Rodin's Riddle

The love between Cupid and Psyche was "mythical", was a utopia. We want to love to be loved, but here it seems they love each other, but don’t share the love for each other. Then, what is really the love between Cupid and Psyche? It is Rodin’s Riddle. He uses the technique of leaving his sculptures unfinished for us to finish them with our imagination. In this sculpture, what is it really happening? Is it Psyche kissing Cupid? Is it her trying to kill him?

Since the very beginning we are introduceed to the whole theme of the story, "My dear son, punish that contumacious beauty; give thy mother a revenge as sweet as her injuries are great; infuse into the bosom of that haughty girl a passion for some low, mean, unworthy being, so that she may reap a mortification as great as her present exultation and triumph". (Bulfinch, Myth XI G). Jealousy is here the antagonist of the story; represented through Venus. Jealousy is the seed to this whole plot. Nowadays, jealousy is often seen in many conflicts, such as in Ancient Greece. Bush might be jealous of the petroleum deposits in Iraq, so he invades the country to become the owner of them. We can be jealous of someone because he or she might be engaged with our crush, or he or she is doing better in school than me. When we feel jealous we often act blind. As if we had a blind on top of our eyes, without seeing our surroundings, just looking at ourselves, and doing what fits to ourselves convenience. Venus though that for Psyche, and Bush though that for Iraq.

Then, what does Rodin express through the sculpture? How is the feeling of love transmitted in the story? Rodin’s Riddle is a metaphor of a myth itself. A myth describes but doesn’t explain; it is the reader’s job to explain the succession of events in the story. The story of Cupid and Psyche reflects a typical story of you and your mother in law. First, she hates you, and then she accepts you in the family; but usually is the last one to really do. When you are father of her grandchild, a bigger connection is established.

Psyche drank the ambrosia, and became immortal. Juliet drank the Friar’s poison and falsely died. When we drink a potion, either good or bad, we aren’t just introducing a liquid to our bodies; we are becoming more mortal or less mortal. But how do we know what we are drinking and its consequences? Is Psyche prepared for immortality? Immortality is constantly touched in literature; you can be physically, spiritually and hypothetically immortal. A god is the three, being the only creature to stay with a physical dimension forever, and to stay in everybody’s conscience. Then, do we drink the ambrosia? Keep looking at Rodin’s sculpture, finish it, with your imagination.

Defying Our Destiny

When we think about our destiny, a lot of questions come to mind. Is my destiny written in the skies? Is there a way to avoid it? How do I know my destiny? What is destiny? Well, destiny is a predetermined course of events. For oedipus, his destiny was stated by the Oracle, for us people, our destiny is written in our faith, in the way we see our lives. The story of oedipus reflects how destiny won't be avoided, even though we try to avoid it; destiny is written.

Laius was told his destiny, and yet he diefied. He heard the oracle, and the light and a 'tick' went through his mind; "LAIUS, king of Thebes, was warned by an oracle that there was danger to his throne and life if his new-born son should be suffered to grow up" (Bulfinch, Myth XVI B). Laius defied the Oracle, he defied his destiny in order to avoid loosing his throne. This symbolizes the willingness of humans to ignore the truth, our way of rejecting our destiny, and try to modify it. This can be also be explained through another moment in the story; when the truth behind the story comes to light, when the oracle is consulted and the people of Thebes realize who oedipus really is. As an effect of this, suicidal comes into account. Towards the end of the story, everybody suicides; Jocasta kills herself, and oedipus "tore out his eyes and wandered away from Thebes, dreaded and abandoned by all except his daughters, who faithfully adhered to him, till after a tedious period of miserable wandering he found the termination of his wretched life" (Bulfinch, Myth XVI B).

The course of this myth of the Sphinx has various similarities with a classical Shakespearian Tragedy. The most common fact between the two would be that both describe the course of a character throughout various events but ultimately dies, by suicidal, or being killed by an enemy. Especially in Macbeth, by the way the theme of destiny is touched by William Shakespeare. The Witches, being parallel to the Myth's oracle, inscribe the destiny of Macbeth as being the warrior that shall not die to any man born from his mother. His destiny is written and happens the way said by the Witches; but Macbeth succumbs to McDuff, man born from his dead mother. Here, oedipus lives his destiny, and as well succumbs, but in his case, his killer is his own hand.

I read the story of Oedipus Rex by Sophocles two years ago for a Dramatic adaptation; in this story, it is described through Jocasta that Laius was killed by a 'stranger' on a three way crossroad. The crossroads in the story symbolize the climax, or a turning point in the story; in the crossroads is where Oedipus begins to follow his dreadful destiny that stated he would kill his father and marry her mother. Henceforth, a crossroad is a place where you take a decision, a decision concerning which path to follow. In this case, oedipus took a desicion without noticing; he took the decision of following his destiny by killing his father on the crossroads. He was the own writer of his destiny.

