Archetypes and Stereotypes

“Which was the goddess? He couldn't say.”

~ p. 172 The Marriage of Cadmus and Harmony by Calasso

Apparently our class had no problem with this during class on Thursday. Our group projects began and (even though I'm a little biased) I think both groups did a great job! I am impressed with the second group in trying to intervene archetypes with stereotypes by using icons in our current society. They picked a tricky topic to try to work into a short group presentation. The people they used were the following:

• Charlie Sheen – Dionysus
• Elizabeth Taylor – Aphrodite –> Suddenly Last Summer when she rises from the sea like Aphrodite when she was born
• Michael Phelps – Poseidon
• Usain Bolt – Hermes
• Oprah Winfrey – Zeus (or Hades according to Jarrod)
• Bill and Hillary Clinton – Zeus and Hera
• Adolf Hitler – Hades
• Andrew Jackson – Trail of Tears, (one of the few things I remember from AP Gov in high school) “Stonewall Jackson”, 1^st president to use the right of the veto
• Napoleon Bonaparte – conquered most of Europe, freed a number of religious minorities, “Emperor & Liberator”
• Marie Antoinette - “Let them eat cake.”, party girl, last queen of France, had her head chopped off, known as the Austrian whore

One of the main points they made was the common notion that if you do not know history, it will repeat itself. According to Sexson, if you do not know mythology, you repeat it. I, personally do not entirely agree with either one of those. As much as our school system tries to follow this teaching, history still continues to repeat itself. It is inevitable to happen. It does not matter if you know history through and through or not. Humankind has the same tendencies now as they had when they were created. They only thing that may have changed is the environment.

     I remember having this discussion in World History class sophomore year of high school. We were comparing the Vietnam War to the current war. The similarities between the two wars and how they were being fought were obvious, yet the Vietnam War is one of the most learned about besides World War II, and yet faulty military tactics which were used in the Vietnam War such as occupying an area and then leaving, therefore having to reoccupy the same area over and over again, has somehow made it's way into our current war in Iraq and Afghanistan. However, I cannot entirely state if that is the case anymore, as I, and I'm sure many, do not keep up on the war as much as I used to, now that it is not as hot of an item in the news as it used to be. But point being, history was clearly repeating itself in that circumstance, even though the Vietnam War was only 40 yrs or so ago, and well documented.

     In away it goes back to Calasso's definition of myth, “the precedent behind every action”. Every story is not original, but rather merely following someone's footprints in time. The environment may change, but the overall storyline does not. So here is my question....who made the first story which created the footprints to begin with?

Overall Opinion on The Magus

“Which was the goddess? He couldn't say.”

~ p. 172 The Marriage of Cadmus and Harmony by Calasso

Nicholas Urfe. The strange character “chosen” to undergo a rather cruel experiment in the book The Magus, and for what? To hopefully change him in some way, set up by his current (or perhaps ex-) girlfriend who in the end has nothing really to say to him, acts as a rather unintelligent broad, and just stands there crying, trapped in the curse of her own game? There are four women throughout the book, but who holds the key to the plot? Julie (Lily), June (Rose), Alison, or Lily de Seitas? Who decides the ending? Certainly it is not Nick, for he is the pawn in the whole book, or as others have put it, the lab rat in which can choose its own path, and by doing so determines the outcome of the maze, but not necessarily the ending. It could not possibly be Lily de Seistas as she had no direct link to Nick’s bizarre happenings. As for Lily and Rose? They truly were mere puppets throughout the whole “act”. This leaves only Alison; the one Nick had least expected to be part of it at all. But why play this awful trick on someone you supposedly loved? I feel there are better ways to make someone change, and yet, even after he had changed (which, in my opinion she never really took the time to find out), she still didn’t want him. Or did she?

      Nicholas was the unsuspecting man who has tricks played on his heart. (And what makes me angry, is the next young fellow to take his spot at the Greek school will probably take his place in Mr. Conchis’s evil fun as well. Which by the way, I hope does not happen, or at least the young gentleman is smart enough not to get hooked, since he seems like a nice guy and has a fiancé.) And yet he can’t let it go once he has left the island. But is it he can’t let it go because he wants to continue living in this land of illusion, or is it because of the mystery behind the whole thing and he wants to know the actual truth of it all? His mind games have no longer become a mystery that must be won by wits, but one that must be won by tedious tasks of searching – almost like a scavenger hunt. Always searching for every clue, hoping that the last one will lead to the end, which you hope to reach before your opponents, only to be disappointed with the ending results.

“It occurs when the boy who has been enchanted in the nursery by Stories from the Odyssey buckles down to really learning Greek. It occurs when lovers have got married and begin the real task of learning to live together. In every department of life it marks the transition from dreaming aspiration to laborious doing.”

~ p. 7 The Screwtape Letters by: C. S. Lewis

His torture which indulged his boring life on the island soon turned into a chore and in a way, disappointment.

