PERSEUS THE HERO

A study of the hero in Sri Aurobindo’s play:

“Perseus the deliverer”

ROMEN PALIT

Perhaps the longing after a perfect manhood, the hero, is inherent in man. He may be a mythical personage, a historical personality or a literary figure standing out against the background of drab, common and insignificant humanity. In this ideal figure is common man’s concept of perfect man who can lead men, voice their needs and express their aspirations. He is a victorious fighter, an ardent lover as in fairy tales or myths, the conqueror as in history, the ideal person of poetry or literature. He exemplifies human perfection.

Such a figure is Perseus. Sri Aurobindo has culled him out of the mass of Hellenic myths, giving him a possible human nature, a heroic character and a semi-divine temperament capable of great compassion and amazing prowess in contending opposing forces. He Has endowed Perseus with humility and gratitude, the two hall-marks of true greatness. For it is the egoistic man who vaunts of valour. But a typical strong man speaks little, and is a man of determined action, and his face is ruthless to his opponents. So too is his love fierce, passionate and unreserved.

While in the myth Perseus is the offspring of Danae and Zeus, the Aurobindonian Perseus has been revealed as a protege of Pallas Athene, who inspires him, strengthens him and lifts him out of the common Greek strong man into a half divine entity.

In the drama as a whole, there are other deviations from the original myth. We point this out so that we can better present Sri Aurobindo’s play in general and his hero in particular.

Location in the myth is in Ethiopia. In Sri Aurobindo it is placed in Syria. As in the myth, so in Sri Aurobindo, the characters are Greek. Sri Aurobindo, in fact, has commented in the preface of his play that his play was, “romantic story of human temperament and life-impulses on the Elizabethan model. The country in which the play is located is a Syria of romance not of history.” (Sri Aurobindo Cent. Vol. 6, P. 1)

But the action and characters are far from mythical or improbable. The actual technique is overtly Elizabethan, with dramatic blank verse interposed by prose speeches. The blank verse itself is loose and fluid while the prose parts are striking with typical Elizabethan humour. Sometimes Perseus himself gives us outstanding lines, uplifting the play to rare exquisiteness due to their inspired contents and tone. In contrast the speeches of Perissus the butcher or Praxila, the chief of the palace household, for example, are unmistakably Elizabethan in humorous tone and colouring.

In the myth the occasion for the rescue of Andromeda is the menace of the sea monster sent out by the sea-god in punishment for the vain boasting by Andromeda and Cassiopea. Their boast that they were more beautiful than the sea-nymphs, angered the sea-god, Poseidon. The seeking out for revenge of the gods on mortals is typical of myths and the anthropomorphic character of the Greek deities.

But in Sri Aurobindo the cause of the drama, or the prime-mover of the dramatic action, is the saving of two victims of shipwreck on the rocky shores of Syria. Defying the cruel law that all such victims should be sacrificed at the altar of Poseidon, Perseus, passing that way, saved two Assyrians from certain death. This, however, did not soave these men ultimately, for they were seized and thrown into the temple prison awaiting their doom. Andromeda hearing of this, falls in love instantly with the hero, without her actually seeing him. Fired by sympathy, she then proceeds to free these men, which she does. She then asks the victims to flee to far off sea-caves and remain in hiding till the hue and cry was over. She requests her friend and companion, Diomede to act as guide to these men.

When the flight is discovered, Polydaon, the priest, turns white with fury. He urges the men of Syria, under the leadership of the popular leader against the king and royal household. One of the victims is caught and he confesses, under duress, that it was Andromeda who had freed him and his friend.

The king is a weak person and in spite of Cassiopea’s outstanding personality, the priest maddens the mob who, in frenzy, dashes for Andromeda, capture her and chain her to a rock near the seashore to be devoured by Poseidon’s monster.

Intertwined is another factor which complicates the issue and brings in quicker pace to the play. It is Phenius. Phenius in the myth is the cousin or the brother to Cassiopea, who casts covetous eyes upon his niece. He and Cassiopea plot to kill Perseus after the girl Andromeda has been rescued.

