CHAPTER IV ANALYSIS
In this chapter, I divide the analysis into two main parts. First, Greek mythology figures as presented in Middlesex. This part describes some figures in
Greek mythology presented in the novel. The second part is the significances of Greek mythology figures in Middlesex. This part explains the importance of figures
in Greek mythology presented in the novel towards the story.
A. Greek Mythology Figures Presented in Middlesex
There are six figures mentioned in the story, they are: Tiresias, Calliope, Minotaur, Hermaphroditus, Hercules and Zeus.
1. Tiresias
Tiresias in this novel is mentioned i n page 3: “Like Tiresias, I was first one
thing and then the other ”Eugenides 3. Furthermore, Tiresias is also used as the title
of the chapter entitled Tiresias in Love which is in Book Three. Tiresias or Teiresias, a variant spelling of his name, is a blind prophet. There
are many versions of the cause of his blindness. First, Tiresias is blinded by gods because he discloses their secrets to mortal men. Second, Tiresias is blinded by
Athena after he stumbles onto her bathing naked. His mother, nymph Chariclo, begs her to undo her curse, but Athena could not. However, she gives him prophecy
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22 instead. Another version, Tiresias is a priest of Zeus, and as a young man he
encounters two snakes mating and wounds the female with a stick. He is then transformed into a woman. As a woman, Tiresias became the priestess of Hera,
married and had children named Manto. According to some versions of the tale, Lady Tiresias is a prostitute of great renown. After seven years as a woman, Tiresias again
finds mating snakes, strucks them with her staff, wounds the male and becomes a man once more. As a result of his experiences, Zeus and Hera ask him to settle the
question of which sex, male or female, experienced more pleasure during intercourse. Zeus claims it is women, on the other hand Hera claims it is men. When Tiresias
agrees with Zeus and says that of ten parts a man enjoys one only, but a woman enjoys the full ten parts in her heart. After saying that, Hera then strucks him blind.
Since Zeus cannot undo what Hera has done, he gives him the gift of prophecy. Michael Lahanas in his article stated that Tiresiass background is important,
both for his prophecy and his experiences. Also, prophecy is a gift given only to the priests and priestesses. Therefore, Tiresias offers Zeus and Hera evidence and gain
the gift of male and female priestly prophecy. Michael Lahanas also explains that Tiresias as a seer is regarded as inerrant.
In Greek literature, Tiresiass pronouncements are always gnomic but never wrong. He is generally extremely unwilling to offer his visions like most oracles. Tiresias
died after drinking the water from the spring Tilphussa, where he was struck by an arrow of Apollo.
23 Since Tiresias is the greatest seer of the Classical myths, a figure cursed by
the gods and as hermaphroditic figures, he became an inspiration in art and literature. Tiresias appears in the following literary classics: Oedipus the King, Antigone and
The Bacchae by Sophocles, Iphigenia at Aulis, Phoenician Women and The Odyssey by Euripides, Metamorphoses by Homer,Seven Against Thebes by Ovid, Fifth Hymn
by Aeschylus, Paradise Lost by Callimachus, and Tiresias by John Milton
.
Johann Heinrich Füssli depicts Tiresias in his painting as below.
Fig.2 Tiresias, Tiresias appears to Ulysses during the Sacrifice, 1780-1785 Johann Heinrich Füssli, 20 April 2010,
http:www.mlahanas.deGreeksMythologyTiresiasJohannHeinrichFuessli.html
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2. Calliope
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