The Myth of Sisyphus :: Myths Greek Essays

The Myth of Sisyphus The gods had condemned Sisyphus to ceaselessly rolling a rock n roll to the top of a mountain, whence the stone would fall back of its take in weight. They had thought with some reason that there is no more tremendous punishment than futile and hopeless labor.If one believes Homer, Sisyphus was the wisest and most prudent of mortals. agree to another tradition, however, he was disposed to practice the profession of highwayman. I correspond no contradiction in this. Opinions differ as to the reasons why he became the futile laborer of the underworld. To begin with, he is accused of a authorized levity in regard to the gods. He stole their secrets. Aegina, the daughter of Aesopus, was carried off by Jupiter. The father was shocked by that disappearance and complained to Sisyphus. He, who knew of the abduction, offered to tell about it on condition that Aesopus would give water to the citadel of Corinth. To the celestial thunderbolts he favourite(a) the bened iction of water. He was punished for this in the underworld. Homer tells us in like manner that Sisyphus had put Death in chains. Pluto could not endure the muddle of his deserted, silent empire. He dispatched the god of war, who liberated Death from the hands of the conqueror.It is give tongue to also that Sisyphus, being near to death, rashly wanted to test his wifes love. He set uped her to cast his unburied body into the middle of the public square. Sisyphus woke up in the underworld. And there, annoyed by an obedience so contrary to benevolent love, he obtained from Pluto permission to return to earth in order to chastise his wife. But when he had seen again the face of this world, enjoyed water and sun, warm up stones and the sea, he no longer wanted to go back to the cursed darkness. Recalls, signs of anger, warnings were of no avail. Many years more he lived facing the flexure of the gulf, the sparkling sea, and the smiles of the earth. A decree of the gods was neces sary. Mercury came and seized the impudent man by the collar and, snatching him from his joys, led him forcibly back to the underworld, where his rock was ready for him.You mystify already grasped that Sisyphus is the aburd hero. He is,as much through his passions as through his torture. His lower of the gods, his hatred of death, and his passion for life won him that unspeakable penalty in which the whole being is exerted toward accomplishing nothing.