The Wish / shiW ehT

When we wish for something, we are asking for a wish as if we were blind. The moment we get to ask for a wish, we don't think of the effects it will bring, well, we only think of the good side of the wish. Asking for a wish, that will be surely granted is a once in a lifetime opportunity, therefore we make sure to ask for a perfect wish. Just like Midas did, he asked a perfect wish, to have unlimited amounts of gold, no better wish could exist. But, there will be a moment when the gold will turn gray and won't be as fantastic, the bad effects start to appear.

We usually think that the wish we just asked for is the best of all, we enjoy, we take advantage of it, we live a perfect moment. But the sunlight dies, the shining gold becomes stone, and the perfect wish isn't indeed so perfect. "Then he found to his dismay that whether he touched bread, it hardened in his hand; or put a morsel to his lips, it defied his teeth. He took a glass of wine, but it flowed down his throat like melted gold" (Bulfinch, Myth VI A). The gold became a nightmare to Midas. This myth of the Golden Touch can represent humanity's selfishness and mentality of being superior. Symbolizes the way us humans want to take advantage of the gods, and our perception of thinking that the gods are stupid. Well, Midas tried to take advantage of Bacchus by asking for a luxurious wish, but ended loosing. "Bacchus consented, though sorry that he had not made a better choice. Midas went his way, rejoicing in his new-acquired power, which he hastened to put to the test" (Bulfinch, Myth VI A). Here we can see both sides of the coin; Midas rejoicing to his new power, and Bacchus disappointed after hearing the wish Midas had asked for.

This myth reminds me of two other similar stories; a movie entitled Big, and a TV Series I watched when I was younger, entitled The Fairy Godparents. In Big, Josh Baskin finds himself humiliated after trying to impress an older teenage girl. He tried to enter to a rollercoaster with her, but, because of his short length, Josh is prohibited to enter. Then he goes to a fortune telling machine and wishes to be BIG. After living a few days as an adult he finds his wish fantastic, he can enter the rollercoaster, just perfect. Then, as weeks pass, he realizes it isn't so fantastic because he has to pay his own apartment, find a job, etc... Therefore, he goes back to the machine and wishes to be a teenager again. Here we can observe a similar effect on the wish, first being fantastic, then being not so fantastic. The same effect happens to happen in The Fairy God Parents, here Timmy Turner has the gift of having fairy god parents who concede him every wish he desires. In every episode is always the same story, Timmy enjoys the wish and says it is the best wish he has ever wished for, but then he realizes the negative effects and decides to bring things how they used to be, without the wish.

A wish is a hope or desire for something. Normally, we wish for desires that aren't surely granted. In Midas's case, he knows his wish will be granted, so he asks for the best wish in the world. But the wish turns to be not so great as he lives with it. That's why today we live outside the supernatural world of wishes, curses etc... Today we might believe in the custom of "making a wish" by throwing a coin in a pond, seeing a shooting star, or blowing the birthday candles, but, will these wishes ever come true? Is our life a repeated track of Midas's myth? Is the positive side of the wish worth the bad part? Desire something, wish something. Look at both sides of the moon before taking a walk there.

The Loving Effect

Love represents a wide range of emotions and experiences related to affection and attraction. Love changes your way of acting, your way of thinking, your way seeing the world; love is blind. When you fall in love, your perspective of the world changes completely. In mythology, love is included in the texts, in the stories, love is showed among the characters. Otherwise, in Gilgamesh, or an epic, love doesn't appear among the context. And when love is included in the story, the feeling you get is totally different. When I read these myths I kept asking myself, is love a central figure in this mythical drama? Is love the reason of why things came to be this way? How does love affects the development of events in Bulfinch's Mythology, compared to the love-less epic of Gilgamesh?

In the myth of Echo and Narcissus, love can easily be determined as the central figure of the story; echo falls in love with Narcissus, and as well, Narcissus fell in love with his reflection. " This nymph saw Narcissus, a beautiful youth, as he pursued the chase upon the mountains. She loved him and followed his footsteps. O how she longed to address him in the softest accents, and win him to converse! but it was not in her power. She waited with impatience for him to speak first, and had her answer ready" (Bulfinch, Myth XIII B). Love here can be represented as an unreachable, impossible desire. Young Echo fails to reach love since she is cursed with the punishment from Juno, being able to repeat the last words. Hence, love describes how the echo came to be; the love Echo felt for Narcissus.

