Download Print this article - asian journal of multidisciplinary studies

Asian Journal of Multidisciplinary Studies
Available online at www.ajms.co.in
Volume1, Issue 4, November 2013
ISSN: 2321-8819
Antiquity Revisited:
Tracing the Influence of Greek Mythology on English Literature
and Culture
Poorva Trikha
Associate Professor,
MCM DAV College, Chandigarh, (India).
Abstract :
The ancient works of Greek civilization had almost been wiped out of
human consciousness until Renaissance revisited it. In early 1800s, when Greece
was revolting against Turks after 400 years of slavery, Europe discovered the old
Greek tragedies and works of Greek philosophers which had been oppressed by
political power bearers. In the 19th century many free spirits like Lord Byron
(who died in Greece during the war) were intrigued by these works and began to
reinterpret and analyse them to locate universals truths relating to philosophy,
ecology, psychology, natural sciences, etc in them.
Ever since Renaissance (when Shakespeare made abundant use of Greek
Myths in his plays) the craze and interest in Greek mythology has not slowed
down. From Homer to John Milton to John Keats to Thomas Hardy, all old and
contemporary writers have looked towards Greek Myths for substance for their
writing and have used them in all possible genres of literature. This paper
attempts to trace the influence of Greek Mythology on English literature and
contemporary culture, to point towards the literary works of various centuries
which intensively used Greek myths and those English films which depict the
same. An effort has been made at finding out the reason behind this continuing
popularity of ancient myths and to analyse such a tremendously powerful
phenomenon.
Keywords: Greek Mythology; English Literature
Myths tell interesting stories and
without a doubt, have always had a wide
impact on literature. Unlike today, when
science has progressed so much that it can
provide answers to mankind‟s curious
questions concerning the origin of the
worlds, the ancient Greeks used
mythology (body or a collection of myths)
to explain how the world works (Kirk,
1974, p. 8). A true myth or myth proper,
writes H.J.Rose, is ultimately “the result of
the working of naive imagination upon the
fact of experience” (12). Myths function as
an eminent source of quenching our
human thirst for ontological questions
besides “pointing us to the sources of
imaginative joy from which early poets of
Hellenic verse, or Morse, or English,
drank” (Gayley, 1939, p. xxxi). Many of
us are moved by the sorrows of Philomela,
held by the fidelity of Penelope and
philanthropy of Prometheus and still hold
them as ideals in their respective virtues.
To define myth according to
Webster‟s Third New International
dictionary, a myth is “ a story that is
unusually of unknown origin and at least
partially traditional, that ostensibly relate
78
Antiquity Revisited:Tracing the Influence of Greek Mythology on English Literature and Culture
historical events usually of such character
as to serve to explain some practice, belief,
institution, or natural phenomenon, and
that is especially associated with religious
rights and beliefs.‟1 Such is bound the
aspect of sanctity with myths that Charles
Mills Gayley opined that “myths are born,
not made” (1939, p. 6). Rituals have more
prominently been linked with mythology
and many writers have asserted the link
between the two. A comparative data on
kinship and ritual was presented by J.G.
Frazer‟s monumental work The Golden
Bough which presents a ritualistic
interpretation of myths. A similar
interpretation echoes in the works of
Robert Graves who distinguishes true
myth (from twelve other categories)2
which for him is “the reduction to
narrative shorthand of ritual mime
performed on public festivals, and in many
cases recorded pictorially on temple walls,
vases, seals, bowls, mirrors, chests,
shields, tapestries, and the like. . . . (1992,
p.12)”
Efforts have also been made at
distinguishing myths from legends and the
difference lies in the fact that “A myth is
an invented story while a legend is not
wholly an invented story – it is a kind of
history. Of course there may be plenty of
invention and myth wrapped around a
legend but always at its heart there is a
kernel of historical truth” (Provensen,
1959). Mythology is the study of such
legends as are so foreign to human
experience that they cannot be believed
true but hold power over human psyche
nevertheless. As regards to the functions
that myths perform in human lives, it can
be best defined in the words of Robert
Graves, who states that “Myth has two
main functions. The first is to answer the
sort of awkward questions that children
ask, such as: Who made the world? How
1
For more definitions of Myth, see Morford, 1977,
p. 1-7.
