Myth
Patrick was a hard worker as an inventor to achieve what no one has done before. Many of his colleagues considered him the epitome of mankind, always fueled by his curiosity which knew no end. But when he had time to slow down, he loved to take a stroll through nature. It was relaxing for him and he felt closely connected to nature. It was at his local ravine that he fell in love at first sight. Her name was Gwyneth, and she was as beautiful as the nature surrounding her. It was as if she embodied the Earth itself. Her hair had curls like the waves of the ocean, her skin was a beautiful shade of brown which held a wonderful earthiness to it and her eyes as blue as the clear sky. He rushed at the chance to greet her, taking his situation into his own hands as he always had, eager to get right to it. They fell madly in love; some would say dangerously so. As their love grew, so did Patrick’s career. Gwyneth had lit a spark within him that ignited his passion and love for his craft. But one day, the fire within him withered as he hit a creative block. His creative outflow turned from an overflowing river into a mere trickle. Patrick went into a frenzy to bring back that fire he once had, willing to go any length to continue his work. He spends days at work without sleep, throwing together anything he can that works, but nothing seems to stick. He comes home collapsed at their front door, burnt out from work. Gwyneth does her best to comfort him, telling him to take a break, for both of their sakes. She cannot watch him continue like this anymore. Her heart aches as he continues to spiral out of control, descending into the darkness of his own heart. He brushes her aside, both his heart and mind focused on his work, leaving no room for her. He continues to work longer than ever, creating anything and everything, as if he was trying to start a new industrial revolution. He took advantage of her kindness with no regard for Gwyneth as she surrendered her life to him. His actions lead to consequences, taking a toll on Gwyneth. Her hair no longer curled to perfection but frizzed into a clumpy mess. Her skin turned pale, no longer the beautiful earthy tone it once was. Her eyes lost that spark within her, turning dull and clouded. He had pushed her to the point of no return, destroying what they once had. Gwyneth could take it no longer. She started boiling with anger inside as her hair stood up on all ends as if tsunami waves were forming, and her eyes burned red as a raging forest fire. She barged into his room to destroy everything in sight. Patrick realized the errors of his ways, acknowledging his mistakes as he witnesses the horrific transformation to Gwyneth that he had done. He quickly apologizes and swears to make amends, but the damage was already done. Their relationship was now a shell of its former self, leaving Patrick all but hopeful that he can repair what he has broken to bring back the smile to his lover’s face.
Analysis
The myth’s goal is to showcase the creation of global warming/climate change by presenting a more modern take to typical classic myths. The myth does so by providing parallels to mankind’s actions. To start, climate change is a large issue that was not seen as such in the past, often being brushed aside until we hit present day. The myth captures this idea by having a slow loving relationship between two characters as mankind had once lived with the earth and respected the land, such as many indigenous groups. However, this does not last with time and takes a turn for the worse as mankind no longer treats the earth with respect, using up its finite resources and pushes the limits for the sake of advancing civilization. Global warming was created by mankind through many means such as pollution and the destruction of the earth’s resources, largely impacted from turning points in mankind’s technological history such as the second and third industrial revolution. Therefore, the character Patrick is an inventor and there is a direct reference to the industrial revolution. Patrick continues along with his actions, attempting to come up with new and improved ideas such as the breakthroughs that were found within the industrial revolutions. We also currently have seen the aftermath of mankind’s actions in the form of natural disasters and the like. To parallel this in the myth, we have Gwyneth outlash after being pushed too far, bringing about punishment to Patrick. To further elaborate on the connection to real myths, we can examine the characters Patrick and Gwyneth.