"He fell in love with himself. He brought his lips near to take a kiss; he plunged his arms in to embrace the beloved object. It fled at the touch, but returned again after a moment and renewed the fascination. He could not tear himself away; he lost all thought of food or rest, while he hovered over the brink of the fountain gazing upon his own image. He talked with the supposed spirit: “Why, beautiful being, do you shun me? Surely my face is not one to repel you. The nymphs love me, and you yourself look not indifferent upon me" (Bulfinch, Myth XIII B). Narcissus asks here the same question he asked Echo, 'Why do you shun me?'. Therefore we can see how love is an unreachable desire for Narcissus as well. He sees how everything he sees is repeled, as well as his reflection. The young nymph falls in love with his reflection on the mountain, and finds it impossible to reach; fails to reach love, the unreachable desire. But, on the other hand, the story of Narcissus can also represent the effect love can have on our lives. When we fall in love, we fall into the fountain's silvery water. For falling in love, we fall into the fountain, and fail to reach love. Love can bring a lot of positive effects in someone's life, but, in the case of Narcissus and Echo, it was only a bad effect.

Finally, how does love affects the development of events in Bulfinch's Mythology, compared to the love-less epic of Gilgamesh? Love changes the route of the story; in Mythology, love acts as the central figure and acts as a character in the story. On the other hand, love-less Gilgamesh lacks the love character, hence, the story doesn't appear to be changed or modified by this mighty character, love.

Nature's Heavenly Body

Where did we come from? Where did each tree, each plant, each bird came form? What existed before this world we know today? How are the gods related to nature? Through mythology, nature's heavenly body is described, but not explained. We get to know how we got here, how the holy spirits, the gods, developed nature's evolution.

After reading Ishmael and Gilgamesh, I got a very uniform concept of the QUESTions, specially, how did we get here? But, in Bulfinch's mythology, the concept I get is totally different. When Dryope turns into a lotus plant, for example. This goddess turns into a plant after tearing apart another one, which curiously was nymph Lotis. "The plant was no other than the nymph Lotis, who, running from a base pursuer, had been changed into this form. This they learned from the country people when it was too late" (Bulfinch, Myth VIII B). They learned when it was too late. I compare this moment when Dyrope tears Lotis to these actual moments of life. We are in the verge of destruction, we are in the moment of desicionof either taking the planet to destruction, or to revival. But humanity will never realize their big mistake until we are breathing carbon dioxide, in dry lands, no water, no oxygen; we will realize when it is too late.

But looking it in another manner, we can also interpret this myth to nature's heavenly body. It makes me think, 'inside every object, every piece of creation, there is a god, a heavenly body'. We constantly interact with heaven, not literally, but in an indirect way. When we cut down trees, when we burn a forest, we are killing a god, just like Dyrope killed the nymph Lotis. Every day we interact with god, we either kill him by tearing out the lotus plant, or heal him by provinding him sunlight and water. Eventhough we don't see him physically, god is an inner force, inside every human, inside every plant. And as we can kill the god in the plants, we can kill the god inside us. Killing it by rejecting faith, rejecting our religion, by cutting the tree, by losing our confesion.

"Then the lips ceased to move, and life was extinct; but the branches retained for some time longer the vital heat" (Bulfinch, Myth VIII B). She died, her lips stopped moving, Dyrope was emotionless. We can take Dyrope's experience as a learning lesson for today's society. Sometimes we underestimate God's power, and as well we think we are superior, or that he doesn't exist. But in the merriest moments of our life, any day, we will encounter god, and he won't be very happy of our attitude, and he will turn us into a Lotus Plant. Dyrope now weeps, mourns under the bark of the tree, without her child, alone in the nether world, because of her absence of faith. Then, the next time we cut down a tree, lets do it with conscience of thinking that a body lies beneath it, and that we are killing nature's heavenly body.

The Extinct Knowledge

Classical Greek and Roman Religions, and Culture are practically extinct. "The so-called divinities of Olympus have not a single worshipper among living men. They belong now not to the department of theology, but to those of literature and taste" (Bulfinch, Chapter 1). The twelve gods of Olympus where gods to the greeks, the ancient Roman gods were only gods for these people. These classical religions wer not powerrful religions, they were only popular religions. Not like nowadays religions, that, through texts stayed in the counciousness of humanity throughout the ages. These religions are now MYTHology, because these were passed through the generations from person to person by voice, no written proof. Today the story of Zeus or Athena is no different from that of Pandora or Beowulf; all just being Myths, or popular culture, not factual information. On the other hand, Jesus, Abraham, Moses, Muhammad, and Saint Paul are all considered heroes or pioneers to nowadays dominating religions: Christianity, Islam, and Judaism.

These myth can explain everything from the creation of the world, where there was an infinite amount of desorganised matter; until a god came and found authority in the garden. But the part when the first woman was created, Pandora, is just sensational. "The first woman was named Pandora. She was made in heaven, every god contributing something to perfect her. Venus gave her beauty, Mercury persuasion, Apollo music" (Bulfinch, Chapter 2). These words just create a beautiful orchestra of words; and a very important part of the myth. The creation of the woman is sometimes an underestimated in the drama of creation. In both texts we have read; Ishmael and Gilgamesh, they centralize on the creation of man, Adam; but never touch the creation of Eve. The creation of Pandora means to me like the first big step women took in the drama of evolution; Pandora was the first imprtant femenine character inthis play.