The Morality of Greek Myths- Reflection #6

The Creation of Seasons: Demeter and Persephone

For this reflection, upload a picture that represents your character in the Greek myth you preformed in class. Briefly summarize the story in 3-4 sentences. Then, discuss the moral of the story. What type of life mystery does this myth attempt to answer? From this story, what is an important virtue for the Greeks? Or what should one learn from this story? Due November 10th/11th.

 

In "The Spinning Wheel", I played the role of the maiden, Arachne. She came from a poor household, but held a special talent. She was able to weave. Her skills were so majestic that they competed with those of the Gods. However, Arachne had always refused to acknowledge the gods for her gift. Arachne  challenged the Gods, and Athena accepted the proposal. It was an intense, neck-at-neck, competition. In the end, Arachne was able to overpower Athena with her marvelous handiwork. Athena even had to pause and recognize Arachne's work with awe. However due to Athena's anger and jealousy, she turned Arachne into a spider. So for eternity, Arachne could weave webs.

The moral of the story was to not challenge the Gods; it sent the message for mortals to unconditionally obey and respect them. The story answered the mystery to the origin and sole purpose, of the existences, of spiders. This was evident when Arachne was changed into the form of a spider. Hence, the english word 'Arachnid' means spider. Athena cursed spiders and said, "Since you were so vain about your weaving, you shall live on a thread and continue to live forever." Therefore, a spider's sole purpose is to weave forever. This is a punishment, due to Arachne's stubbornness.

Humility. An important virtue, for the Greeks to uphold, is to be humble. One should ask for forgiveness from the Gods and not position themselves higher than the Gods. This was proven because Arachne was overly confident and cocky. She refused to recognize the Gods for her talent. She considered herself to be as talented as the Gods. This was a huge mistake and she was penalized. Therefore, the story was written, in a sense, as a a warning for the mortals to not follow the ways of Arachne.

Sources of photos: http://www.historyforkids.org/learn/greeks/religion/myths/arachne.htm
                              http://elzr.com/posts/oh-arachne