Icarus Falls

Greek Mythology is full of stories that are extravagant and dramatic yet carry some hidden moral or value that the reader interprets. Stories like Prometheus who stole fire from the gods and gave it to mankind, and Hercules, who had been given the famous twelve labours which were impossible to complete in order to be absolved from his crimes. And the recurrent theme in many of all these stories is the archetype of the “fall of a hero”. Which in literature is the “Tragic Hero” role as described in Aristotle’s Poetics. Many of these characters have a rather graphic and painful ending to their stories, as the Gods in Greek mythology as absolute, powerful, supreme and mercy is a very sporadic concept in regard to them. But each story carries its own significance and beauty that captures our heart and makes us wonder at these marvellous depictions of these characters, which show the most humanistic characteristics and feelings. Feelings like jealousy, pride, envy, love, fear etc.

And one of the characters that I admire the most due to him having such natural child-like humanistic tendencies is Icarus. And his story is rather short, and he’s rarely featured in it. And it starts with his father Daedalus. Before Icarus’s birth, Daedalus was renowned for his craftsmanship, architecture, inventions, and his sculptors. He is the inventor of carpentry and the tools used in it. He also created the first bathhouse in Athens. His fame filled him with pride and when his nephew started to acquire some popularity, he pushed him off a tall tower. He was then banished from Athens and travelled to the island of Crete, where he was welcomed by King Minos. There Daedalus kept on progressing and inventing new things like the ships sail and mast which helped people use wind to travel and had a son named Icarus. On request of Pasiphae, the king’s wife he created a life-like wooden cow husk for her to copulate with a bull and give birth to the Minotaur. Enraged by this King tasked him to create an inescapable labyrinth for the Minotaur. Following this Daedalus and his son were imprisoned in the tallest tower in Crete. But the genius that he was, Daedalus devised a plan to escape. He collected the feathers of birds that flew over the tower and used beeswax and a wooden frame to create two pairs of giant wings that will help them escape.

But this was an impossible feat, till then flight was something that was only accomplished by gods and birds. Once again Daedalus pushed the boundaries of humanity and took flight with his son. But before they took flight Daedalus warned his son, about not to fly too close to the ocean because that will dampen the feathers making them heavy and difficult to fly and not to fly too close to the sun by which the sun’s heat will melt the wax then leading to his fall. Icarus was overcome by joy and pride. He was the first Human to ever fly and soar the mighty sky. This feat only reserved by the gods was accomplished by a mere human like him. The time he spent trapped in the tower made him long for his freedom, not only in physical sense but in a deeper moral sense, a freedom for his soul. The view from the sky was mesmerising and he was envelope in a feeling of ecstasy.

Thus, when the sun’s heat started to melt the beeswax, one by one the feathers started disintegrating and Icarus lost control of his flight. Helplessly Daedalus witnessed his son falling from the sky to his eventual demise in the sea. Daedalus then searched for his son and found his body on a beach. He was deeply sad by the fact that his son died due to his invention he then buried him and set flight to Scilly. Icarus’s story in my opinion is a matter of utter significance as it is a depiction of the most humanistic behaviour I have seen in a mythology. And his end is indeed beautiful justice to the beginning of his story, which starts with his flight. I think, the small time he spent soaring in the sky was worth risking his life upon because it is the proof that life is beautiful and although it is temporary, this beauty is worth chasing and risking everything we have for it. Because for that short period of time where you attain this beauty, attain love, love from our creator, love in form of this beauty which brings meaning to our lives. Many artists are inspired by this story, most notably Pieter Bruegel the Elder who painted a wonderful painting depicting the fall of Icarus in 1560. So, I hope you too are inspired by this story and take something from it wherever you go.