I had never heard of her before.
It was a passing reference in a book that got me interested. I was reading Orson Scott Card's How to Write Science Fiction and Fantasy where I came across her name and the book that he recommended as a good read. Card was talking about how to create a world of imagination all on your own and as an example he mentioned her and the book.
It was Mary Renault and the book was called The King Must Die.
A few days later I was at the library and was perusing the fiction section when I remembered Card's reference and went looking for this writer. I was lucky enough to find the book and a couple of other titles by her. I decided to give it a shot and thought that if I liked it well enough I would probably be back for more.
Till the moment I flipped open the book, I had absolutely no idea what it was about. It was one of those rare moments in life when you discover a treat with no preconceptions. It was not a fantasy novel, something I realized within the first couple of pages, but rather a historical novel belonging to the Ancient Greek period.
It was quite a captivating and interesting story but I had not realized something central and important aspect of it. Halfway through the book I suddenly sat up and thought, “Hello! Why does this story seems familiar? I swear I have heard this story before somewhere.” The it hit me. This whole novel was a realistic and plausible reconstruction of the myth of Theseus.
It was written in a way that would make sense if the characters that Theseus meets are human but over time and embellishments of myths have made them into monsters and gods. What Mary Renault did was go through the mythological aspects of the story and reinvented a historical context, cutting through the mythological aspect and making it plausibly real. After reading the book you would seriously begin to doubt about the mythological aspect of Theseus. He becomes a historically real person.
The man we meet in the book is quite an ordinary and yet clever, quick witted and brave young man. It becomes possible to imagine how the mythology could take place around the life of a real person. Stories about deeds of bravery and cunning, given time can grow into the beautiful myths that we read today. But what really is interesting is how Mary Renault brought out the humanity of the character without making him overtly heroic. Theseus does not seek conflict as a rule but does not shirk his duty or back down in the face of a threat. What is truly remarkable about him is that though in possession of considerable strength and power, something that increases as the story progresses, he always seeks to solve problems in a lateral thinking fashion.
We meet Theseus at the beginning of the book when he is six, living in the palace of his grandfather, King Pittheus of Troizen. His mother is a priestess and his father is unknown, although rumor has it that it could be King Aigeus of Athens. Theseus however believes that the sea god Poseidon is his real father. Throughout the book, we keep seeing Theseus seeking the blessing and approval of the god in everything he does.
In book one we see Theseus, a six year old, observing a sacrifice. The point of sacrifice, he notes, is that the animal must consent to it too, otherwise it ceases to become an offering to the divine and instead becomes a slaughter. This has a profound impact on him. As he grows up, he is frustrated at his shorter build, something that makes him feel that he is not Hellenistic enough in appearance which makes him vulnerable at wrestling matches. He learns to improvise and adapt, soon becoming an agile and expert wrestler. When he turns seventeen, his mother takes him to the sacred Grove of Zeus and tells him if he could prise open a certain stone, she would tell him who is father is. Theseus fails in his first attempt with brute strength but then after thinking about it, uses a lever. Underneath the stone he finds a sword and a pair of sandals. These belong to Aigeus, the King of Athens and Theseus sets out to meet his father, taking the more dangerous bandit infested route of the Isthmus of Corinth. He meets the leader of the bandits, Skiron and kills him, making the isthmus relatively safer again.
In Eleusis, Theseus is forced to fight the Year-King Kerkyon in a single combat, after which he becomes the Year-King, marrying the queen Persephone. His role is merely ceremonial and in a year's time he is to be offered as a sacrifice. Theseus befriends Pylas, the neighboring king of Megara and with him undertakes a mission of routing out the bandits of the isthmus once and for all. Persephone, fearing that Theseus was getting too big for his boots, tries to get him assassinated by her cousin Xanthos whom he kills.
He sets out to Athens to purify himself of Xanthos' blood. A meeting with King Aigeus leads to the king trying to poison him out of fear, fed by his lover Medea who wants her two sons to inherit the Athenian throne. At the last moment, Aigeus sees the sword and is reconciled with his son, proclaiming him to be his heir.
It was the custom that the Minoan kingdom of Crete demanded a tribute of seven boys and seven girls from all the Greek cities, Athens being no exception. These young men and women were to be the arena players of the bullfighting that was the prominent feature of Crete. Theseus volunteers to go, despite his father's plea. In the end he makes him promise to come back with white sails if he lived through the harrowing experience.
Since the boys and girls were considered Minoan slaves, Theseus is no exception and yet he becomes their leader. Although they are fated to die in the arena and are resigned to the fact, he exalts them to become optimistic and keeps them in good spirit through singing and dancing. They name
themselves the Cranes. By keeping them together, Theseus is able to master the bull dance and the Cranes become famous for becoming the team that survived the bull dance the longest.
The high priestess of Crete, Goddess-on-Earth, Ariadne falls in love with Theseus. They meet and make love inside the labyrinth. Theseus had already incurred the wrath of Asterion, the son of King Minos, known as the Minotauros. King Minos was sick with leprosy and Asterion was king except by name- a state of affairs that horrifies Theseus who believes that a ruler must be sanctified by the gods. Asterion seemed an unholy presence to Theseus and he agreed to help Ariadne overthrow him.
The death of King Minos leads to political unrest in Crete. An earthquake and a subsequent revolt allows Theseus to confront Asterion, the Minotauros in side the labyrinth. He slays the monster in human form and freeing all the slaves, sails to Naxos, taking Ariadne with him.
Two subsequent incidents are given extensive fleshing out. We see Ariadne's participation in the feast of Dionysius resulting in her being involved with something that horrifies Theseus. He finds it impossible to contemplate binging her back to Athens as a result. Ensuring her a place of high honor in Naxos, he abandons her there and sets sail back to Athens.
A long contemplation on whether to put on white sails, a signal to his father telling him he was alive, is embarked on by Theseus where he asks guidance from Poseidon. The god's counsel convinces him to keep the black sails, the sight of which, being a sign of Theseus' death, makes King Aigeus throw himself off a cliff in grief.
Throughout the book we see the portrayal of Theseus as a morally upright person, always seeking to take the side of the weak. He demonstrates a polytheistic piety quite different from the monotheistic version. He is not without vanity and pride but is tempered by his courage and a sense of justice.
There are two most satisfactory parts of the book. First you have Renault's brick-by brick reconstruction of Minoan Crete society and the bull dance. It is the most vivid picture of a long forgotten society you are ever likely to get. Though we have the ruins of Crete, at the time of the writing of the novel, very little was known about the Minoan civilization. Her description, within the context of a very tense and taut plot line makes the whole world of Minoan civilization come to life.
Secondly, a very emotionally satisfying explanation behind why he leaves Ariadne in Naxos and why he keeps the black sails in his ship that leads to his father's suicide. The mythology leaves no reason why he did those things and Renault makes up for the deficit in her story.
Equally satisfying is the title of the book. After all, as Persephone and Ariadne keep telling Theseus that if he wants to live, then the king must die.
This has been one of the most significant historical novel I have ever read. Renault's command of the narrative never falters and you are always spellbound by the story and the world of Ancient Greece comes alive around us. If the origin of the story was not a myth, would have believed it to be a very convincing historical account .
Needless to say that the next thing I did was to read all the books written by Mary Renault.
No comments:
Post a Comment