2
Other categories include: The philosophical
allegory, satire or parody, minstrel romance,
political propaganda, theatrical melodrama,
realistic fiction, etc.
will it end? Who was the first man? Where
do sounds go after death? The second
function of myth is to justify an existing
social system and account for traditional
rites and customs.” The second function
also been linked to some basic
psychological need of mankind. In the
words of John Pinsent, “There is little
doubt that all those stories are still told
because they satisfy some psychological
need in the minds of their hearers.
Psychological
explanation,
usually
Freudian, can be found in many myths &
some. . . .”(1969, p. 12).
The significance of dream symbols
was first discovered by the father of
psychology, Sigmund Freud and his
followers and this discovery led them to
develop the similarity between dreams and
myths. In Freudian interpretation, myths
reflect waking man‟s efforts to systematize
his sleep world. Such an interpretation,
however important, cannot cover all myths
and therefore arose the need for
interpretation by other psychologists, the
most prominent one being Carl Gustav
Jung. According to Jung, Myths are a
projection of what he calls the “collective
unconscious” of the race i.e. they are
representatives of psychic tendencies of
the society. Myths contain certain
recurrent images or „Archetypes‟, as Jung
would term it, which are such expressions
as were developed over thousands of years
and are widely recognised. Some examples
of such archetypes include, Anima and
Animus, the Great Mother, the Old Wise
Man, and so on.3
Some Greek themes and myths
which are recurrent in English literature
and resurface in literary works from time
to time reinforce the influence Greek
mythology has had. One such archetype is
that of The Mother Goddess, who was the
chief deity in the Aegan Pantheon (mostly
agreed to be Gaea) and in whom were
3
For an insightful analysis of these archetypes, see
Guerin, 1992, p. 185-90.
Asian Journal of Multidisciplinary Studies, 1(4) November, 2013
79
Antiquity Revisited:Tracing the Influence of Greek Mythology on English Literature and Culture
united all the attributes and functions of
divinity. 4
The theme of Transformation has
been very widely observed in Greek
myths. The popular instances are:
Philomela being turned into a nightingale,
Zeus‟s transforming himself into a Bull to
violate Demeter, Zeus turning himself into
a Swan to rape Leda5, Arachne being
transformed into a spider by goddess
Athena and the transformation of Echo.
The other significant themes include those
of Half man half animal (as seen in
Minotaur) and the theme of incest (Gaea
marring her son Uranus, Cronus marrying
her sister Rhea, Zeus marrying his sister
Hera, king Oedipus marrying his own
mother Jocasta). The other eminent myths
include the Orpheus myth in which we
learn about the psychology of grief and the
Naomi myth in which we learn about the
psychology of hubris.
The English imagination was
ignited by Greek Mythology from 14th
century onwards in the works of Chaucer
and continued though John Milton,
Shakespeare in Elizabethan Age to Robert
Bridges in the 20th century. The impact
was felt not only on English world but also
Racine in France and Goethe in Germany
revived Greek drama by reworking the
ancient myths. It was in 18th century
during the philosophical revolution of the
Enlightenment that there spread a reaction
throughout Europe against Greek myth but
irrespective of that the myths continued to
be used as sources of inspiration. By the
end of the century Romanticism emerged
and initiated a lot of enthusiasm for all
things Greek, especially mythology. In
Britain there were many new translations
made of Greek tragedies and Homer which
in turn inspired the romantic poets such as
Alfred Lord Tennyson, Keats, Byron and
Percy B. Shelley.
4
For a detailed account of ancient myths related to
Gaea, see Guirand & Graves, 1959.
5
For the story Leda and the Swan, see Guthrie,
1950, p. 206-09.
