Why was icarus imprisoned

Even Daedalus could not find a way out of his maze. Sometime after building it, Daedalus fell into disfavor with the king of Crete and was condemned to live the rest of his life inside the labyrinth. Because he was his father's son, Icarus faced the same fate. Icarus and his father were trapped. Ever the inventor, Daedalus built wings of feathers and wax to escape.

In theory, the wings would allow Daedalus and Icarus to fly above the labyrinth and off the island to freedom. Just before their flight, Daedalus warned his son to be careful. If he flew too low, his wings would get wet in the ocean; if he flew too high, the sun would melt the wax and the wings would disintegrate. Icarus took off with all intentions of following his father's sage advice.

Away they flew, escaping the labyrinth. Like any adolescent boy, Icarus struggled with parental advice. He found flight awkward at first, but learned quickly and soon flew with the attributes of adolescence--his physical strength made up for his lack of coordination and balance.

Also, like many adolescents, Icarus moved rapidly from ungainliness to false prowess. Drunk with his newfound power, he soared higher in the sky, ignoring his father's warning. Daedalus looked around in flight and could not find his son. He peered down at the ocean and saw a small cluster of feathers floating on the water.

Icarus had soared towards the sun, his wax melted and he fell to his death. The myth of Icarus is especially relevant to boys of the baby boom children born after World War II and up until the Vietnam era. It teaches us about power in our relationship with our fathers. Myths reflect subconscious truth; power can be a dangerous and potentially fatal commodity for a boy as he transitions from boyhood to manhood. The myth of Icarus and his father, Daedalus, teaches by its tragedy.

Examining this myth in the light of the psychic experience of our adolescent years can illuminate how we internalize power in our lives as men. Despite its small place in the vast repertoire of Greek Mythology, the story of Icarus is well known today.

This story of a clever father and his willful sons attracts the 20 th century audience. This is not by accident. Myths produce a response in us relevant to our own understanding of our lives. Power is often confusing for boys of the baby boom generation. The growth of our culture during that period made us anonymous, and the symbols of power continue to confuse and frighten us. Our fathers, thrust into a competitive and work-centered world, never made the time to guide us in the transition from boyhood to manhood.

This experience leaves us uncertain about ourselves and unbalances our relationship with the power of manhood. The Icarus myth warns us of the dangers of power, but unfortunately provides no solution to our dilemma. Many men are trapped in adolescence, frustrated by fantasies of unmodulated and unbounded power, or constricted in their experience of what it means to be a man.

The Icarus phenomenon haunts us in our daily professional and personal lives. It seems all we have to help guide us are the Marvel comic books and, more recently, the spate of successful Batman, Fantastic Four, and other superheroes. Most men in our society are confused about what it means to be powerful. Accepted symbols of power are often Mike Tyson-like figures--strong in body, but abusive to others. Men who internalize such symbols of power become as tragic as Tyson, full of rage and unproductive.

Ghandi, a more proper symbol of power, seems archaic in our muscles-from-steroids society. Power is not rage, control, or domination. Many men define power as the ability to do or act, to exert influence over the environment, to accomplish something, or resist the influence of others.

Life went on without incident until one fine day Minos called upon Daedalus. He wanted the architect to design and build an enclosure for the Minotaur, acreature with the body of a man and the head and tail of a bull. This monster in truth was the son of Pasiphae, Minos' wife, but not by the King. Years ago, following his ascension to the throne of Crete, there had been much squabbling amongst King Minos and his brothers.

Minos had fervently prayed for a sign from Poseidon to assert his claim to the throne. The sea god, impressed with Minos' devotion, had sent him a snow-white bull as an omen that he should be ruler supreme. Overjoyed, Minos had vowed that he would sacrifice the bull to the sea god but consumed by avarice, he kept the bull for himself. Angered at Minos' disrespect and betrayal of trust, Poseidon avenged himself by cursing Pasiphae to fall in love with the bull. Delirious with desire for the bull, Pasiphae asked Daedalus to construct for her a hollow wooden cow.

Getting into the strange contraption, she made amorous advances towards the bull. Their bizarre union resulted in the birth of the Minotaur which was half-man, half-bull. Ashamed at his wife's deed, Minos wanted to hide the monster which was growing violent and gigantic day after day.

For this reason, he asked Daedalus to build a labyrinth for the beast, a structure with many twists and turns where a person could get lost interminably. Such was the intricacy of the edifice that even Daedalus had a tough time finding his way out.

In fact, Ovid makes worthy mentions of Daedalus in his works. In Metamorphoses, Ovid says that the labyrinth was constructed with such shrewdness that even the master-craftsman barely found his way out.

The Minotaur was kept at the center of the labyrinth, hidden away from prying eyes. Unfortunately for Daedalus, the King had imprisoned him and his young son, Icarus in a high tower, so that they couldn't reveal the secret of the labyrinth to anyone. Daedalus and Icarus were languishing in their prison atop the tower. Every day the master craftsman was pondering over their escape and how they could work such a miracle.

He suddenly realized that their only escape route was by air since King Minos had control over every vessel that left the island. Moreover, Minos had issued strict orders to search thoroughly every ship leaving Crete. Instead of growing impassivity over their fate, Daedalus received a marvelous plan. He had observed the birds that were flying around the tower. He studied in great detail their mannerisms and hit upon his idea of how to escape. For a large period of time, he was gathering all the feathers he could find lying around and joining them together with wax he fashioned two pairs of wings, one for himself and the other for his son.

The day arrived when they were to execute their escape plan but Daedalus had a grave warning for his son. He forbade Icarus to fly too close to the sun for that would melt the wax, or to fly to close to the sea for that would dampen the feathers. Father and son both then perched on the edge of the tower parapet and leapt off.

Flapping their wings furiously, they were able to emulate the birds and in no time, while flying over the sea, put great distance between themselves and Crete. Unfortunately, Icarus soon forgot his father's warning and filled with the exhilaration of flying, he flew too high and too close to the sun. The intense heat melted the wax on the wings, the feathers came loose. A few minutes later, poor Icarus plummeted down into the sea and was drawn. Daedalus was struck with horror but there was nothing he could do to save his son.

Aggrieved at his loss, he named the sea-spot where his son had drowned and the close by island after his name. The sea was named the Icarian Sea and the island was named Ikaria. Daedalus and Icarus managed to escape the Labyrinth and flew to the sky, free. The flight of Daedalus and Icarus was the first time that man managed to fight the laws of nature and beat gravity. Although he was warned, Icarus was too young and too enthusiastic about flying. He got excited by the thrill of flying and carried away by the amazing feeling of freedom and started flying high to salute the sun, diving low to the sea, and then up high again.

His father Daedalus was trying in vain to make young Icarus to understand that his behavior was dangerous, and Icarus soon saw his wings melting. Icarus fell into the sea and drowned. The Icarian Sea, where he fell, was named after him and there is also a nearby small island called Icaria. Thank you very much. Thank you for the background and simplified story, as it will be useful when teaching my 6th graders about the elements and nuances of myths. This is a very imformative summary of the myth of Daedalus and Icarus.

It is missing only one thing: Daedalus also warned Icarus not to fly too low, or the feathers would get wet. Minos never locked Daedalus and his son in the labyrinth.