For my myth, the story has two characters that are adapted to fit based on their attributes and their titles. The character Patrick is modeled after the titan god Prometheus, with Patrick chosen as his name since it shares the same first letter and is much more modern. Prometheus is known as the creator of mankind, so it is easy to have his character represent humanity in this aspect. However, there are a few things that are left out from his background. Prometheus alongside his brother Epimethus, are the creators of humankind (Plato, Protagoras 320c - 322a). However, we are using him to represent humans rather than the creator as humans are the ones whose activity causes climate change. Therefore, the creator aspect is removed from the story to accommodate for this. His brother Epimethus is also left out as adding another character to the story would be difficult to tie into the story without adding unnecessary bulk. Patrick also takes some attributes from the Ouranos, the goddess of the sky. Ouranos is known to have been a consort to Gaia and whenever an offspring was not to his liking, he would lock them away back into Gaia’s womb (Hesiod, Theogony). This caused Gaia immense suffering which is reflected in the plot as human’s hurt the earth through many means of different human activities. From this, Patrick is given some actions that match that of Ouranos. In my myth, he hides something in the basement but doesn’t disclose what was hidden and causes Gwyneth to be cursed
Gwyneth’s character is represented by Gaia, the goddess of the earth (Hesiod, Theogony). Gwyneth was chosen as her name as it also shares the first same letter. She is given characteristics that represent the earth with curly hair for ocean waves, an earthy skin tone for the land, and clear blue eyes to match the sky. The parallel here is obvious as her character represents the earth, and her mental and physical state is shown to reflect the things that humans have done over time to put the earth in the current state that it is in. Climate change is at a point where it is almost irreversible, so Gwyneth has been put over the edge to the point of no return.
The plot behind the myth itself makes use of a few classic tropes that are often found in classical myths. These include temptation, love, imprisonment, and greed and are core to the main plot of the myth. Temptation is a recurring theme and is seen in many classical myths. An example of this is Pandora’s Box where Prometheus’ brother Epimethus takes Pandora to be his lover and accepts the wedding gift that Zeus cunningly gives him (Pseudo-Hyginus, Fabulae 142). Pandora is told never to open the gift but gives in to temptation and releases evil spirits that curse mankind (Hesiod, Works & Days, 54). This theme of temptation is shown through Patrick’s actions in the myth, giving in to temptation and ultimately spiraling into darkness as he destroys his lover. To relate this back to climate change, mankind has gotten often been tempted to go above and beyond what they are capable of at the time, always striving for more. This temptation and curiosity have lead mankind almost to the point of no return. Humans have altered the landscape to how they see fit and have overused resources beyond repair to the point where they could be. This additionally has ties to the character of Prometheus as Epimethus is Prometheus’ brother, so this trope hits closer to home for the story. This temptation is heavily tied in with greediness as well, which is often a characteristic found in many gods of classical myths. A prime example of greed in classical myths is Poseidon’s constant need to add more lands under his ruling even to the point to compete against Athena for the city of Attica (Homer, The Odyssey 8.210). Mankind’s greed presents the same consequences as they continue to deplete resources beyond repair. There is a subtle trope of imprisonment but rather than a physical one, Gwyneth is stuck in her relationship with Patrick, representative of how mankind is now so heavily bound to the very nature we live alongside.
Utilizing these core recurring themes and ideas from Myths, as well as adapting existing mythological characters and stories, the myth showcases the contribution of mankind to the creation of global warming/climate change. The character parallels to Prometheus and Gaia provide us a representation of mankind and the Earth while the damaging actions that Patrick takes causes pushes Gwyneth into turmoil, causing damage to earth represented within her. As the consequences of global warming have started to affect us, Gwyneth must also fight back against Patrick as mankind has gone too far just as he has, only leaving us to repair the broken relationship we have with the Earth.
Bibliography
Hesiod, Works & Days. 2018. Translated by A. E. Stallings. London: Penguin Classics.
Hesiod, Theogony. 2006. Translated by M. W. Glenn. Cambridge: Harvard University Press
Homer, The Odyssey 8.210. 2000. Translated by S. Lombardo. Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing Company.
Plato, Protagoras 320c - 322a. 2005. Translated by A. Beresford. London: Penguin Classics.
Pseudo-Hyginus, Fabulae 142. 1960. Translated by M. Grant. Lawrence: University of Kansas Publications