ARCHETYPAL
Ceyx And
Alcyone (Excerpt)
Synopsis:
Ceyx
and Alcyone are married happily until the day when Ceyx decides to journey
across the ocean. Knowing the dangers of the sea, Alcyone begs him not to go,
or at least to take her with him. But Ceyx declines her offer and sets out
without her. On the first night of the journey, a storm ravages his ship, and
Ceyx dies with Alcyone's name on his lips. Alcyone continues to wait for her
husband, making him cloaks and praying fruitlessly to Juno for his safe return.
Juno pities the woman and asks Somnus, god of Sleep, to tell her the truth
about her husband's death. Somnus sends his son Morpheus to break the news in a
dream, so Morpheus takes the form of the drowned Ceyx. Alcyone wakes from the
terrible dream and knows her husband has died. She goes into the ocean to drown
herself and be with him, but she sees his body floating towards her. She dives
in but, miraculously, flies over the waves instead of sinking into them. The
gods have turned her into a bird! The body of Ceyx disappears, and Ceyx turns
into a bird as well. They are still together, flying and in love.
Analysis
The literary piece is an
archetypal theory because it is a situational archetype. It is because the
story grows out of the parallel between the cycle of nature and life. Morning
and springtime represent rebirth, birth, and youth; evening and winter suggest
old age and death. Here, Ceyx was reincarnated as a bird in order to be with
his wife because he died because of the shipwreck. This is an archetype
because it is patterned on the Greek Mythology and also the symbolism given
is very obvious to understand.
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