Daedalus was "the master artisan" in Athens in his time, being a man of all talents: an architect, engineer, and sculptor all in one.His sister asked him to take her son Perdix as an apprentice, since Perdix was also very talented.
Instead, Daedalus murdered him, because he was envious.
He then was exiled to Crete to ultimately suffer the loss of his son.
MY QUESTION IS:
Do the possession of many skills give one security?
In Daedalus' case, knowing he is talented is not enough for him. In his mind, he has to be the only one who is talented in Athens, or else he will "die in obscurity". This proves Daedalus as insecure and childish, as well as greedy. The presence of any other genius in his world threatened him so much that he had to eliminate this possibility of being outshined. He then raised a child who wasn't smart enough to listen to his life-or-death instructions. There is no "golden mean" for Daedalus.
My answer would be no. Being skilled in a particular area only increases your insecurity. The only way to go from the top of the mountain is down.
This makes us think about people who are horribly insecure, even though they are amazing at sports or do very well in school. They could lose it at any moment. I would conclude that those who are talented bear the burden of constant fear.
You make a lot of interesting points here, Emily. I like what you say about Daedalus' fear of "dying in obscurity". I feel like the thought of being forgotten is probably one of the most frightening aspects of life and death. Human beings are obsessed with the purpose and meaning of life This thought is expressed in Hamlet too:
ReplyDelete"What is a man,
If his chief good and market of his time
Be but to sleep and feed?" (Hamlet, 4.4)
Your observations about being at the top and feeling even more insecure are really accurate. Just like the saying goes, the higher up you are, the longer you have to fall.