![]() Marlowe’s protagonist takes his desire for wisdom far beyond Ulysses’ transgressive voyage Faustus explicitly denounces divinity. Faustus, on the other hand, could be regarded as an extension of Ulysses. While Odysseus largely suppresses his aspirations, Ulysses decides to act on them. Nevertheless, the three characters can be seen as over-reachers, or as ‘Icarus figures’, each of whom handles his ambition in a distinct manner. ![]() He seems to be reigning in his natural impulses to obey the will of the gods, because he is, perhaps, aware and more cautious about the consequences of transgressing. ![]() While Dante’s Ulysses and Marlowe’s Faustus depict the aforementioned traits in an overt manner, Homer’s Odysseus appears to implicitly betray this disposition. All three seem to be highly ambitious and straining against the restrictions imposed upon them. While reading the Odyssey, Inferno’s Canto XXVI and Doctor Faustus, one realises that yearning for more than what is allotted to them and for launching off on their own course (and the subsequent suffering) are features that the three protagonists have in common. This essay posits an intertextual comparison of the three protagonists as ‘Icarus figures’, whose dominant instincts are their irrepressible desire to pursue knowledge and indulge their curiosity to disastrous limits. Subsequently, all that remains of Icarus are the ‘scattered feathers that floated on the waves below.’ Homer’s Odysseus, Dante’s Ulysses and Christopher Marlowe’s Faustus are unified by Icarian characteristics, particularly his towering ambition, the palpable pleasure he experiences while fulfilling these illicit aspirations, the fatal consequences he suffers due to his refusal to succumb to the powers-that-be and his adherence to his own will. He is exhilarated ‘by the lift of his great sweeping wings’ and the recognition he receives from those who ‘gazed upward and mistook them for gods.’ To consider oneself equivalent to the gods is, of course, a cardinal sin and such hubris leads to disastrous consequences. The source of his deliberate, almost suicidal decision to traverse such an explicit limit seems to be the untainted pleasure he derived from venturing into hitherto forbidden territory and acquiring the knowledge of experiences denied to him. ![]() However, his incriminating actions do not seem to stem from defiance alone. He blatantly disregards his father Daedalus’ cautionary words and ‘began soaring towards the sun’, inducing the wax holding his wings together to melt. The figure of Icarus has consistently been associated with the repercussions of aspiring for more than one is permitted to, transgressing clearly defined boundaries and over-reaching. Goldsmiths, University of London Introductionĭaedalus made a pair of wings for himself, and another for Icarus he said with tears in his eyes, “My son, be warned! Neither soar too high nor swoop too low do not set on your own course!”
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