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Myth and Structuralism

9 important questions on Myth and Structuralism

What does George Eliot's (Mary Ann Evans) Middlemarch: A Study in Provincial Life have to do with myth?

In this novel, the scholar Edward Casaubon was working on a treatise called "The Key to All Mythologies" when he died, in which he was trying to prove that all myths had actually been derived from even more ancient traditions. The writer of the novel, however, did not agree with that concept, and Casaubon's research strands when he forgets about an important scholarship fund. In other words, Eliot did not believe that such a tradition that was at the basis of all myths could exist.

Why is Max Müllers theory in his Comparative Mythologies problematic?

Because the chosen etymologies are arbitrary and because it would make no sense for people to just keep telling myths that had no meaning to them in their own language. Also, it seems somewhat wrong to claim that there is only one explanation for every kind of myth.

Who are the Cambridge Ritualists?

One of them, Sir J. G. Frazer, in any case believed that myths are actually derived from fertility rituals: fertility is renewed when the old generation is slain and renewed. The golden bough/branch is a motive in his explanation: Aeneas also had to pluck one before he could enter the underworld, as if to reinforce his status as a living being.
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Who was Jane Ellen Harrison?

A Cambridge Ritualist who coined the term "year-god" (or a god who must die and be born again every year).
To her, the myth (legomena) actually explains what must be done (dromena) to fulfil the ritual.

How do the Cambridge Ritualists interpret the story of Paris?

Because he is given the golden apple (the golden bough), he is given the signal that he must kill the old king.

What was New Comparative Mythology?

Established by Georges Dumézil, after Max Müller, myths always show the tripartite structure of Indo-European society (priest/ruler, warrior, productive class/farmers). This was, however, hard to demonstrate in Greek myth.

Which roles do Minerva, Juno and Venus take on in Georges Dumézils theory?

Minerva: warrior
Juno: ruler
Venus: productive class

What are the origins of Structuralism?

Ferdinand the Saussure came up with the idea. It meant that one word can only be understood in relation to other words, because language and its actual meaning are completely arbitatrary.

Who was Claude Levi-Strauss?

A Structuralist applied structuralism to society and myth by claiming there is always some underlying structure beneath a certain culture's traditions and myths. He believed in certain codes and elements in texts that always meant the same, and that myths combine language and parole (the word and its meaning). Myths mediate between contradictions. Also, that one should look at all versions of a myth to see what it really means!
For example, the story of Oedipus suggests that all men are born from their parents, yet some men are also born from the Earth (which is impossible).

The question on the page originate from the summary of the following study material:

Ancient Mythology

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