ChizBlog

Eris, the Goddess of Discord, throws the apple into the hall of the gods, labeled kalliste, “to the fairest.” And so begin the arguments of Helen’s fidelity, Achilles’ hubris, and Odysseus’ loss. All of Western literature is beset first by discord, by imbalance, and how often the simple apple plays a major role!

The link between apple and beauty, between discord and balance, blurs: and the uncertainty is at its center.  Let me explain.

The traditional lessons found in the Greek myth are simple enough:  Discord causes trouble (a war in Troy, for instance), Pride does the same, as does Temptation.  Therefore we should distrust these.  I might diagram it this way:

This last pairing is found in the “betrayal” of Helen for her beauty and how it is overcome in the Trojan War by the sword. 

Thus we condemn an Eve, Helen, and Guinevere; we praise a Moses, Odysseus, and Arthur. One group creates disorder, corruption, and loss; the other restores it in mythological happy endings. All is well.

Looked at another way, we might add another level to our Apple:  earthly, material desire.  In the Old Testament, God warns Adam and Eve not to eat from the Tree of Knowledge; Aphrodite bribes Paris with the prize of Helen; and Lancelot is torn from the Roundtable by the shame of his tryst with the queen.

One could explore the obvious link here to women and the subsequent art which depicts women as temptresses, from Sibyls and sirens to succubae and Scheherazades. Similarly, we could draw interesting parallels to money, another earthly pleasure, and its similar role in literature.

But I’m less certain that the lessons are so simple.  In fact, this clean divide between Order and Apple-Villainy is even a bit dangerous. 

The Apple, as a sphere, carries an entirely different meaning.  Spheres are totality, the universal wholeness.  In other words, the Apple is the very symbol which defies this artificial division; it encompasses by definition the entire chart above.  If I were to redraw it, it might look like this:

Totality of the Apple

In this way, Order and Goodness make themselves heroes of tales in an effort to defeat Chaos and Wickedness.  But the Apple rolls into the hall of the gods to remind us that there another story waits.

Here are our three tales again, re-envisioned with this piece of the mythological puzzle:

1.       Eris, Greek Goddess of Discord, is first excluded from a great wedding (The Original Snub), which motivates her to remind us of the oversight with the Apple. And the wedding itself was hardly Harmonious (her opposite); it was a forced marriage.  Thus, the gods created a false sense of Harmony which inevitably called for its disruption, the totality which includes Discord, and creates the greatest Greek epic.

2.       Eve herself is seduced by a discordant serpent in Eden, one of God’s creations somehow residing in the realm of perfect Order.  Her inevitable acceptance of it creates the Original Sin which propels the total drama of humankind, free will and faith.

3.       Guinevere’s is a classic Fall and Redemption story. Lancelot comes to know that he is more than his male purity—he is, in fact, a creature of earthly desire.  And it is his failure to understand this—to wrestle it rather than accept it—which causes the land’s corruption and the necessity for Arthur (and Galahad) to restore it.  (As an added note, the island of Avalon—where Excalibur was forged and Arthur recovers from his wounds—is translated as “Isle of Apples”

4.       And just for kicks, Snow White is seduced by an apple by the once-fairest queen, and Sleeping Beauty is cursed by a fairy who is not invited to her christening.

Okay, got it.  So what’s the point?  Who cares about mythology, anyway?  As we discuss in my literature classes, story gives us purpose. 

Discord is not an evil but an inevitability, a necessity. From it comes change, the impetus to renew balance, and create a healthier society.  In every human and in every society, Discord lives. The natural cycle of mythology, of civilization, of life, is of disruption, change, and renewal.  If this were not true, we would have stagnation and ignorance. 

The corruption of the Greek gods would never have been revealed, Arthur would still be living by the imperial sword alone, and humankind might reside forever in Eden—nice, but without knowledge or purpose. Ennui.

Learning, education, is our ongoing dialogue to move beyond ignorance; by necessity it means that there will be conflict—discord—as change takes root. Our efforts to stamp out minority views, conflicting reports, to keep order for the sake of Order, are mistakes: they are illusions of Order, false harmonies. 

No status quo will ever change without contention.  And the Apple is thus the American ideal.