Greek Mythology Retelling

Everyone knows the devastating weakness that is Achilles’ heel and the bane of curiosity that comes from opening Pandora’s box, but are we aware of the tales that weaved them into being?

All forms of mythology have withstood the test of time through storytelling in oral and visual mediums. The Greeks, particularly, have stood out as pioneers of theatre and drama. Their plays most prominently featured stories of the barrage of Greek deities; and though omnipresent, they were not always omniscient beings. Deceit and deception, sorrow, love, loss, ran rampant in the land of the Gods. The manifestation of the Gods’ faults and flaws in their interactions with humankind has made for fascinating plays that continue to capture the attention of a worldwide audience up till present day. In works of contemporary fiction, mythological retellings have been steadily gaining popularity for breathing new life into these archaic (and seemingly irrelevant) tales.

From the high-flying mountains of Olympus to the throes of Tartarus, there’s never a dull moment in the lands of Ancient Greece. You might have heard of the Trojan War, told through classical epics like Homer’s Iliad and The Odyssey. As the story goes, the Greeks hid inside a wooden horse sent as a gift to Troy and subsequently defeated the Trojans by springing out to destroy the city. Coincidentally, this is also where the phrase “Never look a gift horse in the mouth” originates from. A large proportion of these retellings are centred around the Trojan War, focusing on the various prominent characters and personalities surfacing from the decade long battle. The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller is one of the more notable works that depicts the events of the war, though the novel follows the path of Achilles’ life and focuses on his recount of such events. Critics have commented that these novels are unreliable in accurately portraying the myths in line with their original works, however, others have argued that modern prose written by modern authors makes inaccessible tales palatable to a modern audience, thereby successfully preserving this cultural legacy.

Greek mythology is known for being misogynistic and patriarchal in nature — as most societies were — but these retellings give us an opportunity to see these stories in a new light by amplifying the voices of women who were once disregarded and largely objectified. Feminist retellings have been all the rage lately, mainly because they tie into modern notions of female empowerment while taking creative liberties to diversify the cast of characters. The Silence of the Girls by Pat Barker offers a contrasting perspective of the Trojan War through the narration of Briseis, a former queen presented as a prized slave to Achilles. Through a feminine lens, Barker was able to illustrate the struggles of countless women under the tight grasp of male dominance. This phenomenon seems all too familiar. Presently, this niche literary subgroup has not lost its popularity since its boom in the early 2000s because they survive as parallels to the struggles of modern women striving to be heard in an unjust world.

In a similar vein, the lives of characters who were often overlooked in classical studies of Greek mythology are explored in a nearly biographical yet captivating manner, allowing readers to develop deeper empathy towards these previously unnamed people and subsequently those around them. Madeline Miller’s Circe and Jennifer Saint’s Ariadne and Elektra are just some of the many novels that adhere to such a theme. Circe is yet another woman who was constantly vilified within the bounds of established classical myths, such as the aforementioned Trojan War, having come into contact with numerous heroes on her island Aeaea. She was portrayed as a temporary pitstop for these heroes and deemed an obstacle in their missions for the greater good, like how she seduced Odysseus (the protagonist of The Odyssey), preventing him from returning to his wife Penelope by prolonging his journey. Likewise, Ariadne played a significant role in the legend of Theseus and the Minotaur, though she was not given due credit for her involvement. One has to wonder, does the injustice of our world extend to our treasured tales, or do they simply reflect the apathetic state of humankind?

"We are all Greeks. Our laws, our literature, our religion, our arts, have their roots in Greece." is a line written by poet Percy Shelley. Perhaps, being “Greeks” ourselves, we can deign to discover the rich world of mythology through these neatly packaged parcels we call books. To end off with another quote from Miller’s Circe, “I will not be like a bird bred in a cage, I thought, too dull to fly even when the door stands open.” Stay curious, be free, and explore your world.