Icarus Myth

Icarus Myth

The Myth Of Icarus and Landscape with The fall Of Icarus

Myths are symbolic tales of the distant that concerns cosmogony and cosmology (the origin and nature of the universe), may be connected to belief system or rituals and may serve to direct social action and values. In other words, myths are defined as tales believed as true, usually sacred, set in the distant past or other world, and with extra-inhuman, or heroic characters. Myths play major roles in our culture. Myth tells about the culture that it came from. It gives an indication that what culture- valued came from. What kind of hope, fears and dreams were important to it. Some of the examples of myths are the myth of Icarus which is one of the most retold stories interpreted by many people throughout histories. Another is the myth of Phaeton but the myth of Icarus and the painting with landscape with the fall of Icarus by Pieter Brueghel is what I will explain in details in my essay.
The myth of Icarus was about Icarus and his father, Daedalus, a brilliant inventor. Unfortunately, Daedalus angers the King Minos, the ruler of the Island Crete. They were imprisoned inside a massive Labyrinth in Crete. Desperate to flee, Daedalus made them each a pair of wings, and with these the escape. Daedalus warned his son, “don’t fly too high or the sun will melt the wax on your wings, and not too close to the sea, as it would dampen your feathers and make it difficult to fly. Follow me closely. Don’t set your own course.” But Icarus became too exhilarated by his capacity to fly, he forget his father’s warning and set his own course instead. He flew too high close to the sun, the wax melted and Icarus fell down into the sea and drowned. Daedalus names the part of the ocean where fell the “Icaria Sea.” A nice honor for a misbehaved boy.
From the analysis of Pieter Brueghel’s painting with landscape with the fall of Icarus, I realized Icarus was not the focus of the painting. Brueghel painting shows Icarus legs...

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