preview

What Role Does Nature Play In Icarus

Decent Essays

What is nature’s role in the myth of Icarus and Daedalus? In the short story “Icarus and Daedalus” and the poem “Icarus” nature plays a big role when Icarus, Daedalus’ son, escapes with him by flying but ends up being careless and dies due to the sun. The short story talks about the story of Icarus and Daedalus when the poem is about Icarus’ death and what he must have been thinking while plunging to his death. In “Icarus and Daedalus” by Josephine Preston Peabody, and “Icarus” by Wendy A. Shaffer, nature exacerbates by having Icarus die in both the short story and poem.
To begin, in In “Icarus and Daedalus” by Josephine Preston Peabody, Icarus is foolish and nature is not on his side, and he ends up flying too close to the sun and dies. Daedalus …show more content…

Shaffer, the poem uses nature against Icarus. This poem is about what it would be like to be Icarus while he was taking his last breath. Was Icarus mad? Was he blaming his father? Was he regretful? These were all questions that were addressed throughout the poem. The mythical poem states, “Watching white feathers flutter upward, curse the wax as a fair weathered friend… Did he rail at the sun… he laughed, and admitted that even had he known of the many failings of fathers and feathers, he would have done it anyway” (Shaffer 20). This piece of evidence displays the importance of Icarus flying to close to the sun and dying. It shows how he killed himself along with the nature. The nature of the myth and poem plays the role of freedom and death. The feathers signify freedom because of being able to flutter and fly, while the sun signifies death and misfortune. Even though Icarus died, he died being the adventurous foolish person he is. With nature not on his side, it shows how when you do not follow rules, you may end up being in serious trouble even if it was fun. If you get too senseless, you can end up having a big problem. Overall, in the poem “Icarus” by Wendy A. Shaffer, nature is the root of Icarus’

Get Access