Love is a broad topic all human beings go through. Ceyx and Alcyone are a clear example of the never ending love that one feels or can come to feel. In this story we see two characters that part ways for the first time and handle being apart in a very passionate way. Alcyone is the devoted wife who does not wish for her husband to go out to see and risk his life, according to her “the winds are wild and beyond anyones control.” Ceyx is the typical male proving his worth by not being domesticated on shore and trying to prove his independence through this journey.
My favorite part of demonstration of undying love is when the gods are compassionate and instead of separating them forever turn them into birds:
“Together they still fly over the waters ‘surface
And mate and rear their young and for seven days each winter
Alcyone broods on her nest that floats on the gentle water
For Aeolus, her father, then keeps the winds short reined
And every year gives seven days of calm upon the ocean
The days we call the halcyon days.”
Pg 32
What I like is that even though they were apart their love was so potent that it reached the gods own hearts. Instead of having to live on without Ceyx and being her biggest fear ( a widow) Alcyone gets to stand by her husband’s side (wings) forever.
Besides love I wanted to mention the gods included in these pages and their connection to the mortals. Poseidon and Aeolus are the ones who casts the storm upon Ceyx and his men. At the beginning Alcyone mentions that not even her husband, son in law of Aeolus, is saved from her father’s strong winds . I think that even though he was the god of the wind, he should have given free pass to his son in law and not caused his own daughter so much grief. Other gods present were Aphrodite, Heremes, and Sleep. What I most enjoy about Greek mythology is how the gods play a pivotal role in the lives of those who pray to them. How the destiny of mere mortals is in the hands of supreme gods.
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