DAEDALUS

Daedalus was a brilliant architect. He constructed the Labyrinth for the Minotaur in Crete. King Minos learned that Theseus had escaped from it with the help of Daedalus. As punishment he put Daedalus and his son Icarus in the Labyrinth. Daedalus built himself and his son wings out of wax and feathers. They were able to escape but Icarus even after being warned by his father to not fly to close to the sun still chose to which led him to burn to death.

CHARACTERISTICS

• Daedalus shows the many traits of a hero such as courage when building the wings to escape, selflessness when giving a pair of wings to his son and affection when warning his son to not fly too close to the sun. He is not a villain although he was Imprisoned. He is a caring parent. The setting is in the labyrinth that Daedalus himself created. There was no violence in the myth except for Icarus getting killed by the sun. Daedalus’ quest was to escape from the Labyrinth his motivation was to get him and his son out.

CONFLICT

• The main conflict in the story would be with Daedalus’ son. He was told not to fly towards the sun but did anyway and it caused his death. This is a conflict of man vs self because he could not show self control.
• Another conflict was Daedalus assisting Theseus and then being punished by King Minos which led to his imprisonment in the Labyrinth. He then had to find a way to escape and did so by creating a pair of wings. This would be an example of man v. man.

Daedalus is hero who is smart, cunning, and quick witted and Minos is portrayed as jealous, greedy, and sinical. Greeks viewed the mind
as a major strength which is portrayed in this story.

It was revealed that with a smart mind you are able to conquer anything