        Greek Mythological Allusion      Source: Mythology by Edith Hamilton

• Daedelus is the father of Icarus
• Daedelus was the architect who built the Labyrinth for the Minotaur in Crete 
• Showed Ariadne how Theseus could escape
• King Minos knew he had helped them
• Both Daedelus and Icarus are arrested and put in the Labyrinth; even builder cannot find his way out
• Builds wings for both of them beacuse "...the air and sky are free"
• Daedelus warns Icarus not to fly too close to the sun because it will melt the glue; Icarus does not listen and falls from the sky into the sea
• Daedelus lands safely in Sicily 

Commentary: The theme of this story is disobedience, specifically a child going against the orders of a parent. The child that does not listen is often punished. An example of this story in another work of literature is in Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, as both Icarus and Montag do not listen to warnings and end up being punished for their ignorance. 

http://brookefollettchapterfour.blogspot.com/2012/03/daedalus-and-icarus-by-ludovico-lana.html

Cupid and Psyche

Cupid and Psyche      Greek Mythological Allusion       Source: Mythology by Edith Hamilton

• Psyche was perfect and excelled more than her two other sisters, appeared almost immortal
• She took Venus's honors 
• Only admired, never loved. Men just looked at her beauty but married other women. 
• Cupid is the son of Venus whom she turns to for help
• There is now defense against his arrows on heaven or on earth
• Venus tells him to have Psyche fall in love with a horrible person, but he instead falls in love with her
• Psyche's father is told to leave her alone on a summit where a "fearful winged serpent" would come and make her his wife
• Psyche is carried by a breeze to a marvelous mansion in a meadow where her husband waited
• She does not see her husband but loves him anyway
• She trusts her dear husband until her sisters visit, and in their jealous rage, convince her he is an awful serpent that will kill her
• Psyche keeps a lamp with her one night and lights it to reveal her husband is indeed a lovely and normal man, Cupid
• Cupid notices and leaves her as he feels their relationship cannot last without trust and returns to his mother
• Psyche goes to Venus to give herself as her servant to soften her anger and possibly get her husband back
• Venus is cruel to her and bids her to do awful tasks, keeps Cupid away from her
• She was saved by a mystical creature in all these endeavors 
• Cupid forgives and longs for Psyche; escapes and finds her
• They go to Jupiter to assure that Venus does not interfere with their love
• They are formally married and Psyche is made immortal; Venus is no longer threatened by her

Commentary: A quite obvious story that alludes to Cupid and Psyche's story is Cinderella. The plot of one sister having a much better life than the other two is prominent in both, as is the idea of the two less fortunate sister's acting out of jealousy. An evil woman scheming to keep the fair maiden away from her love by having her perform tasks is also similar. Both stories also show the assistance given to the main protagonist by various animal and plant creatures. And, of course, there is the same happy ending of the prince and princess figures uniting once again and falling in love.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Image-Fran%C3%A7ois_Pascal_Simon_G%C3%A9rard_006.jpg

Antigone

Antigone        Greek Mythological Allusion           Source: Mythology by Edith Hamilton

• Daughter of Oedipus
• Oedipus resigned the thrown and was thrown out of the city, Antigone went also to take care of him
• Found refuge in Colonus where Oedipus died
• Returns home to find her brothers fighting each other; Polyneices is attempting to capture Thebes, and could no take sides
• Brothers killed each other, no one was victor
• Creon takes charge and rules that Polyneices should not be buried since he attacked Thebes
• Antigone decides to defy this order and go to "bury the brother she loves"
• Allows herself to be put to death because she listened to the "laws of heaven"

Commentary: The theme of Antigone's life story is that she sacrificed herself to follow her beliefs and do the right thing for a person she loves. This loosely relates to to the movie Titanic, as Rose leaves behind her family and her life of wealth to save Jack and stay with him for as long as possible because she is in love with him. 

http://philomythois.com/2014/08/brett/why-you-an-american-citizen-should-read-the-greek-tragedy-sophocles-antigone/

Agamemnon

Agamemnon          Greek Mythological Allusion         Source: Mythology by Edith Hamilton

•  Son of Atreus
• Commander of Greek forces at Troy 
• Sacrificed his own daughter, Iphigenia; said she was to marry Achilles but was instead killed at the altar, to get "good winds" for Troy 

Arrived home glorious, triumphant, and successful, but crowd that greeted him said "evil happenings" would come to him

• Wife, Clytemnestra, obtained a lover after seeing her daughter be killed be her husband 
• Killed Agamemnon because he had killed their daughter and she felt as though it was right
• "Most unfortunate of victorious chieftains " at the fall of Troy
• Arrived home glorious, triumphant, and successful, but crowd that greeted him said "evil happenings" would come to him
• One story says he was killed by his wife's lover at the dinner table, "struck down as one butchers an ox"

Commentary: The theme of Agamemnon's story is making an impossible decision. One of these decisions, in this case, killing his own daughter, is sinful. This reminds me of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, as the two both make the decision to kill themselves so they can be with their true love, whom each already thinks is dead.

http://www.wikiart.org/en/jacques-louis-david/the-anger-of-achilles-1819