Myths as explanations of natural phenomena and human tragedy in literature

Myths - "The Other Side of Wonder"

Like the empty sky it has no boundaries, yet it is right in this place, ever profound and clear.2

So run the lines from Cheng Tao, describing signifying, identifying myths - always there explaining existence and every facet of life, explaining the reason behind every man's actions:

So, myths.

For what is a myth? Lillian Hornstein3 describes it best. "A myth is the traditional tale common to the members of a tribe, race, or nation, usually involving the supernatural and serving to explain some natural phenomena. Given as an example is the tale of Persephone, daughter of Demeter, abducted by Hades and brought to the underworld but allowed to return to earth and visit her mother for six months. Thus, we have the varied alternations of the season on earth.

Shall we consider the social-cultural effects of myths positive or negative?

To the globalized man who through the years has been digitized, there is a scientific and rational reason for every season (alluding to Persephone) and Persephone and her abduction to the underworld and being able to come back and remain on earth for six months would be a tale you would unfold to a child's wondering question as to why the ice, the sleet, and the snow come after the leaves have fallen (in autumn) after a long stretch of warm, sunny days of summer and why does the earth turn green again and flowers burst in colorful blooms every spring.

A borrowed the phrase "the other side of wonder" because even an adult like me would also wonder. Yet the story of Persephone is a myth which has no basis on fact but it is a myth that stirs the imagination.

Let's go into more thoughtful and more acceptable provocation. How is the myth exemplified, for instance in King Lear of Shakespeare.

It is an accepted fact that tragic heroes have tragic flaws. It is their tragic flaw which lead to their destruction. King Lear's tragic flaws are his vanity and his allowing himself to be deluded by the flatteries and lies of his daughters Goneril and Reagan4. He believes himself to be a "compleat father" which he is not and so he deludes himself into believing Goneril's and Reagan's protestations of love and affection for him. Cordelia, the youngest daughter, will not fawn at her father's feet and be rewarded by a gift of property. To her it was like equating love with an award. Besides she knew that her sisters were not telling the truth. Their protestations are mythical - untruths.

There is usually a bond of love tying parents and children. That bond cannot be broken. That is a myth. Not all parents and children are bound by affection and filial loyalty. Look how the fool has virtually called King Lear a fool.5

Thomas Carlyle, British historian, once commented "just what I have but what I do is my kingdom." A kingdom presupposes a king and the real test of king is his ability to rule. Not his possession but his activity is the test of his sovereignty.6

King Lear disposes of his property, his kingdom and still wants to retain his authority over his vassals. But he is no longer king.

Samuel Johnson7 remarks on the improbability of Lear's conduct. If we consider the barbarity and ignorance of the age to which the story of Lear is referred it will appear as probable to happen. The preference of one daughter to another or the resignation of dominion would be credible.

The instances of cruelty8 in King Lear are too savage and shocking, and the intervention of Edmund, the bastard son of Gloucester, destroys the simplicity of the story.

The predominant image in Lear's disordered mind seems to be the loss of his kingdom and the cruelty of his daughters. It seems likely that it is the cruelty of his daughters which is the primary source of his distress, and the loss of royalty affects him only as a secondary and subordinate evil.

Endnotes

Apologies to Stephen S. Prokopoff and his tribe at the Institute of Contemporary Art from whose publication. San Frances, Works on Paper I borrowed the phrase "The Other Side of Wonder."

From the Cheng Tao Ke, Song of the Realization of the Way. Alan Watts, The Way of Sen. New York Vintage Books, Alfred A. Knoff. 1957. p.145.

Hornstein, Lillian Herlands. A Reader's Companion to World Literature. New York Dryden Press, Inc. 1956.

Act 1, Scene 1. King Lear in the Court demanding his daughters to tell him how much they loved him.

Act 1, Scene 3 King Lear. The fool virtually calling the King a fool.

Phillip, John Herbert. Old Tales and Modern Ideals. New York: Silver, Burdett and Company 1975.

Johnson, Samuel. "On the King Lear" Four Centuries of Shakespeare Criticism. Frank Kermode. Avon Books. 1965.

Johnson, Samuel. "On King Lear" p. 491

Hornstein, Lillian Herlands, p. 345

10 Hornstein p. 346

Hornstein p. 347

12 "Confucius in Merville, John C. Legacy of Wisdom, Iowa State University. Pp. 6-7

13 Mervill pp. 8-9

14 Mervill on Aristotle, pp. 25-30

15 Beehler, Roger and Alan, Drengson. The Philosophy of Society. London: Methiren and Co., 1978