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Mythology and Folklore
CHAPTER 3
Objectives:
a. Determine the different themes of mythology.
b. Justifies the themes learned to the different mythology
stories given as examples.
c. Construct a masterpiece related to the topic through activity.
The Great Themes of Myth
Heroism
Greek heroes tend to
share uncommon
strength, immense
bravery, and noble
morality. They also
depend upon a certain
degree of clever
ingenuity to achieve [Link]
success. For example,
Perseus could not have killed Medusa if he did not have the smarts to steal
the Gray Women's eye. Exceeding the limits of average men, the heroes act
somewhere between gods and mortals in the hierarchy of the Greek myths.
Their stories are some of the most memorable; consider Theseus, Hercules,
and Perseus. Through these figures, the modern reader can understand many
Greek values.
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Generosity
Throughout the Greek myths,
generosity appears to be noble.
Sometimes, generosity subtly
reinforces a story, such as when
Metaneira takes in Demeter,
disguised as an elderly woman,
or when Dictys takes in baby
Perseus and Danae when they [Link]
wash up on his shore. Hospitality is a particularly important species of
generosity. In the case of Baucis and Philemon, the theme is much more
pronounced. When the poor couple take two travelers into their home, they
have no idea that Jupiter and Mercury are testing their hospitality. Their
selfless behavior saves them from the flood and secures their respect in the
eyes of the gods. In these generosity stories, one can see a way in which
Greek myths were used as morality tales, explaining what is right and what is
wrong, how to live and how not to live. Generosity, altruism, or freely giving
to others may not seem to be in the immediate interest of the giver, which
might be why these myths reinforce the idea that it is a good quality that
should be valued.
Faith
Faith is perhaps the most widely
important theme in Greek mythology. For
one thing, those who hear the myths must
in some way believe they are true in order
[Link]
for them to be meaningful. Humans, not
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only those in the myths but also those who hear the myths, generally go even
further and believe that the gods actually exist. Characters who defy or anger
the gods are punished, and those who honor and praise the gods find rewards.
Having faith in a prophecy is better than trying to circumvent it. Faith also
appears in more nuanced situations having to do with trust and belief. Psyche,
for example, cannot bear to not see her husband during the daylight, so she
chooses to see Cupid in the light, against his wishes. Although eventually she
redeems herself from this betrayal, it takes much suffering and effort.
Orpheus, by contrast, finds no forgiveness when he loses his faith while
leading Eurydice up from the underworld. Such myths reinforce the theme
that faith should not be broken or misused.
Love
Love appears throughout the Greek myths
and often drives the narrative forward.
However, different kinds of love emerge in
the text with different implications. In some
instances, love is visceral and impulsive,
caused by Cupid's arrow. This kind of love
causes Alpheus to chase Arethusa, Apollo to
chase Daphne, or Zeus to take Europa
across an ocean on his back. Such love is
characterized by intense feeling and frenzy.
Alternatively, we see in the Greek myths a
less exciting but ultimately longer lasting [Link]
3PFw6
kind of love. Ceyx and Alcyone become birds
who fly together for eternity after they die. Mulberry grows from the blood of
Pyramus and Thisbe. And Baucis and Philemon become intertwined trees when
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they die. In these instances, love exists among mortals in an eternal realm,
and it is perhaps the closest that most humans can ever approach godliness
in the myths.
Fate
Throughout the myths, fate
appears as a powerful force that
no human or god may contend
with. Cronus received a prophecy
[Link]
that he would be overthrown by his
son, as did King Laius. Both men tried to prevent the outcome, and both failed.
In this sense, mankind and gods share a similarly naive character when it
comes to reconciling themselves to fate. But these tales raise the question of
who controls fate, if not the gods. Is there an even higher power than those
on Mount Olympus, if even the gods cannot control fate? Or is fate just a way
of characterizing the truth about what will happen at a future time?
Strange Love
In several instances, variations of strange
love present complex challenges in Greek
mythology. Narcissus, for example, falls in
love with his own image and cannot leave
it alone for one moment. He withers and
dies by the pool in which he sees his own
reflection. Selene falls in love with
Endymion and hopes to keep him forever
by making him sleep forever. [Link]
Unfortunately, she suffers from loneliness.
