I was very touched by this story and I thought it was very, very good. I just really liked it. But maybe that's just because I enjoy all love stories, I don't even care if they have a happy ending. Alcyone and Ceyx did not necessarily have a happy ending. Ceyx dies and Alcyone is left alone grieving for her lost love. But still, everything that happens in the beginning and the middle is enthralling. I thought the descriptions of how Ceyx's voyage was ruined by Poseidon was very interesting. "But Poseidon and his Henchman had arrived. The rest was one enormous green catastrophe."(23) It was very concrete because of course the rest is acting, but to say that "the rest was one enormous green catastrophe" and leaving it at that was not what I expected.
I think Ceyx mainly took part in this voyage to prove his capability and masculinity to his colleagues and to his wife, that he loved so much. He was so intent on doing this that he was risking the loss of this love. He neglected to be "stranded on shore, afraid, domesticated, diminished, a kind of lap dog." In society, (perhaps now it is a little bit different since some women are the heads of households) men are the ones supposed to be the bravest and the providers of the family. Maybe because since the beginning of time, when men were the ones capable of hunting and gathering, later it simply became instinct and proper in society when the man did what was manly: provide for family and leave the household to the women. Ceyx simply didn't think it was right if he had the "chance" to fight, to let it pass and look like a coward, he would much rather take on this opportunity and behave like a "man", something that maybe he thought he had lost since falling in love or marrying Alcyone. On the other hand, Alcyone is playing the part of the doting wife and later, grieving widow. She lives for Ceyx, depends on Ceyx, would be nothing without Ceyx, etc. This woman depends a lot more on the man than the man on her. After all, it was Ceyx who left Alcyone, no matter in what circumstances.
As I've noticed in The Iliad and other greek mythology stories, the gods are the ones manipulating and creating chaos throughout the whole story. In fact, they probably have a role in all the stories, messing with the humans' business and changing the outcomes of things, leaving the humans in either a blissful state (with possible bad consequences) or in a very miserable state (just because).
Right now, I am enjoying Mary Zimmerman's Metamorphoses a lot, definitely a lot more than Ovid's emotional latin.
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This particular blog caught my attention because it mention things that I personally missed while writing by own blog. For instance, during that time, the men were the ones that controlled everything. They could hunt, fight etc. And yeah, women pretty much depended on men at that time. The rest of this blog is great. It makes connections using quotes and writes things people might not notice at first.
ReplyDeleteI really agree with what you said about the Greek gods. I think that the role that the gods play in Greek Mythology is what makes it so interesting. If the gods weren't a little like the humans it would not be as interesting and Greek mythology wouldn't be as important.
ReplyDeleteReading your post also made me realize that Ceyx could have left Alcyone to prove hi manliness to himself instead of being selfish as I though before, although he was a little selfish with his wife in the end.
While I am not always entertained by a love story, I actually enjoyed this one even though I wasn't touched. I agree with you on the part about proving his masculinity, because he had a wife that loved him very much, and he traded her for adventure. I am also amazed by what you said about the gods, who use humans as puppets. In almost all Greek myths and stories, the gods play an important role manipulating human beings.
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