Alicia Wood & Lauren Boblenz Period 5
Hero and Leander
Characters: Hero (faithful and ardent) Leander (fearless and passionate)
Symbols: The torch/light The sea as a barrier/wall The tower (a lighthouse; also separates Hero as residing on the earth as opposed to Leander who is of the sea)
Significant Concepts: Love > Death Disobedience in the name of love Defiance of customs
Summary: Hero and Leander were lovers separated by the Hellespont strait. Hero lived in a tower on the side of Sestos. Leander, on the other side, hailed from Abydos. Although Hero was a priestess of Aphrodite, and therefore a sworn virgin, she and Leander were ardently devoted to one another. Every single night, Leander would make the treacherous swim across the Hellespont to be with Hero. To help him find his way, she would ignite a torch or lamp to act as a guiding light towards her tower. One fateful night, a tempest drove the sea violent, and a gust extinguished the comforting glow of Hero’s light. Lost among the dark, wild waves, Leander drowned. His body washed ashore in Sestos the next morning. Unable to accept the demise of her beloved, the grieving priestess threw herself from her tower to join him in the afterlife.
Literary Examples:
“And as I sat there brooding on the old, unknown world, I thought of Gatsby’s wonder when he first picked out the green light at the end of Daisy’s dock. He had come a long way to this blue lawn, and his dream must have seemed so close that he could hardly fail to grasp it. He did not know that it was already behind him, somewhere back in that vast obscurity beyond the city, where the dark fields of the republic rolled on under the night. Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that’s no matter—tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther. . . . And one fine morning——
So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.” (F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby, 1925)
“He kneeled, but unto her devoutly prayed. Chaste Hero to herself thus softly said, "Were I the saint he worships, I would hear him;" And, as she spake those words, came somewhat near him. He started up, she blushed as one ashamed, Wherewith Leander much more was inflamed. He touched her hand; in touching it she trembled. Love deeply grounded, hardly is dissembled. These lovers parleyed by the touch of hands; True love is mute, and oft amazed stands.” (Christopher Marlowe, Hero and Leander, 1598)
“If, in the month of dark December, Leander, who was nightly wont (What maid will not the tale remember?) To cross thy stream, broad Hellespont!
If, when the wintry tempest roared, He sped to Hero, nothing loath, And thus of old thy current poured, Fair Venus! how I pity both!
For me, degenerate modern wretch, Though in the genial month of May, My dripping limbs I faintly stretch, And think I've done a feat today.
But since he crossed the rapid tide, According to the doubtful story, To woo -and -Lord knows what beside, And swam for Love, as I for Glory;
'Twere hard to say who fared the best: Sad mortals! thus the gods still plague you! He lost his labour, I my jest; For he was drowned, and I've the ague.” (Lord Byron, Written After Swimming from Sestos to Abydos, 1810)
Sources: Greek Mythology Link. Carlos Parada & Maicar Förlag. 1997. 10 January 2009