Three Archetypes In The Greek Myth “Prometheus And Io”
An archetype is an image, a descriptive detail, a plot pattern, or a character type that repeatedly appears in all genres of literature over all time periods and all people groups. They are found in a variety of stories, including Greek mythology classic, “Prometheus and Io. ” The story relates to three archetypes known as, light vs. darkness, the unhealable wound, and mentorship, that can shed some clarity on the plot and mechanics of the story.
The situational archetype in, “Prometheus and Io,” would be the unhealable wound, being that a crimson red eagle, is gouging out Prometheus’ liver and ravishing his body. While Io, who lest we forget, was forced under Zeus’s love and then subjected to the rage and jealousy of Hera through Zeus’s tactic of Io’s transformation into a heifer, through the morally unjustified confinement and stalk by Argus, and through the incessant stinging of Hera’s gadfly that will not let Io sleep, drink, eat, live. It is safe to assume that the torturous and painful measures these characters went through, are unhealable wounds.
Light vs. darkness is a symbolic archetype in the story as well. Prometheus, who suffered, if pain could be measured by weight, tons of damage by both physical means, the eagle, and psychological means, the betrayal of Zeus. Therefore, Prometheus resembles the despair and the hopelessness of the darkness in the archetype. But from darkness comes light, just like the yin and yang, so Prometheus plays of the role of light as well, prophesizing Io’s future of hope, embedding in her seeds of light and faith that will sprout and grow until she finally breaks free from her misfortune and state of darkness.
Lastly, Prometheus would be given the character archetype of mentor. He acts as a mentor to Io, as he gives her advice pertaining to her future which states that the river she first ran along will named after her as the Ionian river. When she reaches the Nile, Zeus would be waiting for her, ready to restore her to her human form. Io would bear Zeus a Son, Epaphus, and she would supposedly live a better life. In addition, Prometheus mentioned that from Io’s line of descendants, Hercules would be born, a mortal with strength that not even the gods can compete with. Hercules would in turn, be the one to release Prometheus from the rocky peak in Caucus, away from the pain.
Archetypes connect to people’s emotions. The archetypes of the unhealable wound, light vs. darkness, and mentorship allows the reader to visualize and give an in depth perspective of the story, while relating to other world experiences.