In Sri Aurobindo, Phenius is the prince of Tyre, betrothed to Andromeda. This is more a political alliance rather than a love-match. Phenius’ forces stand as buffet against marauding Assyrian neighbours. He has been depicted as a weak, scheming man with no principle, a turncoat and an opportunist, rather a protean character. He allies himself to Polydaon against Cepheus, but quickly withdraws this alliance once he finds things going contrary to the priest. He stands apart when Andromeda is seized by the angry crowd. But is adroit in his claim when she is saved by Perseus and he threatens to war against Syria if the girl was not offered to him. Actually he is coward at heart, who seeks to gain his end by threats and subterfuges.

In this play two main powers are at work: those siding with Perseus and those standing against.

Standing for Perseus is Andromeda and her brother, Iolaus, with his mistress Cydone. Cassiopea has no choice but to side with hero. Cepheus is a non-entity. In the myth Cassiopea stands against Perseus.

But the whole bulk of the rest of the cast is against Perseus. Polyadon is the protagonist behind whom we have Therops, the popular leader, and Perissus the citizen butcher. Of course the mob, like a mindless mass, is behind these two persons. The mob follow Polyadon more out of fear than anything else. The wrath of Poseidon is the trump card in the priest’s band. This fear he utilises successfully to misguide the people, even to the extent to raise against their lawful king. In fact Polyadon’s character is puissantly felt above the rest, except that of Perseus.

In fact we have here the typical Aurobindonian touch. He makes the whole play, a dual between darkness and light, between Athene and Poseidon and in actual manifestation, between Perseus and Polyadon. As in a puppet play it is the two gods who are moving the strings for gaining supremacy. This is the issue which is a primordial one and it is this which lends depth and force to the play. This also brings us closer to the Greek theme of Fate, in a way. Here the power is a conscious one, projecting itself not to tragic end but towards a comedy, and comedy is the triumph of this power. But the concept of comedy, linked with frivolity with Greeks, is here rather on the whole Aurobindonian one. This makes the thing so unique. The play is a beautiful amalgam of Indian comedy, Greek tragedy and Aurobindonian ideal.

Next to Polydaon, we have Andromeda; this tact we have mentioned before. She is the most influential character and it is she who acts as the living pawn to subdue Poseidon’s forces. Even as it is, she is prominent due to her beauty, her sympathy, her self-sacrificing nature and her love for Perseus. Sri Aurobindo saves her from becoming a typical Victorian heroine, bloodless and unrealistically romantic, by giving her a strong will, and her sympathetic nature and her capacity for extreme sacrifice.

She is in fact the worthy counterpart of Perseus. There similarity of natures is well brought out. If Perseus is puissant, Andromeda is beautiful; if Perseus is keenly human with sympathy for his fellowmen, so too is Andromeda. Both desire the reign of Light, both crave a higher existence. As a rule such beautiful persons were pitiless, egoists who inhabited, as it were, an ivory tower, and possessed a nature hard, vain and narrow. Their exalted position endowed them with a frown on common things, common sufferings, and common ways. But Andromeda is a superb exception. This gives her depth and offers a meeting point with the hero.

Standing above and behind are the two contending deities, Pallas Athene Poseidon.

It is in this background and environment that Perseus finds himself. He is conscious of the guiding, presiding and inspiring presence of Athene. Of Poseidon’s antagonism, he is perhaps faintly aware of. But of his coming to Syria, he felt, was not certainly an accident. It is a subtly guided movement, led by Athene. Actually Poseidon and Athene, we have seen in the Prologue, have a wager and they, as God and Goddess, cannot fight like common human beings. Moreover, they have same origin, only difference is Poseidon represents the dark ignorance forces and passions of lower animal nature as typified in the sea. While Pallas Athene represents the wisdom of the gods, the equitable reason in man and as here in Sri Aurobindo, she is the force of divine grace and illumination. Thus it is but natural that they should confront each other for supremacy, the ageless strife between night and day, or of man’s lower propensities and his urge for perfection.

