Yasmin, London, March 2023
Myths are easily adaptable because many of their themes are still relevant today, and throughout history, Ancient Greek and Roman myths have been used as inspiration for many new stories in different media, such as books, musicals, and television shows.
Pygmalion and My Fair Lady
In a chapter of his Metamorphoses, Ovid details the story of Pygmalion, the King of Cyprus and sculptor. Pygmalion creates a beautiful ivory statue named Galatea which he makes himself to represent his ideal view of womanhood. He falls in love with his statue and prays to Aphrodite to give him a wife resembling it. She does more than this, as she gives the statue life so that Pygmalion can marry the woman that he created. This story went on to inspire George Bernard Shaw’s play of the same name, and in turn the musical by Alan Jay Lerner and Frederic Loewe, My Fair Lady.
My Fair Lady is a musical about Eliza Doolittle, a Cockney flower girl who, in order to get a job as an assistant in a florist’s shop, takes elocution lessons from Professor Henry Higgins. Higgins trains Eliza in the hope that she can pass for an upper-class lady, and he eventually succeeds in his goal, becoming attached to her in the process.
In My Fair Lady, Higgins represents Pygmalion as he shapes a girl into something that he wants and then falls in love with her, while Eliza plays the role of Galatea, who is shaped into something new.
Medea and Doctor Foster
Medea is an Ancient Greek tragedy produced in 431 BC by Euripides. It is about thelater part of the story of Jason and Medea. The two flee to Corinth after Medea murdered Pelias for Jason’s sake. Jason betrays his marriage to Medea by breaking his vows and arranging to marry the daughter of Creon, king of Corinth.The abandonment and ingratitude of Jason greatly anger Medea, who openly shares her feelings. Creon fearswhat Medea would do to him and his daughter, so he banishes Medea, giving her one day’s respite, which she uses to commit filicide – killing her own children – to punish Jason by making him childless. Finally, she escapes to Athens.
Doctor Foster, created by Mike Bartlett,follows the story of Gemma Foster, a trusted and well-established GP, who suspects her husband, Simon, is cheating on her. As she discovers more, her life begins to unravel as she uncovers more secrets. It is eventually revealed that Simon was having an affair with a much younger woman, and he divorces Gemma.
There are several parallels to be made between Medea and Doctor Foster, the most obvious being the story of a woman scorned by her lover and being incredibly angry as a result. Additionally, unlike the traditional four or six-episode series, each series of Doctor Foster has five episodes, representing the five acts of classical drama. However, Bartlett has stated that he aimed to update the ideology and subvert the misogynistic ideas about hysteria.
Theseus and the Minotaur and The Hunger Games
Theseus and the Minotaur is one of the most famous Ancient Greek myths. Due to the killing of a son of King Minos of Crete, it was demanded that, every year, fourteen youths had to be sent to Crete as tributes, go into a labyrinth and be killed by the Minotaur. Theseus hears about this and volunteers to be one of the youths, coming up with an innovative plan for escape. He kills the Minotaur, saved the other youths, and ended the tribute.
The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins, is a dystopian book where, as a result of a previous war between the districts and the Capitol, a boy, and a girl from each of the twelve districts have to be sent to an arena to fight each other until one victor remains. The main character, Katniss Everdeen, volunteers to go into the arena in place of her sister, and along with Peeta Mellark, she figures out a way to allow both of them to leave the arena, and ultimately ends the Hunger Games and causes the downfall of the Capitol.
There are heavy similarities between The Hunger Games and Theseus and the Minotaur, and the Hunger Games is essentially a dystopian retelling of the original myth. However, Katniss is a female protagonist, which is linked to both modern and ancient feminism, as her character is also inspired by the Amazons and Artemis, goddess of the hunt, as her weapon of choice is the bow and arrow.
Sources:
The Oxford Companion to Classical Literature – edited by M. C. Howatson, second edition
Britannica, Pygmalion – https://www.britannica.com/topic/Pygmalion
Wikipedia, My Fair Lady – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Fair_Lady
Wikipedia, Doctor Foster - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doctor_Foster_(TV_series)
RadioTimes, interview with Mike Bartlett – https://www.radiotimes.com/tv/drama/the-plot-of-doctor-foster-is-actually-2500-years-old-reveals-writer-mike-bartlett/
Britannica, Minotaur – https://www.britannica.com/topic/Minotaur
Barry Strauss, The Classical Roots of the Hunger Games – https://barrystrauss.com/the-classical-roots-of-the-hunger-games
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