The popularity of these classical
myths continued throughout 19th century
so much so that American authors such as
Thomas
Bulfinch
and
Nathaniel
Hawthorne believed that myths should
provide pleasure, and declared that the
study of the classical myths was essential
to the understanding of English and
American literature (Brazouski & Klatt,
1993, p. 4). In the words of Bulfinch, "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"(2000, p. 1). In 20th century and in
more recent times classical themes have
been reinterpreted in various nations. In
France the dramatic works of Jean
Anouilh, Jean Cocteau and Jean
Giraudoux are some examples. Eugene
O‟Neill in America and T.S. Eliot, James
Joyce and Andre Gide in Britain made
extensive use of themes of antiquity in
their writings.
It is generally agreed that the first
form of literature was poetry. According to
a research, Poetry as an art form may
predate literacy. The first specimens of
poetry include the Homeric epics the Iliad
and the Odyssey. Ancient attempts to
define poetry also began in Greece with
Aristotle‟s Poetics which focused on the
uses of speech in rhetoric, drama, song and
comedy. The three genres of poetry6
defined by Aristotle are still considered the
basis of classification. It was through the
medium of Latin and the works of Ovid
that Greek myths influenced medieval and
Renaissance poets such as Petrarch,
Boccaccio and Dante in Italy. The
influence was visible in the sonnets of
Shakespeare.
The goddess of the inspiration of
literature, science and the arts is The
Muses. John Milton evokes „Heav‟nly
Muse‟ in the very first book of Paradise
Lost and in many a fine pieces of literature
are they revered. The high priest of
6
The three genres are: the epic, the comic and the
tragic.
Asian Journal of Multidisciplinary Studies, 1(4) November, 2013
80
Antiquity Revisited:Tracing the Influence of Greek Mythology on English Literature and Culture
Hellenism or the worshipper of Greek
things was John Keats. Keats is best
remembered for his Odes and most of his
odes depict his fondness for all things
Greek. The very titles of the ode, Ode to
Grecian Urn and Endymion suggest his
tendencies. Endymion is based on the
Greek Myth of Endymion7, the shepherd
beloved by the moon goddess Selene. Ode
to Psyche goes back to the mythical story
of Psyche and Cupid and in Ode to the
Nightingale, the poet mentions Hippocrene
(name of a fountain on Mount Helicon,
sacred to Muses) in the following lines:
O for a beaker full of the warm South,
Full of the true, the blushful Hippocrene,
With beaded bubbles winking at the brim,
And purple-stained mouth (15-18).
He further mentions the Greek god
Dionysus (also known as Bacchus) when
he writes that he would fly to the
nightingale in the woods “Not charioted by
Bacchus and his pards/ But on the viewless
wings of Poesy” (32-33). Other than
Keats, George Gordon/Lord Byron was
quite influenced by Greek Mythology. The
intertextuality and allusions to Greek
mythology continued though the Victorian
age.
The
Hellenism
of Queen's
Victoria poet
laureate, Alfred
Lord
Tennyson, was so strong that all his works
echo the epics of Homer. One can trace the
references to Penelope and Telemachus in
his most popular poem Ulysses. Some
examples of other poetic works which
employ literary devices to refer to Greek
Myths thee poem Man with a Hoe by
Edwin Markam („the swing of the
Pleiades8‟), Tales from Ovid: Twenty-four
Passages from the Metamorphoses
by British Poet Laureate Ted Hughes and
7
To read the complete myth of Endymion, see
Guthrie, 1950, p. 210-11.
8
Pleiades refers to the seven daughter of Atlas
named Maia, Taygete, Electra, Alcyone, Celoeno,
Sterope and Merope.
The Wasteland by T.S. Eliot (Tiresias9
speaks in part 3 The Fire Sermon).