Poseidon chooses Polydaon as his instrument, while Athene makes Perseus her tool of effective action. Not only that, she casts her spell on Andromeda as well, making the latter rise to great height of self-sacrifice which she never could normally perform.

In the myth Athene’s aid has been mentioned; in Sri Aurobindo this aid is not only a physical miracle, it assumes deeper and higher proportions of over-stepping his human limits into godliness–godliness in stature and personality. Only at moments he sinks down to his human origin, his instrumentality to a greater power. He loves like a human, behaves like a half-divine entity, but acts like a god.

He says: “I feel a stir within me as if great things

Were now in motion and clear-eyed Athene

Urging me to high and helpful deeds.” (Ibid, P. 126)

Perseus utters these words, unaware that great turmoil is foaming behind him in Syria. He is also unaware that it was his generous act of saving those Assyrian victims that had now culminated as an eventual chain reaction, in public revolt goaded by the cruel priest Polydaon.

Perseus is humble, in spite of his uncommon valour. He confides in Iolaus that,

No Iolaus,

“Though great Athene breaths Olympian strength

Into my arms sometimes, I am no more

Than a brief mortal “ (Ibid, P. 24)

Running parallel to this trait Perseus has another trend which, to a common individual, could be taken as standoffishness. The real reason is, he is not pompous, nor seeks public applause. He does not crave to bask in the sunshine of popular acclaim. He detests the vulgar din, hence he tells us:

“I have a thirst for calm obscurity

And cottages and happy unambitious talk

And simple people, with whom I would rest,

Not in the laboured pomp of princely towns

Amid pet noise and purple masks of hate.

I will drink deep of pure humanity,” (Ibid, P. 26)

Here there is a hint at his early life at the courts and towns beset with “laboured pomp” and “purple masks of hate.”

But he is a man of action as well. And here his true mettle comes out. Learning that the men he saved, have been recaptured for sacrifice, he exclaims,

“But since they bring in politic rage and turn

Their barbarous rite into a trade of murder,

Nor rite nor temple be respected more.

Must they have victims? Let them take and slay

Perseus alone. I shall rejoice to know

That so much strength and boldness dwells in men

Who are mortals.” (Ibid)

True to his word, Perseus releases one of the victims, while Andromeda unchains another. (Andromeda is unaware that she is witnessing the scene from the obscure recesses of the temple.) Here we are given a glimpse of the unity of temperament of the pair. Any way, this release does not save the situation, on the contrary it hastens it to disastrous conclusion, needing Perseus’ aid to save the fatal climax, the death of Andromeda.

The beginning of the dramatic finale comes when Perseus sweeps down on his beloved and voices:

“The grisly beast is slain that was thy terror.”

(Ibid, P.168)

And now as a result,

“…thou may’st sun the world with thy smile again Andromeda.” (Ibid)

Also

“ Never shall harsher fears again

O’er take your rosy limbs, in Perseus’s keeping.

How fair thou art, my prize Andromeda!

O sweet chained body, chained to love not death.”

(Ibid, P. 165)

This is another facet of Perseus. He is a lover as well. The whole play is a preparation for the fusion of the two spirits. This fusion is not an accident. It has been revealed that both had similar natures, trends and sympathies. Both loved their fellowmen. Both revolted against the tyranny of darkness in the overt rule of Polydaon. Both were, each in his or her own way, exceptional human beings in power, beauty and love.

When finally Polydaon dies, a possessed and insane individual, the sway of Poseidon is lifted from Syria. Then Perseus comes forward and declares about himself:

“The blood of the gods is in my veins, the strength

Of gods is in my arms. Athene helps me.

