Classical myth and its unabating impact on society

The word ‘myth’ has come to be associated with falsity – with a story made up of fantastical elements designed to teach morality. However, etymologically the word ‘myth’ is derived from the Ancient Greek ‘μύθος’ (mythos) and was used to denote the idea of ‘story’. The veracity of mythology is almost certainly fallacious, but to completely disregard the fundamental importance of such tales is nonsensical. These are the tales that have formed the basis of all modern narrative, the tales that are so deeply entrenched in the society of our ancestors that their impact on the construction of these societies is indisputable.

This past spring, I was fortunate enough to see the production of The Burnt City by the ground-breaking theatre company Punchdrunk, a piece of physical theatre based upon Greek tragedies, in which the audience wanders around an old warehouse, witnessing multiple narratives play out around them. It was an enchanting watch, fully interactive and highly emotionally charged, with a dramatically cascading soundtrack. The element of interaction, combined with the seemingly endless myriad of stories available to explore and discover, all happening simultaneously, means no viewing of the piece would have been alike. Each experience was completely individual. In reflection, this experience made me appreciate how every story, every event that ever occurs, even if experienced by multiple people, will produce an individually informed perspective.

The tale of Orpheus and Eurydice’s continued prominence in popular culture is a testament to its appeal to common experience. Eurydice, shortly after marrying Orpheus, is bitten by a viper and dies. Her lover, Orpheus, is overcome by grief and travels to the underworld to try to claim her back. The gods bargain that in exchange for her freedom, Orpheus must not look back at her till they are in the land of the living. Of course, in typicality of myth, the tale ends tragically, and the lovers are separated once more. 

This myth forms an important part of widely celebrated film Portrait of a Lady on Fire (2019). The presence of this myth hauntingly hangs over the story, mirroring the tragic ending awaiting the lovers. Director Céline Sciamma has expressed how her intention with this film was to form a reclamation of gaze, with the exclusion of male characters acting as a resistance to the domination of the male gaze throughout the history of art. The film brings up questions of choice, and the tendency to dismiss Eurydice’s role in this story, of whether it was perhaps Eurydice herself who called to Orpheus in that moment, thus securing her own death as a means of claiming her own fate, and not letting her narrative be continually controlled by the decisions of others. By working to redetermine the classics and the perspective through which we view them, we redefine our own lives, our own perceptions of self. 

The bearing myths hold on music is immense. The myth of Leda and the Swan has found a home amongst the discography of Irish singer-songwriter Hozier. The song Swan Upon Leda, written in response to the overturning of Roe v Wade and the troubling continual eradication of women’s fundamental human rights, draws on the classical tale to create a disturbingly powerful piece of art about the body of a woman being commodified. 

The song also has themes of occupancy intricately woven throughout, commenting on the atrocities of political occupation. Hozier grapples with difficult subjects, and through use of a classical myth, creates a piece that provides the tenderness and sensitivity such conversations require, whilst still encapsulating the horrors transpiring. The medium of music allows this myth to find new life, to grow out of the past and into a reflection on the present day. A grand, highly emotionally evocative soundscape, reminiscent of a mounting prayer, accompanies striking lyrics, combining to make a piece of art that strips away the habitually romanticised view of a myth depicting the violation of a young girl.

Literature attempts, and always has, to capture the basic essence of humanity, in all its grotesque allure. Myths explore the complexities of the human condition, the emotional polarities, and the universal experience of life. For too long the classics have been inaccessible, only studied by persons of privilege, only interpreted by similar minds. Now, in an age of increasingly accessible knowledge, the classics are becoming a way for marginalised groups to reclaim their stories and assert their own places within them. 

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