It was from ancient Greek tragedies
that many playwrights borrowed their plots
and characters. Most of William
Shakespeare‟s characters (Ariel, Umbriel,
Miranda, Ophelia, Desdemona, Juliet,
Portia, Cupid, etc) and the title of Shaw‟s
play Pygmalion10 have borrowed Greek
names. Plays such as A Midsummer
Night's Dream, Troilus and Cressida,
Macbeth abound in Greek themes and it is
well known fact that the plot for Romeo
and Juliet was picked up from the Greek
myth of Pyramus and Thisbe.
The great British philosophermathematician Alfred North Whitehead
once commented that all philosophy is but
a footnote to Plato. A similar point can be
made regarding Greek literature as a
whole. The genre of English Fiction was
also immensely affected by Greek myths.
Whether it was Frankenstein by Mary
Shelley, what she also calls as
„Frankenstein
or
the
Modern
Prometheus11‟ or works like The Mayor of
Casterbridge by Thomas Hardy or Albert
Camus‟s Myth of Sisyphus12, the impact is
quite evident. The myth of Aphrodite and
Adonis was one of the most often treated
by poets and artists of different ages.
Munz has his own theory of the way in
which myths develop, which he calls
typology in his book When the Golden
Bough Breaks where he states that, “Myths
are not generated or created fully fledged
but are gradually elaborated from simple,
general tales into progressively more and
9
Tiresias was punished by depriving him of his
eyes by Zeus‟s daughter Athene for watching her
bathing and to soften the harshness of the
punishment, the goddess conferred upon the
unhappy Teiresias the gift of foretelling the future.
10
For the story of Pygmalion and Galatea, see
Guthrie, 1950, p. 211-12.
11
For the complete myth related to Prometheus, see
Provensen, 1959, p. 11-12.
12
See Guthrie, 1950, p. 216-19, for the myth of
Sisyphus.
Asian Journal of Multidisciplinary Studies, 1(4) November, 2013
81
Antiquity Revisited:Tracing the Influence of Greek Mythology on English Literature and Culture
more specific tales” (1973, p.26). Such
specific developments can be seen in
James Joyce‟s Ulysses and The Odyssey: A
Modern Sequel by Nikos Kazantzakis. The
ancient myth of Cupid and Psyche was
writ by Keats in a poem and was presented
in a reworked manner by C.S. Lewis in
Till We Have Faces. Many critics believe
that myths lie beyond our conscious
awareness. What makes Greek myths more
popular than myths of any other nation is
the fact that they still persist in the Greek
roots of many English words and in our
culture and literature.
This opinion can be well
supplemented with literary instances in
modern fiction. Considering the case of
Hermione Granger in hugely popular
Harry Potter Series by J.K Rowling serves
is in appropriate context here. The name
Hermione means well-born, earthy or
stone and refers to peony-type flowers
which directly brings to the mind the
Greek figure Hermes. In Greek mythology,
Hermes was often known as the patron
saint of high magic and maybe that is why
one finds Hermione is so gifted in the
novels. Shakespeare‟s play A Winter’s
Tale also figures a character Hermione
who was modelled on the Greek character
named Hermione itself (the daughter of
King Menelaus and Helen of Troy). Such
interconnectedness makes it impossible to
separate the Greek roots from modern
fiction. This particular character strikes
“some very deep chord” (Campbell, 1959,
p. 31). One cannot ignore the undeniable
link of Greek myths in such modern works
as The Penelopiad by Margaret Atwood,
Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand, Psyche in a
Dress by Francesca Lia Block and
The Percy
Jackson
and
the
Olympians Series by Rick Riordan.
Moving from fiction to reality, it
was in the first half of the twentieth
century that the rationalism of Greek
myths was particularly emphasized. Martin
Nilsson expressed this view in his History
of Greek Religion (1925). Speaking of the
Greeks he says:
Their marvellous qualities of mind,
their rationalism, and clarity of thinking
could brook no ambiguity or confusion . . .
It is due not only to the plastic imagination
of the Greeks, with its power of intuition,
but also to their antipathy to the primitive
and fantastic ideas and characteristics of
the folk-tale, which led them to clear away
all that too sharply contradicted the
experiences of human life. The Greek
myth has thus become something other
than the ordinary folk-tale, and rightly
bears a separate name (1925, p. 75).