What I have done is by Athene’s strength.” (Ibid, P. 174)

Also to bring out fully the greatness of the hero, the poet has put these words in his mouth, not so much as to emphasise the pride, but as achievements of the gods in the instrumentality of a mortal man,

“I have traversed unknown lands and nameless continents

And seas where never came the plash of human oars –

On torrid coasts burned the desert winds.

I have seen great Atlas buttressing the sky,

His giant head companion of the stars

And changed him to a hill; the Northern snows

Illimilable I have trod, where Nature

Is awed by silence, chilled to rigid whiteness

I have entered caverns where death was horn.” (Ibid)

Further he goes to narrate his adventures, including the beheading of Medusa the Gorgon and finally,

“I have cloven Poseidon monster whose rock-teeth

And fiery mouth swallowed your sons and daughters.

Where now has gone the sea-god’s giant strides

That filled with heads of foam your fruitful fields?

I have dashed back the leaping angry waters;

His ocean-force has yielded to a mortal,

Even while I speak, the world has changed around you

Syrians, the earth is calm, the heavens smile;

A mighty silence listens on the sea.

All this I have done, and yet not I, but one greater

Such is Athene’s might and theirs who serve her.”

(Ibid)

Perhaps it would not be out of place to point to some obvious contrasts, to bring forth more clearly Perseus’s character. Hercules, for example, is an epitome, the apex of physical glory, the body in man, the flesh that is indomitable. He represents bodily perfection and the climax of material attainment. His feats can equal Perseus’s in extraordinariness. But Hercules is not moved by the sorrows of his fellowmen; he does not do anything to alleviate human suffering. He has no capacity for sacrifice.

But in Perseus sympathy can become a fulcrum or the diving board for selfless action, his plunge into the vortex of activity. His is by far a living contrast to Homeric Hercules, who concentrates all his energies upon the body, while Aurobindonian Perseus has subtler ranges of feeling emotion and sentiment. He is open to greater influences, which Hercules is not.

Hercules is so much proud of physical prowess, that he is not loathe to confront and battle with the force of Death itself. But Perseus, whenever occasion demands it, invokes Athene’s force to strengthen him.

Lastly Homer paints for us a common Hellenic hero, a physical superman. But Sri Aurobindo gives us a hero who is essentially a man, and evolving individual. Homer’s is one-sided, static and gross whereas Sri Aurobindo points to a double aspect of humanity and godhood, a thing more possible.

Perhaps another contrast too would not be out of place. Kalidasa’s Pururavas is a mighty hero in action, who subdues the demons to save the heavenly nymphs. But once he falls in love, loses his vigour, his energy, his godly passion of strength. He becomes an effeminate individual.

In Perseus love gives him a new potency, the fusion of the two spirits endow a new driving action. Also love occupies only a part of his life, whereas in Pururavas it becomes a total all-embracing flood, stripping him of his manhood and his valour.

But in Ruru, in “Love and Death” we get the full impact of love as a great driving force. But Ruru is only a human being, and his sacrifice is perhaps much loftier than either Pururavas and Perseus.

In polydaon we get the sheer antipode of Perseus. He opposes Perseus in every way, because his very nature is perverse, craving the reign of oppression, darkness and evil. But Perseus desires the reign of light, of harmony and love. In this sombre background of Polydaon’s personality, Perseus’ character assumes a brighter visage. That is why polydaon’s is a negation of Perseus. If Perseus saves, polydaon kills, if Perseus awakes polydaon sends one to oblivion, if Perseus is god, polydaon is the satan. Perseus in his wonderful moment is a god. Polydaon in his starkest moment sinks down under the load of Poseidon and ends by killing himself redoubled under the crushing weight of his own cruel and vicious nature.

The final speech of Perseus is, perhaps, Sri Aurobindo’s own message.

“But the blind nether forces still have power

And the ascent is slow and is Time.

Yet shall Truth grow and harmony increase.

The day shall come when men feel close and one

Meanwhile one forward step is something gained.

Since little by little earth must open to heaven

Till her dim soul awakes into Light.” (Ibid, P. 201)

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