Comparing Ovid's The Story Of Daedalus And Icarus

“Success is the result of perfection, hard work, learning from failure, loyalty, and persistence,” as once stated by famed author Colin Powell. Indeed, the reader finds the truthfulness of this statement illustrated in Ovid’s original myth, “The Story of Daedalus and Icarus” from The Metamorphoses where Ovid argues that people’s failures affect their lives and the lives of those around him. In contrast, later works expound upon Ovid’s claim in their interpretations by offering the counterclaim that man is indifferent to the failure and suffering of others when it is a result of their own actions.

In today’s work, it has become more common for authors and artist to create new art based on their own interpretations of an original text. Ovid’s original myth “The Story of Daedalus and Icarus” has been taken by artists such as Williams, Bruegel, and Auden where they used his myth to illustrate how they view man’s failure. Each used Ovid’s myth to establish the central idea that failure can be used to one’s own advantage. Failure can be used as a better experience rather than a loss because it provides a learning opportunity that may not

Bruegel uses his artistic talent to establish a warm, comforting tone in the painting, Landscape with the Fall of Icarus. Although the death of Icarus was a main piece of the myth, Bruegel chose to showcase the death of Icarus as a very small aspect of the painting, so it is not always the first thing that will catch the eye of others. The focus of the piece was on the common man and the events of daily life which can help readers better understand how disconnected people are from the failures of others. Like the original myth, Bruegel included important details that lead up to his death, such as the hot sun, the wings, and, of course, his death, but failed to include any information on the feelings of Icarus’ father,