Man is a story-creating animal. They weave a web of stories around themselves to fathom their relationship with their surroundings. They narrativize some event or incident through numerous discourses into an undeniable fact. In fact, in no time these narratives acquire mythic proportion. Battles, conspiracies, adventurous journeys, evil tempter, heroic warriors, all from the basic elements of a myth. The typologies and archetypal elements utilized in the format of the narrative allot it the status of a myth. What are myths? Myths are stories about heroes, divinities, and kings who emerged from the story-telling habits of human beings.
Dynamic to its core it cannot be considered a product but a process. Myths document the relationship between man and nature. Such documentations though not always faithful and objective nonetheless provide us with valuable insights into the past. Critically studied, myths can open before our eyes the world of the ages of heroes, warriors, kings, and magicians. The historical value of myths cannot be denied. To many, it might seem as silly prattles of the people of the past with little or no historical precision and veracity. Nonetheless, the importance of such myths, stories created around the lives of divinity and heroes affords us a chance to peep into the customs, society, and rituals of the ancient world and of the worlds where it has been re-created and re-told.
Thus, in course of reading the lessons and writing this assignment, I realised the importance of myths in our daily lives. I have often come across characters, events, or incidents of classical myth in their contemporary re-creation. Myths of the ancient civilization have often been utilized in the myths of later generations. The repetitive appearance of heroes, battles, adventures of the classical myths raised my interest to learn more about the original myth. The main intention that prodded me to undertake this task and made it so endearing a project throughout has been the desire to re-think in a somewhat objective manner the process of transformation these myths underwent over a generation.
Myths have always been in my understanding of small anecdotes that are recounted in stories and conversations to moralize about some general human fault and failure. Numerous reinterpretations that I have come across about ancient myths made me believe that myths are actually fairytales. However, direct contact with the source of the myth about Ulysses made me realize that myths are not some fairytales about heroes and their feats. Myths are above anything a substantial socio-historical document. They tell us about the time and the nature of the society and culture to which it belongs. This knowledge about the original source of the myth abets our understanding of the transcendental nature of a myth.
In the course of working on this assignment, I was reminded of an ancient myth, which reigns as a popular anecdote of all times. ‘Achilles’ heel’ and the myth surrounding it remains a potential term used by various authors to depict several vulnerable situations. In fact, it has become quite a catchword, rather than a keyword, used by scholars in different fields. I have often encountered the myth as a passing reference or as a major framework of works of social sciences, both fiction and non-fiction, but never had the opportunity to study the original myth before this assignment came my way. I read the original myth about Achilles’ heel in Statius’ poem.
Though Homer mentions Achilles in his poem, he does not deal with the circumstances in which he died. It was much later, in the 1st century A.D. the Roman epic poet Statius, almost a thousand years after Homer’s death, mentions this story in his poem (Trzaskoma, Smith and Brunet xix). It is in this connection that the epic holds a reference to Achilles, another hero of the Trojan War. The poem describes Achilles as a fearless warrior, son of Zeus and Thetis.
The myth about Achilles, described in the poem, says that Thetis had “plunged him in the River Styx, one of the five rivers of the netherworld. Since he was held by one heel, this part was not bathed in the waters, and so was the one part of him that was unprotected.” (Klenermann 1) The myth asserts that when the Trojans were loosing the battle they shot an arrow to hit the right heel of Achilles, his most vulnerable point, and that’s how the great hero fell on the grounds of Troy. This myth also finds a place in the paintings on several vases of the ancient period.
Knowledge of the original source greatly influenced my understanding of the myth about Achilles’ heel. I have often come across this myth in various forms and shapes. In fact, the variegated nature of the secondary sources which uses it, above all, interprets the myth, has deeply impressed me. I came across this myth in a book on surgery and science. A non-fiction work of science uses the myth to describe that the tendon at the heels, dubbed as Achilles’ heel metaphorically (to reminiscete the circumstances under which Achilles was killed), is a critical portion of the body, joining the tricep surae to the calcaneus (Benjamin, Theobald and Suzuki 5). In fact, surgeons and doctors also believe that this portion of the body has played a significant role in human evolution.
