Midas: A Hero's Journey

The Heroes need a Hero, too!

The hero in a story is thought of as the one who saves everyone, or does some sort of good deed and is rewarded with good luck afterwards. This is not always true. A hero is the one in the story who is put through hardships, expected to overcome them. No, a hero does not always overcome their challenge, either. For example, Rocky couldn’t always keep his title and Batman’s back was broken by Bane. In Metamorphoses, Ovid has some of his heroes transformed, killed, injured or put through massive amounts of stress. He suggests that a hero is not always followed by good fortune.

In The story of Daedalus and Icarus, Icarus is granted ill fortune instead of any good luck. Icarus, the hero, uses wings stuck on by wax

to fly out of Crete and to travel with his father. He warns Icarus not to fly too high, however, Icarus enjoys himself too much. “And the boy thought this is wonderful! and left his father, soared higher, higher, drawn to the vast heaven, nearer the sun, and the wax that held the wings melted in that fierce heat,” (p. 188) Icarus was just a boy longing to travel, yet he met a terrible fate after flying too close to the sun. “Father! he cried, and Father! Until the blue sea hushed him…and Daedalus, father no more, called ‘Icarus, where are you! Where are you, Icarus? Tell me where to find you!’ And saw the wings on the waves, and cursed his talents, buried the body in a tomb, and the land was named for Icarus.”(p. 189) With this quote, Ovid shows that the hero of this story did no wrong, but died anyway from bad luck.

In The story of Salamacis, he who does no evil is Hermes. Aphrodite falls in love with Hermes and is desperate to have him. “’O grant me this,’ she cried in prayer to the gods, ‘May no day ever come to separate us!’ and they heard her prayer, and the two bodies seemed to merge together, one face, one form. As when a twig is grafted on parent stock, both knit, mature together, so these two joined in close embrace, no longer man and woman, but neither, and yet both.”(p. 93) This is done against Hermes’ will, and Aphrodite is to blame. Unlike with Icarus, Hermes was not at fault at all. In Icarus’ case, he was slightly responsible because he did not heed his father’s warning, but he was still undeserving of the punishment he received.

Midas, the hero of The Story of Midas, wishes for everything he touches to turn to gold.

The saying goes, be careful what you wish for, it might come true. It means that sometimes, a wish can be taken too literal, like in the case of Midas. “A happy man, he watched his servants set a table before him with bread and meat. He touched the gift of Ceres and found it stiff and hard; he tried to bite the meat with hungry teeth, and where the teeth touched the food they seemed to touch on golden ingots…it was molten gold that trickled through his jaws.”(p. 263) In a way, he was aware of what he would cause, similar to Icarus’ predicament, because Icarus was told firsthand what the result of flying too high would be, and because it was his wish. On the other hand, he can’t be held fully responsible, similar to Hermes and Icarus’ situations. Hermes was a victim of circumstance, because Aphrodite happened to fall in love with him when he did nothing to provoke her. Midas’ greed also comes into play—though his intentions were selfish, he wasn’t completely deserving of his ill fortune. Icarus’ intentions were also somewhat selfish, because he wanted to travel, and to fly higher, closer to the sun for enjoyment. Unlike Icarus and Hermes’ situations, Midas was able to overcome his misfortune; still, he was to suffer through the hardship to learn a

lesson.

It’s seen in children’s books, movies, nursery rhymes, legends and bedtime stories; the hero faces one or many challenges, overcomes them and lives happily ever after.

While this is sometimes true, like in the case of Midas, it is also true that the challenges were there. The hero’s luck, demonstrated by Ovid, runs out before they can breathe a sigh of relief. Midas was able to overcome this challenge and remain thankful for his life, but Icarus and Hermes weren’t as fortunate. Before their fairy-tale ending could come, their story ended. Hermes was merged with Aphrodite against his will and was half a man, while Icarus lost his life drowning below the sea he was meant to fly above. Ovid portrays these men as misfortunate and even naïve. Hermes, ignorant of love, Icarus, ignorant of his abilities, and Midas, ignorant of his own greed. It was their ignorance that led to their downfall, ignorance every hero has, or should have, trying to overcome the obstacles that block their

path.