Icarus Allusion

Icarus is a Greek mythology written during a period when people did not possess a great knowledge of how the world worked. As a result, this story may have appeared to be implausible and unrealistic. This implausible characteristic of Icarus was further broken down by the literary element allusion. For instance, allusion gave readers the impression that Icarus is a greed-filled character who went against his father and made the mistake by flying too close to the sun. However, at the same time, when comparing it to the more plausible elements, Icarus was portrayed as a character who never gave up his dreams and should have flew as close to the sun as possible.

In general, Icarus holds the image of human foolishness, as he ignored his father's

words and recklessly flew up the sky. Soon he flew too high and ended up falling to his death. This simple idea was expressed across many different works throughout history. One of these works include the mythology written by Edith Hamilton. In his version, Hamilton clearly articulated the idea that Icarus is a character who is ignorant and disobedient. For instance, when Icarus first received his wings, Icarus was so amazed by his new ability that he flew higher and ignored his father's words. Without a doubt, this situation expressed his greed, "He soared...up...paying no heed to his father's anguished commands." In another work, "Landscape with the Fall of Icarus" written by William Carlos Williams, the same idea was expressed. The poem described the afterwards of his disobedience to his father and was centralized around the moment when Icarus fell due to his melting wings. According to the poem, the temperatures appear to be fairly high as Icarus was sweating, hence it is most possible that the heat is capable of melting the pair of wax wings. The poem ended with the fall of Icarus, "a splash quite unnoticed this was Icarus drowning," which completed the simple incident that the closer Icarus flew to the sun, the hotter it gets and it will melt his wings faster. This incident was further supported by "Landscape with the Fall of Icarus" a painting painted by Pieter Bruegel. In his painting, Bruegel visually showed that Icarus was drowning and his pair of wings was dissolving in the water; thus supported the basic view of Icarus.

Although many works in the past have all agreeably accepted the general idea that Icarus is an ignorant character who fell into the ocean after he flew too close to the sun, this general was rebuked by a plausible work written by Kyle Hill. In this passage, "Forget Icarus, Fly as close to the Sun as you want," Hill clearly expressed his ideas that Icarus is actually a unrealistic character. He was able to make his point by first pointing out that Icarus should be allowed to fly as close to the sun as he wants. Scientifically proven, on Earth surface, "the temperature can decrease from 20 degrees to -60 degrees Celsius." As a result, Icarus' wings would not have melt as he flew closer to the sun. In fact, he should have flew as high as possible so that he would be able preserve his wings. Now, looking back at the past texts, one could say that Icarus is not entirely that greed-filled and foolish. Rather, he is simply a young man who never gave up his dreams and courageously chased after his goals.

Therefore, Icarus is a seemingly implausible and strikingly unrealistic character and story. The literary element, allusion enabled readers to understand the general idea of Icarus and allowed greater understanding when compared to the more plausible elements of the world. As a result, it is rather implausible for Icarus to portray the character of greed and ignorance when in fact he should have been a character to express hope and bravery.