We can therefore trace the
influence of Greek mythology on modern
culture as well. To begin with, more than
half of English words have their
etymology in Greek roots. Words such as
narcissism13, aphrodisiac14, dionysian15,
thanatos,
bacchanalia,
eros,
echo,
ambrosia,
erabus
and
chronos,
cornucopia16, all derive directly from the
names of Greek Gods or themes in
classical myths. It seems that Dionysus
was once in Greece a lofty mark for
theomorphism.17 Not only words, phrases
such as „Pandora‟s box18‟ and „touch of
Midas19‟ also draw references from Greek
myths. The alphabet „p‟ in psychiatry and
in pneumonia bears the mark of Greek
influence for silent letters. The very names
of our planets and the constellation (Orion
for example) are borrowed from GrecoRoman mythological characters like
Uranus, Mercury, Venus, Jupiter, Saturn,
13
For the myths of Echo and Narcissus, see
Provensen, 1959, p. 22-23.
14
For the complete story, see The Birth of
Aphrodite, Guthrie, 150, p. 49-50.
15
This word is an adjectival form derived from the
myth of Greek god Dionysus.
16
Cornucopia or the horn of plenty was a nymph‟s
horn conferred upon by the marvellous property of
refilling itself inexhaustibly with whatever food or
drink was wished for, as token of gratitude from
Zeus.
17
For a detailed account of Dionysus, see Keremy,
1959, p. 17.
18
In ancient legend, Pandora had brought in her
arms a great vase which is incorrectly called
Pandora‟s Box.
19
For the myth of Midas, See Hamilton, 1948, p.
411-20.
Asian Journal of Multidisciplinary Studies, 1(4) November, 2013
82
Antiquity Revisited:Tracing the Influence of Greek Mythology on English Literature and Culture
Neptune, etc. The name of Greek pagan
deities – Tuisto, Woden, Thor and Friggy
are still attached to Tuesday, Wednesday,
Thursday and Friday.
The number of metrical feet in a
line is described using Greek terminology
even today, for example, tetrameter for
four feet and hexameter for six feet. Metric
systems such as „iambic pentameter‟ and
„dactylic hexameter‟ are also our Greek
legacy. Other than literature the impact is
evident in sports as the foundation of the
Olympic Games was ascribed to the
athletic hero Hercules. Since Renaissance,
the subjects from Greek Mythology have
served as raw material for artists and
writers. The best-known examples of art
emerging out of such myths include the
Leda by Leonardo da Vinci, Leda by
Michelangelo and Galatea by Raphael.
After romanticism, a number of painters
such as Lord Leighton and Lawrence
Alma-Tadema also came under the
inspirational tide of Greek mythology.
Films act as mirrors to a society‟s
culture and events. There is no dearth of
English films based on Greek Myths and
continue to be made even today. Some
notable films which reinvent ancient myths
and adapt them for modern screening
include Helen of Troy (1955), The Odyssey
(1997), Hercules (1997), 2004 film Troy
(based on The Trojan War20) , 300 (2006),
The Clash of the Titans (2010), Immortals
(2011), Wrath of the Titans (2012) and
Prometheus Unbound.
Conclusion
We have now arrived at the
conclusion that Greek myth is a literary
form, and it is also a form with a history,
showing a certain development and impact
on literature worldwide. In each period and
each society the Greek myths played a
role, even if it was only the society of the
learned, and countless poets, dramatists
and prose authors reinterpreted them in
their respective eras. It has been right put
20
To see the complete account of The Trojan War,
consult Keremy, 1959, p. 255-77.
by Alice Provensen that, “Today the gods
of the Greek and Romans do not have a
single temple. They do not have a single
worshipper. But they are immortal. They
cannot die because the Greeks invented
such wonderful myths about them” (1959).