      But what was the point behind it all? I still don’t understand. Sexson keeps insisting it relates to the separation, initiation, transformation cycle. Perhaps. It would seem logical since, like Sexson had mentioned, Nick separates himself from England, undergoes all these mind games with Mr. Conchis (which include an “initiation trial”), returns to England where he begins as a different man. Now he feels no longer like a mere common Englishman, but in a way, an outcast. This outcast feeling explains the transformation stage. But what did he gain from this? One can only conclude the hopes that he will be more respectful towards the women he dates (if he dates again, thanks to Alison and Lily he doesn’t appear as if he ever wants to) in the future. Seems a little silly to go through all that trouble, money, and time to get that change when it could have been done in a quicker manner.

Magicians

The Prince and the Magician

Once upon a time there was a young prince, who believed in all things but three. He did not believe in princesses, he did not believe in islands, he did not believe in God. His father, the king, told him that such things did not exist. As there were no princesses or islands in his father's domaines, and no sign of God, the young prince believed his father.

     But then, one day, the prince ran away from his palace. He came to the next land. There, to his astonishment, from every coast he saw islands, and on these islands, strange and troubling creatures whom he dared not name. As he was searching for a boat, a man in full evening dress approached him along the shore.

    'Are those real islands?' asked the young prince.

    'Of course they are real islands,' said the man in the evening dress.

    'And those strange and troubling creatures?'

    'They are all genuine and authentic princesses.'

    'Then God also must exist!' cried the prince.

    'I am God,' replied the man in full evening dress, with a bow.

    The young prince returned home as quickly as he could.

    'So you are back,' said his father, the king.

    'I have seen islands, I have seen princesses, I have seen God,' said the prince reproachfully.

    The king was unmoved.

    'Neither real islands, nor real princesses, nor a real God, exist.'

    'I saw them!'

    'Tell me how God was dressed.'

    'God was in full evening dress.'

    'Were the sleeves of his coat rolled back?'

    The prince remembered that they had been. The king smiled.

    'That is the uniform of a magician. You have been deceived.'

    At his, the prince returned to the next land, and went to the same shore, where once again he came upon the man in evening dress,

    'My father the king has told me who you are,' said the prince indignantly. 'You deceived me last time, but not again. Now I know that those are not real islands and real princesses, because you are a magician.'

    The man on the shore smiled.

    'It is you who are deceived, my boy. In your father's kingdom there are many islands and many princesses. But you are under your father's spell, so you cannot see them.'

    The prince returned pensively home. When he saw his father, he looked him in the eyes.

    'Father, is it true that you are not a real king, but only a magician?'

    The king smiled, and rolled back his sleeves.

    'Yes, my son, I am only a magician.'

    'Then the man on the shore was God.'

    'The man on the shore was another magician.'

    'I must know the real truth, the truth beyond magic.'

    'There is no truth beyond magic.' said the king.

    The prince was full of sadness.

    He said, 'I will kill myself.'

    The king by magic caused death to appear. Death stood in the door and beckoned to the prince. The prince shuddered. He remembered the beautiful but unreal islands and the unreal but beautiful princesses.

    'Very well,' he said. 'I can bear it.'

    'You see, my son,' said the king, 'you too now begin to be a magician.'

~p. 550-552 The Magus

This short story was found in The Magus when Nicholas is scrummaging through the bunkhouse that Julie (Lily) and June (Rose) stayed in. In a way, it reflects his life on the island with Conchis as the king and Julie & June the other magician. Only when Nick believes that the whole plot is false can more of the story unravel. He becomes lost in illusion and truth and even contributes to the lies being passed around, setting the story in his own hands. Or so he thinks. He is the youngest of magicians here – the prince. Inexperienced and torn with emotions, not knowing what to believe, but accepting the deceptions placed in front of him because they are 'beautiful'.

      This idea of putting the exact plot into the story by another story or piece of literature is a powerful thing. It can be seen commonly among literature. I wish I could think of more things, but at the moment the best example I can think of is the movie Moulin Rouge, where the play that is being written and performed is the main characters real life. (I hope I have not ruined that for anyone.) Even Jesus uses this method, where he foretold his death numerous times, just as we talked previously about the type of teaching he loved, usually in parables.

      As for the story itself, if I were a true Literature major, I would come up with some philosophical reasoning behind it. Perhaps expressing some idea on how this is our lives, an illusion that we create to encompass ourselves around those things which fill us with delight. But I'm not. I would agree that we do have a tendency to surround ourselves with those things in which we find beautiful and joyful. Looking around you can tell who choosing instead to live the life of which is sulking, depressing, or angry. According to the story, they are the ones who live with no magic. So how will you live your life? In a land of illusion? In the land without magic? Or perhaps the third not stated in the short story above; the one of truth with creativity? If you ask me, I'll choose the last.