PAPER
Nomen
3
Paper 3 Review
Ovid, Metamorphoses VIII.183-235: Daedalus et Icarus Review
Plot Summary
CONTEXT

As he ascended the throne, king
beautiful bull from the god

Rather than killing the bull as a sacrifice,
decided to keep it. As
punishment, his wife
, was punished by being forced to fall in love
and mate with the bull. The offspring of their relationship was called the
.

In order to cage the ferocious beast, the king instructed his loyal architect,
, (whose name means “
“ in Latin), to build a maze in which it
would live

Every year, 7 boys and girls were chosen to be sent into the
given the task to find their way out of the maze or be eaten alive by the monster.

A young hero named
, however, was able to finally slay the beast
with the help of
who held a
at the entrance
of the maze while he wandered through it, holding on to the other end

To prevent the knowledge of the failed design from spreading, the architect was sentenced to
be locked up in a tower on the island of
. Longing for his home, the
city of
, he devised a plan of escape for himself and his son,
.
of Crete was given the gift of a
as a sign of support.
and
Lines 183-195

Daedalus,
the

Daedalus declares that he may be shut in by the lands and waves, but that the
surely lies open to him. He and his son will choose the path of the air, over
which king
holds no sway

Daedalus turns his attention to the “
“

Daedalus begins to construct
from
to a

Next Daedalus binds the middle feathers with
feathers with
and the bottom-most

Finally Daedalus bends the feathers in a
real birds’ wings
to mimic the shape of
Lines 195-208
his exile and longing for his home land, is imprisoned by
on the island of
.
“ and changes his “
to
, first by putting feathers in order
, which Ovid compares
Nomen
Paper 3 Review

Icarus stands by, smiliing, unaware that he is
and takes hold of the feathers, softening the
with his
. Although he is hindering his father’s creation, the act seems to Icarus like a

Daedalus puts on his wings, and hanging in the air he begins to warn Icarus about his
impending flight. He first warns him not to fly too
, because the sea
will
his wings. Next he warns him not to fly too
, lest the
burn them. Instead, Icarus should fly in
the
.

Daedalus warns Icarus not to look at the constellations of Bootes (the
or Helicen (known today as
), or the drawn sword of
. Icarus should fly with Daedalus as his
.

At the same time as Daedalus gives Icarus these instructions of flying, he is also
the wings on his
, while Daedalus himself is
,
as his cheeks grow wet and his hands tremble. Daedalus give
to his son which
will never be
.

Daedalus and Icarus are compared next to a parent and baby
encourages his son to
and instructs him in the
arts of flight.

Daedalus flies ahead and looks back at the wings of his son.
,
),
, as Daedalus
Lines 217-235

On land, a
them to be
,a
leaning on his staff, and a
leaning on his handle, all see Daedalus and Icarus flying above and believe
, as they have the ability to fly.

Daedalus and Icarus pass by this islands of
and
on the left and
on the right.

As Icarus begins to take joy in his flight, he leaves his father behind and flies closer to the
which
melts the wax from his wings, which are described as
binding them together

Icarus attempts to flap his wings in vain and falls into the sea, shouting the

Daedalus too calls out for his son, once, asking for his location, again, asking to where he should follow, and
then over and over, his desperation increasing as he begins to realize what has happened

Looking down into the water, Daedalus curses his “
either his
or his
next to which he fell, which then takes its
,
and
“ (which we can read as
) and buries his son’s body on the island
from the
boy.
,