One powerful passage that I found in George Steiner's work was the first paragraph on page 273. About midway through Steiner talks about how gods and mortals are drawn together even if the outcome is detrimental. This made me think of Antigone's need to follow the god's laws. It did not matter that the laws may ultimately lead to her death, indeed she embraces it. She believes that no man has power over her, she only listens to the Gods. I wonder if perhaps she has a different outlook on life because she was raised as royalty. As royalty she is given many more privlages and has more rights than most women of her time. Maybe this is why she feels more comfortable defying human laws and following the god's instead. But mortals being drawn to gods is not just one sided. For many many years Zeus dallied with many different women and begot women by them. Through this his "married" life was hell. His father had followed this and dallied with the wrong woman who had a child that killed him. Zeus almost made the same mistake.
It seems that mortals and immortals are drawn to each other in a very erotic sense for the most part. Most especially Zeus, but just about every other god or goddess also had a child with a mortal. Even if you do not have a child with a mortal then it seems inevitable that you would seek them out for something still related to the erotic nature. Such as when Hera and Zeus asked Tyressius whether men or women enjoyed sex more. All this led to was him being blinded, after he got to spend time as both a man and a woman.
Even in Christianity we find sexuality between mortals and immortals fascination. The impregnation of the Virgin Mary has fascinated the christian community for years and is a key part of the christian tradition. It seems inevitable that morals will be drawn to god(s) and vice versa.
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
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