After reading, viewing and discussing the myth of Daedalus and Icarus, the time has come to test your interpretative skills. In order to prepare for the 'dreaded test', you should:
Re-read the myth (do this here)
Read an older version of this myth below:
But Daedalus constructed wings for himself and his son, and enjoined his son, when he took to flight, neither to fly high, lest the glue should melt in the sun and the wings should drop off, nor to fly near the sea, lest the pinions should be detached by the damp.
[E.1.13] But the infatuated Icarus, disregarding his father's injunctions, soared ever higher, till, the glue melting, he fell into the sea called after him Icarian, and perished.15 But Daedalus made his way safely to Camicus in Sicily.
[E.1.14] And Minos pursued Daedalus, and in every country that he searched he carried a spiral shell and promised to give a great reward to him who should pass a thread through the shell, believing that by that means he should discover Daedalus. And having come to Camicus in Sicily, to the court of Cocalus, with whom Daedalus was concealed, he showed the spiral shell. Cocalus took it, and promised to thread it, and gave it to Daedalus;
[E.1.15] and Daedalus fastened a thread to an ant, and, having bored a hole in the spiral shell, allowed the ant to pass through it. But when Minos found the thread passed through the shell, he perceived that Daedalus was with Cocalus, and at once demanded his surrender.16 Cocalus promised to surrender him, and made an entertainment for Minos; but after his bath Minos was undone by the daughters of Cocalus; some say, however, that he died through being drenched with boiling water.
from Apollodorus Epitome: translated by .JG. Fraser
The Painting The Fall of Icarus is by Pieter Bruegel (about 1525-69), usually known as Pieter Bruegel the Elder to distinguish him from his son, was the first in a family of Flemish painters. Pieter Bruegel the Elder, generally considered the greatest Flemish painter of the 16th century, is by far the most important member of the family. He was probably born in Breda in the Duchy of Brabant, now in The Netherlands. His paintings, including his landscapes and scenes of peasant life, stress the absurd and vulgar, yet are full of zest and fine detail. They also expose human weaknesses and follies.
Source: www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/bruegel/
LITERARY TEXT - Poem Icarus, by Christine Hemp
Icarus
It was his idea, this flying thing.
We collected feathers at night, stuffing
our pockets with mourning dove down. By day,
we'd weave and glue them with the wax
I stole after we'd shooed the bees away.
Oh, how it felt, finally, to blow off Crete
leaving a labyrinth of dead-ends:
my clumsiness with figures, father's calm
impatience, cool logic, interminable devising.
The sea wind touched my face like balm.
He thought I'd tag along as usual,
in the wake of his careful scheme
bound by the string connecting father and son,
invisible thread I tried for years to untie.
I ached to be a good-for-something on my own.
I didn't know I'd get drunk with the heat,
flying high, too much a son to return.
Poor Daedalus, his mouth an O below,
his hands outstretched to catch the rain
of wax. He still doesn't know.
My wings fell, yes - I saw him hover
over the tiny splash - but by then I'd been
swallowed into love's eye, the light I've come to see
as home, drowning in the yes, this swirling
white-hot where night will never find me.
And now when my father wakes
each morning, his bones still sore
from his one-time flight, his confidence undone
because the master plan fell through,
he rises to a light he never knew, his son.
YOUR WRITTEN RESPONSE
In part B you will be asked to write a paragraph about the following:
It has been said that this myth deals with the following themes: "captivity and escape, ingenuity and creativity, flight and fall, success and failure" (J.E.Nyenhuis 2003). Select one pair of themes and discuss how well they fit the idea of a journey for either Daedalus or Icarus.
You can also view the videos below as more sources of the myth:
Source: Jim Henson's The Storyteller - Greek Myths, Sony Pictures (2006)
Also look at these interesting interpretations:
