Connection Between Ancient Times and Modern Cultures

The narrator explained the source of Io’s misfortune: ... Zeus was the reason why she, once a princess and a happy girl, had been changed into A beast, a starving beast, That frenzied runs with clumsy leaps and Bounds. Zeus transformed Io from a happy princess into a beast, or cow, to hide her from Hera. Io was once happy but became crazy after she was turned into a cow to save Zeus from Hera's wrath. This highlighted the aftermath of untamed desire and jealousy since Zeus tried to secretly meet with Io, which resulted in Hera finding out about his deception.

In addition, after Hera took the cow and put Argus in charge of watching it closely, Zeus was beside himself with frustration. Edith Hamilton mentions the following: He watched Io’s misery, turned into a beast, driven from her home; he dared not come to her help. At last, however, he went to his son Hermes, the messenger of the gods, and told him he must find a way to kill Argus.

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Zeus tried his best to relieve Io’s misery at having been turned into a cow by telling his son, Hermes, to kill Argus. Hermes succeeded in killing Argus, but Io was still not free because Hera drove her to become crazy. Hermes killed him, but Io was still not free because Hera drove her to become crazy. This illustrates the lasting effects of untamed desire, jealousy, or violent behavior and how this is not a beneficial response to human dilemmas.

The symbolism in the Chinese myth, “The Old Man Under The Moon” also stresses this idea. When Wei Gu asked the old man what he was doing, “[t]he old man answered, ‘I am reading a book of marriage listing for who is going to marry whom. In my pack are red cords for tying the feet of husband and wife”.

The old man was a matchmaker who used red cords to tie together the feet of the couple that would be husband and wife based on the writings in his book. When the old man showed Wei Gu that according to his book, a little girl from a lower social class would be his future wife, Wei Gu became angry at that idea and ordered someone to kill the child. In this particular myth, the red cords symbolize love and marriage and they also demonstrate that dilemmas concerning love can lead to violent behavior and permanent negative lasting consequences. In this particular myth, the old man’s red cords symbolize love and marriage and they also demonstrate that dilemmas concerning love can lead to violent behavior and permanent negative lasting consequences because Wei Gu was infuriated when he discovered who his love match would be. He reacted to the knowledge of his future love match with the desire to murder a child merely because she was from a different social class.

The long-term sequelae of violent responses involving love were also conveyed by the little girl eventually growing up scarred, undesirable and eventually becoming Wei Gu’s wife because she was unable to find a mate. The Greek myth “Prometheus and Io” and the Chinese myth “The Old Man Under The Moon” emphasize the themes of love that tie together Chinese and Greek mythology and demonstrate how untamed desire, jealousy, or violent behavior can have adverse effects on one’s life. The myth “Prometheus and Io” shows the life lesson of how love can lead to jealousy and untamed desire with adverse results since Zeus’s lying to Hera resulted in his deciding to turn Io into a cow, thereby ruining her life. Also, Zeus’ killing of Argus shows how love can lead to violence and negative consequences.

This is similar to “The Old Man Under The Moon,” in which Wei Gu’s unhappiness with his future fate in love caused him to react with anger and violence. He wanted to kill a child, but he scarred her forever instead. In addition, he eventually asked the old man for matches for his children, but the old man refused to help him, and the children never married. This stressed that when people choose to respond to situations regarding love in their life with anger and violence, it can have adverse results and negatively affect their future as well. In addition, the symbolism used in both these myths links the two diverse cultures of Greece and China and allows people to learn the repercussions of their untamed desire, jealousy or violent behavior. Zeus covered the earth in a cloud of darkness and lied to Hera about his secret desire for Io. He then changed Io into a cow to hide her from Hera. This highlights the consequences of untamed desire and jealousy because when Hera discovers his deception, she forces Io to live in misery as a cow forever and keeps her away from any chance at love with Zeus.

Finally, in “The Old Man Under The Moon” the red cords symbolize love and marriage and they also demonstrate that dilemmas when it concerns love can lead to violent behavior and permanent negative lasting consequences because Wei Gu reacted to the knowledge of his future love match with the desire to murder a child because she was from a different social class than him. The dilemmas concerning love as well as the reactions of jealousy, untamed desire, or violence that occurred in both these myths still occur nowadays. Quite often people are murdered or injured due to jealousy in relationships of love because of their untamed desire for another person. As Sigmund Freud so eloquently stated, “we are never so defenseless against suffering as when we love, never so forlornly unhappy as when we have lost our love object or its love.”