In othet non-fictional works too Achilles’ heel finds a special mention. In works of economics too mention can be found of this endearing myth. They use Achilles’ heel as a metaphor to refer to the vulnerable portions or weak parts of an economic system. A book on global capitalism and its crises has used the myth of Achilles’ heel to refer to the usually unattended weak portions of the system, which leads to the crises it is often faced with.
References are made to weak or unattended vulnerabilities of capitalism like income inequalities, which forms it Achilles’ heel where criminals, terrorists, and multinational corporations thrive and encourage “illicit transactions” and “massive illegalities” (Bake 1). These drawbacks are mentioned as the Achilles’ heel of capitalism that needs to be corrected to reach out the benefits of capitalism to greater humanity.
Non-fictional works also refer to the myth of Achilles’ heel. They use the myth as a metaphor to mention the weak stridings or vulnerable spots of a character and their moral, or economic circumstances. Thus, the myth of Achilles’ heel, an ancient myth used to refer to the only vulnerable spot an otherwise fearless and invincible Trojan hero had, has come to acquire a metaphorical proportion. It no longer remains constricted within the ancient arena where it can be used to define the life and fate of a great hero. The mythic charisma has spilled over the ancient boundary and has traveled over time and space to define and metaphorically elucidate the weak point or vulnerability that each human body, soul, and mind possess.
Despite being thoroughly surprised at the variegated rendition that the myth of Achilles’ heel has undergone I was equally astonished to learn that their nature and the percept of the myth remains the same in every rendition of the myth. Though it has been interpreted in many different ways and applied to different branches of knowledge the myth, its percept, and its soul remains the same and unchanged. The later renditions though set in different space, and time recounts that same mythic element of the vulnerability of life to the greater spirits of life and the continuation of life even in death. Thus, we can characterize myth as “spontaneous productions of the psyche, and each bear within it, undamaged, the germ power of its source.” (Campbell 2)
I began this essay with the assertion that man is a story creating animal. However, as my essay wounds towards its close I would beg to differ with the earlier assertion and instead note that man is actually a myth-appropriating animal. Certainly, myths are not some generally given truth. On the contrary, myths are stories about some event, character written or orally performed and passed on to generation of readers or listeners.
They are indeed created, written, or composed at some point of historical time. This historical time and space of creation gives the myth a particular nature or soul. The soul assures its timelessness. The soul becomes the essential ingredient, a synonym for the entire myth that man appropriates. The soul of the myth is constantly interpreted in different forms and texture according to the context in which the interpreter dwells. This makes me surmise man is a myth-appropriating animal.
Concluding remarks about this essay is in no way an easy task. The reason of this uneasiness is the knowledge that I have shared with my readers in this essay-appropriation. In process of preparing this assignment paper and discussing the myth about Ulysses and his wandering, I have added yet another interpretation to the myth. This new interpretation has now become a part of the myth itself-nurturing it and enriching it. Hence, to my understanding myths are panorama of various interpretations, which never kill them, only enrich them.
Works Cited
Bake, Raymond W. Capitalism’s Achilles heel: dirty money and how to renew the free-market system. New Jersey: John Wiley and Sons, 2005.
Benjamin, Michael, et al. “The Anatomy of the Achilles Tendon.” Nicola Maffulli, Louis Almekinders. The Achilles tendon. London: Springer-Verlag, 2007. 5-16.
Campbell, Joseph. The Hero with a Thousand Faces. California: New World Library, 2008.
Klenermann, Leslie. “The History of the Tendo Achilles and its Rupture.” Nicola Maffulli, Louis Almekinders. The Achilles tendon. London: Springer-Verlag, 2007. 1-4.
Trzaskoma, Stephen, R. Scott Smith and Stephen Brunet. Anthology of classical myth: primary sources in translation2004. Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing Company, 2004.