9/26/19 Daniel Knutsen Period 8

9/26/19

Daniel Knutsen, PD 8

Modern Mythology 2020

Blogger #9

Aim: How can we create and define the value of ancient mythology in contemporary society?

Do Now: read the story of daedalus and icarus- what lessons are being clearly elucidated by this story

The story portrays the idea of hamartia, or tragic flaw, that everybody has in them. In particular, Hubris. Hubris is the trait of excessive pride, and according to the Greeks, it is the biggest flaw, and the root of all other flaws. For example, it can lead to envy, vanity, etc. 

-The idea is that everybody has hamartia. Mortals, Gods, Goddesses, etc. 

-More often than not, the flaw is Hubris.

Second activity:

-We studied  painting. The painting was of a landscape, with a man plowing a field, and a shepherd gazing into the sky. After further observation we noticed what appeared to be a person, seemingly drowning. We discovered that this was a depiction of Icarus, drowning in the sea after he flew too close to the sun. 

-The painting was intended to depict the fall of Icarus. Despite this we noticed that Icarus himself was painted very small, and was covered by the shadows of other things in the painting, like the cliff shown in it. He is not only small, but not one person shown in the painting appears to be paying attention to the demise of Icarus. 

-The symbolism found in the painting was quite interesting. The shadows, and Icarus being painted so small, we reasoned, was to show that despite how much pride he had, he was really just small and insignificant, like all people. Everyone has a purpose, but in the grand scheme we are all small and insignificant. We decided that this was showing a message in humility, that no matter how big and important we think we may be, life still goes on without us. 

We learned about this tragic flaw idea today for a reason. The idea of a tragic flaw, especially something like hubris, is very easily relatable to the real world. This made it a great topic to discuss. It shared with us the lesson that we all need to be humble. Everyone sees themself as important in one way or another, and nobody wants to think that they are as insignificant as everyone else in the world. It's a seemingly pessimistic idea, but it gives you a very realistic view of the world, which made it such a good thing to learn. Hopefully we will all use this lesson, and the information we learned today to be much more modest in our lives, and to never think too highly of ourselves.