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In both of these circumstances, a selfish kind of love results in suffering. In
the case of Pygmalion, Venus rewards his love for his sculpture, but only when
he himself decides that it is not healthy for him to give such affection to an
inanimate object. As if rewarding his realistic maturity, Venus then turns the
piece of stone into a real woman. Perhaps the unifying theme of these
examples of strange love is that true love is mutually felt from both parties
but that such love is very difficult when it involves two natures, such as human
and beast, human and sculpture, or divinity and human.
Sacrifice
Sacrifices recur throughout the Greek myths, not just because physical
sacrifice was significant in ancient Greek societies. Antigone stands as the best
example, for she sacrifices herself in order to bury her brother. Pyramus and
Thisbe sacrifice themselves for each other. Baucis and Philemon sacrifice their
comfort in order to house two travelers in their small house. In these and
other cases, heroism becomes something not just reserved for strong people
(like Hercules) but a quality that any common person can achieve. Through
sacrifice, characters are rewarded by gods and stand as good examples to the
characters surrounding them. In the case of Baucis and Philemon, this
example is so extreme that the gods flood out everyone else in the village.
While it is not easy, as Prometheus can attest, sacrifice often must be made
for the sake of honor and morality rather than simply out of the love of one's
own.
Pride and Hubris
The greatest sin in many myths is when a mortal grows too proud and claims
to be the equal or superior of the gods. This arrogance, also called “hubris,”
is inexplicably common and always punished horribly. The Greeks clearly felt
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that hubris was a terrible sin, but often in punishing it so extremely the gods
showed their spiteful, jealous sides. There are even cases where the mortal’s
pride is deserved, as with Arachne, who boasts of her skill at weaving but then
is able to actually weave cloth as beautiful as Athena’s. The jealous Athena
turns Arachne into a spider for this.
Other punishments for pride include Niobe, who wanted to be worshipped like
a goddess, and so has her sons murdered and is turned into a weeping stone,
and the famous Icarus, who flies too close to the sun on his man-made wings
and then drowns. In her introduction, Hamilton notes how the Greek gods
were more familiar and human than the gods of most cultures, and it is
perhaps because of this that so many mortals thought they could be like them
– the gods were just human enough to relate to, but still all-powerful, jealous
beings who relentlessly punished any mortal with too much pride.
Justice and Vengeance
Justice is a complicated and
sometimes inscrutable concept in the
Greek myths, as neither the heroes
nor the gods act as infallible moral
authorities. There were certain rules
held sacred in Greek society, like
being hospitable to guests, respecting
one’s parents, or avenging a loved
one’s murder, and the poets often
[Link]
created situations where these rules
contradicted each other, which led to situations of vengeance. A famous
example is Agamemnon, who sacrifices his daughter Iphigenia; then
Clytemnestra, his wife, kills him to avenge their daughter. Iphigenia’s brother
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Orestes is then caught in this bind of justice and vengeance – it would be
wrong not to punish his father’s murderer, but it would also be wrong to kill
his own mother. The only rule that seems to hold true in such stories is that
bloodshed begets more bloodshed.
The gods themselves contribute to the confusion regarding justice, as their
punishments of mortals often far outweigh the crime and lean towards jealous
revenge, like Hera tormenting Zeus’s innocent lovers in horrible ways.
Because of this, Greek mythology is very different from other religious stories
like the Bible. The Greeks were not trying to create a consistent moral code
or idea of justice with their stories, but instead preferred to heighten the
elements of explanation and entertainment.
Beauty
Beauty appears in many of the myths,
as the Greeks elevated art, music, and
physical beauty above most other
virtues. Beauty is often considered
more important than morality or
religious piety, and becomes a valuable
resource that can be used for good or
evil. Indeed, physical beauty more often
[Link]
than not causes trouble: Narcissus is
ensnared by his own reflection, many beautiful women are raped by Zeus or
Apollo, and the Trojan War begins over Helen’s lovely face.
The idea of artistic beauty is also idealized, as Orpheus wins over Hades with
his music and Pygmalion falls in love with the statue he created. But artistic
beauty is no less troublesome than physical beauty, as the jealous Daedalus
murders his nephew for his clever inventions. In whatever form it takes beauty
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is held up as an ideal, but it also becomes something desired and fought over
by both mortals and gods.
[Link]
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Video links: [Link]
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