Ovid's "The Story of Daedalus and Icarus"

In Ovid’s “The Story of Daedalus and Icarus”, Ovid uses characterization to make the characters realistic and vivid and to reveal plot through the characters’ actions, thoughts, speech and physical appearance. Without the characterization of Daedalus and Icarus, understanding “The Story of Daedalus and Icarus” completely is not possible. Ovid hides important pieces of the plot in the text, and wants the readers to reveal the true meaning of the story by looking into the characteristics of the main characters, Daedalus and Icarus. With the view of their wants and responsibilities, the story becomes clear to the reader and the purpose of this story in a poem is revealed.

Characterization is an author’s or poet’s use of description, dialogue, dialect, and action to create an emotional or intellectual reaction, in the reader, to a character or to make a character more vivid and realistic. When characterizing Daedalus, the reader sees the brilliance in his inventions, the lack of rational decisions, and the impulse and jealousy in his life. First of all, Daedalus is a brilliant inventor, who created lots. One of Daedalus’ big downfalls as an inventor is his jealously. Daedalus gets exiled to Crete because he threw his nephew, Perdix, out of the temple, and killed him and said it was an accident. He gets exiled all because he couldn’t stand that his nephew had a few better ideas. When Daedalus and Icarus get exiled to Crete, you see Daedalus’ true inventive self. He uses his surroundings and brains to create wings to fly out of Crete because that was the only way that wasn’t guarded.

He turned this thinking

Toward unknown arts, changing the laws of nature.

He laid out feathers in order, first the smallest,

A little larger n...

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...o only cares about the wants and needs in his own life, not his child’s life. These characterizations lead the rea der to a clarified understanding of the purpose of the poem, that without responsibility people neglect the ones they should be looking after the most because their vision is clouded. Only looking out for what is best for oneself, in this case Daedalus, leaves that person alone in the end. For Icarus to survive Daedalus should have thought more about being a father and less about trying to get off of the island he was exiled to for killing his nephew. Daedalus should have took the time to get his son involved with inventing and spent time with him instead Daedalus had the deaths of Icarus and Perdix on his hands.

Works Cited

Humphries, Rolfe. "The Story of Daedalus and Icarus." Metamorphoses. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1955. 1. Print.