Paethon And Icarus Comparative Essay

The two myths, Phaethon and Daedalus and Icarus, describe two foolishly ambitious young boys. Throughout the myths of Phaethon and Daedalus and Icarus the boys cause conflict that leads to consequences. Their foolishness in the myths easily depicts their thoughtless and stubborn character as they make huge mistakes as a verdict of their behavior. Through the use of conflict and characterisation both mythical protagonists, Phaethon and Icarus, demonstrate a shared lesson that a prideful disregard of the warnings from those who are older and wiser can quickly lead to disastrous consequences. First, the conflict of both stories unequivocally show Phaethon and Icarus neglect the warnings of consequences from older and wiser people. In both stories,

After Phaethon and Epaphus race, Epaphus loses and becomes angry. Epaphus challenges Phaethon that Phaethon has never seen his father, and Phaethon is to stuck-up to decline. This conflict is character vs. character because of Epaphus challenging Phaethon. This is the inciting incident to the plot which puts the myth in motion. Later in the story, the type of conflict stays the same but the characters change. Next, Phaethon and his father Apollo are arguing about Phaethon riding the sun chariot across the sky, a difficult and dangerous quest for even Apollo himself. This can be put in the category of conflict because Phaethon argues with his father about whether he should ride the sun chariot. Secondly, in the myth Daedalus and Icarus the story begins with the idea, “King Minos wanted…”(59). In this section, Daedalus was asked to build a palace for a wicked king, who was named King Minos. Daedalus excepted and did so but was not allowed to leave. Daedalus built a maze underneath the palace just as he had been told to do but was horrified about what it was to be used for, and the maze was to house and evil creature that fed upon humans! King Minos horribly did not let him leave because he was the only one that