Pasiphae and the Bull

[Javin]

I loved Sabledrakes take on Pasiphae and the white bull. It was a totally different take on how I imagined it. That's what I love about myths - they are open to interpretation. Hell, the Greeks themselves had several different interpretations of the myth of Pasiphae.

This got me to thinking - would any else be up for writing about Pasiphae and the bull, only putting a different spin on the myth? I think it would be cool to see more than one take on the story, especially if some show Pasiphae as a complete victim, as a air headed twit, as a royal arrogant bitch, as the real person who decided not to sacrifice the bull, and so forth. Might be fun.

Anyway, just my two cents. I would be curious to see how others would treat the story of Pasiphae.

Javin

 

[silverwhisper]

javin: strictly speaking, i hope you're aware that lit does not publish bestiality stories. i think it's peculiar, but there's plenty of other sites that do list such stories. FYI.

ed

 

[Javin]

I remembered that...I just figured that as the myths are ambivalent as to whether the bull was a god in bull guise, or something else that the writers could take this approach as well. In fact, I believe that's what Sabledrake did. Besides, I think the story works better if there is a hint that the bull is something more than a mere animal, but a dark god come to mete out punishment.

 

[silverwhisper]

ah! OK, i obviously misread you.

interesting idea. hm.

ed

 

[abstract]

Myths seem to go in every conceiivable direction. I have no interest in bestially but I've seen a few art renderings of the bull myth, and a few of the Leda and the swan myth with obvious erotic undertones. Here's a painting by Michelangelo of Leda and the Swan:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/6/67/Leda.jpg/280px-Leda.jpg

 

[Javin]

Can't say I have any interest in the bestiallity aspects either, which is odd, considering that this particular myth is about a woman and a BULL! For me though, it's about far more than that. It's about themes. For instance - maritial betrayal. Was Minos a good husband? Should he have seen this coming? Or was he a loving husband? Doing it with a bull is the ULTIMATE form of marital betrayal. If Pasiphae cheated on her husband with another man there is chance that Minos and Pasiphae can patch things up. But once you cross that line and give yourself to a bull (and again I see the bull as a god...but that doesn't mean Minos does) you can never come back.

It's also the theme of power. The bull could represent power, the kind of power that a even a Queen must bow down to (she goes onto all fours after all - a position of submission). Even Queens must bow to the power of the gods. Or the power of sexual desire. Was the Queen arrogant? Did she boast that she would bow to no man and the gods were teaching her a lesson? Did she boast that she was chaste beyond all measure?

There is the theme of desire and desperation too. How badly must the Queen want it to go to Daedelas and have him create for her a cow costume! And there is the theme of humiliation - not only must the Queen give herself to a bull, but she must cloth herself as a cow. What woman (and Pasiphae is a Queen no less!) wants to parade herself around as a big, fat cow!

There are many more themes - power of an empire, lust, tragic romance, victimhood, just desserts...etc. These are just some off the top of my head. Like I said - what I find fascinating isn't so much the bull with a woman aspect, but it's the different themes and different ways the story can be told. Was Pasiphae a total air head, who's husband took as a trophy wife, and he all too easily dismisses her "strange behavior" to his detrimate? Or was the Queen powerful, and haughty who pushed her weakling husband around and the gods were trying to bring her low with the basest of desires? Was her mating in private or in public? Many, many different answers...

Just some thoughts. I love mythology!

 

[Javin]

One more thing that I will add - I think the story works well in different genres as well. It can be a horror story (being impregnanted with a monster by a dark god), love story (Pasiphae and Minos, or Daedelas, or the bull/god), tragic romance (lovers ill fated), comedy and so forth.

 

[silverwhisper]

perhaps oddly, my immediate thought was BDSM. the entire "dark god meting out punishment" thing, i guess.

ed