There have been critics and
thinkers, however, who disagreed with still
prevalent supremacy of myths but have
been strongly rebutted. French philosopher
Jean-Francois Lyotard declared in 1979
that nobody believes in myths anymore.
According to him, after the World Wars,
people lost their faith in the overarching
myths, or meta-narratives, as Lyotard calls
them, that before held people's identity and
sense of belonging21. His view point was
powerfully countered by a Marxist critic,
Frederic Jameson who stated that rather
than disbelief, on the contrary, post-war
English literature, and Western culture in
general, is writhing with myths. According
to Jameson, post-modern literature is not
myth-less at all; Humans are still
fascinated by the myths they believe in,
just as much as their ancient Greek and
Roman predecessors were, whether these
myths are found in literature or take the
form of TV shows.
Knowing that Greek mythology is
yet alive and still possess a dominant hold
of our culture, one begins to wonder about
the reason for its authority. In a chapter
„Greek myths in literature‟ in The Nature
of Greek Myths, Kirk establishes through
reasoning and instances that Greek myths
are “a part of literature” and after such a
statement he asks the following questions:
“How did they become so, what was the
precise nature of this literary development,
and what are the special tastes and
concerns of the main literary sources for
Greek myths?” (1974, p. 95) He also
provides a possible explanation for the
questions when he states that “their
neatness, their rounded off quality”, and
with this may be coupled their consistency
21
Lyotard calls this new distrust in long-revered
establishments such as religion and government,
post-modernism.
Asian Journal of Multidisciplinary Studies, 1(4) November, 2013
83
Antiquity Revisited:Tracing the Influence of Greek Mythology on English Literature and Culture
of which he speaks frequently. Because of
these qualities Greek myths “seem to lay
hold on the emotions” and acquire “an
emotional value that transcends mere
narrative appeal”. One cannot fail to agree
with Kirk. The artfulness with which the
Greek characters are presented in the
myths and the immensely fantastic stories
about them appeal to the universal human
imagination and make them ethereal and
immortal.
References:
Brazouski, Antoine and Mary J Klatt. (1993). Children's Books on Ancient Greek and
Roman Mythology. Connecticut: Greenwood Publishing Group.
Bulfinch, Thomas. (2000). Greek and Roman Mythology: The Age of Fable. New York:
Dover Publications.
Campbell, Joseph. (1959). The Masks of God: Primitive Mythology. New York: Viking.
Gayley, Charles Mills. (1939). The Classical Myths in English Literature and in Art. Boston:
Ginn & Co..
Graves, Robert. (1992). The Greek Myths. London: Penguin Books.
Guerin, Wilfred L., et al. (1992). A Handbook of Critical Approaches to Literature. (5th ed.).
India: Oxford University Press.
Guirand, Felix and Robert Graves. (1959). New Larousse Encyclopedia of Mythology. New
York, Sydney, Toronto: The Hamlyn Publishing Ground Ltd.
Guthrie, W.K.C. (1950). The Greeks and Their Gods. London: Bradford and Dickens.
Hamilton, Edith (1948). Mythology. New York: Little, Brown and Company.
Keremy, C. (1959). The Heroes of the Greeks. Southampton: Camelot Press Ltd.
Kirk, G.S. (1974). The Nature of Greek Myths. Harmondsworth, Baltimore: Penguin Books.
Morford, Mark P.O., and Robert J.Lenardon. (1977). Classical Mythology. 2nd ed. London,
New York: Longman.
Munz, Peter. (1973). When the Golden Bough Breaks: Structuralism or Typology? London:
Routledge & Kegan Paul.
Pinsent, John. (1969). Greek Mythology. Virginia: Hamlyn.
Provensen, Alice. (1959). Golden Treasury: Myths and Legends. New York: Golden Press.
Rose, H.J. (1958) A Handbook of Classical Mythology. 6th ed. London: Methuen Publishing
Ltd.
Asian Journal of Multidisciplinary Studies, 1(4) November, 2013
84