Beautifully written - the image of envy turning one to stone and how if differs from Jealously, and how people relate to omnipotence I will never forget! It was effortless to read also which takes work well done :D
So you think Aglauros is the jealous, envious one and is the antagonist? I think she did everything right by not letting a random stranger in her house who claims he wants to marry her sister without even knowing her. Then he turns her to stone...they say Aglauros was the jealous one, but if you judge just by the actions, he was pretty damn unstable too, and pretty desperate to do those things. In this story I actually find Aglauros more likable, because hey - she didn't kill someone or immobilize their body just for not letting her in their lives - she just felt a little envy, and all she did was not let someone in the house. If this was a real story, the male god committed the crime, not her! Plus he stalked a complete stranger - her sister, before introducing himself and then turning Aglauros to stone for not letting him in her house, killing her. If this story was real life he'd be seen as a "creep" and probably the most messed up person in the story by far. It's really an abuse of power and degradation of people, maybe women in particular. Whether Aglauros was jealous or not doesn't even amount to this for me. Unless it was not him who killed her, and it was her jealousy? I'm just confused, because most sources say he killed her deliberately, and for me that would make him a much darker character because I don't condone murder. Also, Mercury is the son of the king of gods, and he has the power to turn people to stone and marry anyone he wants (he sometimes even forces himself on women without their consent) so again, Aglauros is nothing and powerless compared to him, and compared to his actions, she didn't kill or harm anyone, which is another reason why I'm confused why people don't sympathize with her instead. (Also I know how Aglauros feels. Throughout my childhood I was bullied and was always the one who was "undesirable" while everyone else was favored over me, so I deal with extreme jealousy of people often. All she did was feel a feeling that can be natural depending on your background or childhood. Whereas the god tried to break into their house and killed her, which I don't think is normal behavior at all, obviously.) Maybe HE is the jealous one who's hurt inside? Who knows! I'm just looking at their actions. (Remember, Mercury didn't have a home in mythology, and he's seeing two sisters who live together in a house. Maybe, during that one short moment, he's jealous of their family environment, or their closeness they have which he hasn't really had with people because he's always traveling to different places. He's also known as a thief, after all. Which is definitely acting on a kind of jealousy. Maybe he feels lost? Maybe both him and Aglauros are jealous of each other?) What do you think? (Sorry, I've edited this comment a lot! I'm really into analyzing this story.)
This helped my contextualize a lot of relationship issues iv had with my brother. thank you.
And to bolster your final point: "the angles fly because they take themselves so lightly" - Chesterton
Beautifully written - the image of envy turning one to stone and how if differs from Jealously, and how people relate to omnipotence I will never forget! It was effortless to read also which takes work well done :D
So you think Aglauros is the jealous, envious one and is the antagonist? I think she did everything right by not letting a random stranger in her house who claims he wants to marry her sister without even knowing her. Then he turns her to stone...they say Aglauros was the jealous one, but if you judge just by the actions, he was pretty damn unstable too, and pretty desperate to do those things. In this story I actually find Aglauros more likable, because hey - she didn't kill someone or immobilize their body just for not letting her in their lives - she just felt a little envy, and all she did was not let someone in the house. If this was a real story, the male god committed the crime, not her! Plus he stalked a complete stranger - her sister, before introducing himself and then turning Aglauros to stone for not letting him in her house, killing her. If this story was real life he'd be seen as a "creep" and probably the most messed up person in the story by far. It's really an abuse of power and degradation of people, maybe women in particular. Whether Aglauros was jealous or not doesn't even amount to this for me. Unless it was not him who killed her, and it was her jealousy? I'm just confused, because most sources say he killed her deliberately, and for me that would make him a much darker character because I don't condone murder. Also, Mercury is the son of the king of gods, and he has the power to turn people to stone and marry anyone he wants (he sometimes even forces himself on women without their consent) so again, Aglauros is nothing and powerless compared to him, and compared to his actions, she didn't kill or harm anyone, which is another reason why I'm confused why people don't sympathize with her instead. (Also I know how Aglauros feels. Throughout my childhood I was bullied and was always the one who was "undesirable" while everyone else was favored over me, so I deal with extreme jealousy of people often. All she did was feel a feeling that can be natural depending on your background or childhood. Whereas the god tried to break into their house and killed her, which I don't think is normal behavior at all, obviously.) Maybe HE is the jealous one who's hurt inside? Who knows! I'm just looking at their actions. (Remember, Mercury didn't have a home in mythology, and he's seeing two sisters who live together in a house. Maybe, during that one short moment, he's jealous of their family environment, or their closeness they have which he hasn't really had with people because he's always traveling to different places. He's also known as a thief, after all. Which is definitely acting on a kind of jealousy. Maybe he feels lost? Maybe both him and Aglauros are jealous of each other?) What do you think? (Sorry, I've edited this comment a lot! I'm really into analyzing this story.)