Ariadne, by Jennifer Saint, is yet another feminist retelling of common Greek myths dominated by male characters and heroes. In a culture where even powerful goddesses have little say and hand in their future, novels like Circe, Silence of the Girls, and Ariadne are influential in reimagining the women as they are commonly interpreted in male narratives. While the book itself doesn’t live up to other mythological reimaginings like the ones mentioned above, it still takes a misinterpreted woman and gives her a voice and a life.
Ariadne is the daughter of goddess Pasiphaë and Minos, the king of Crete. Pasiphaë is also Circe’s sister, both being born from the nymph Perse and god Helios. I find that this connection, along with other ones, is interesting in that they tie and agree with the narrative given by Circe in Madeline Miller’s book. Ariadne is well known through Greek mythology, mostly as the traitor daughter of her family who murdered her own brother and betrayed her kingdom. Yet, as I mentioned, this book challenges that while still staying true to the events of greek mythology. Not only that, but it brings largely unknown characters like Ariadne’s sister, Phaedra, and gives them a mouthpiece as well.
She is the eldest Cretan princess and witnessed the birth of her infamous half-bull, half-man brother, Asterion. For those not familiar with the myth, it is said that her mother, Pasiphaë, conceived said creature from a sacred bull sent to Minos as a sacrifice. Since his birth, the creature has brought nothing but pain, and he needs to be contained in the famous labyrinth built by Daedalus, the celebrated architect, and craftsman in Greek mythology, whom Pasiphaë had trapped in Crete. He gains word and fame, thus, Minos renames the creature the Minotaur, after himself. While the labyrinth keeps the beast in captivity, his appetite demands sacrifices in order for the labyrinth to hold him in. Because of this, Mino wages war on Athens and demands that fourteen of their youth be sent to Crete every year, to be given to the Minotaur. This goes on for three years before Theseus, one of the fourteen children sent as a sacrifice, arrives on Crete. As the tale tells, Ariadne falls in love with Theseus, and as he was about to enter the Labyrinth to his death, Ariadne, with the help of Daedalus, gives him a sword and ball of thread. Theseus then kills the Minotaur, but as is sadly later found, he is just another greedy and ruthless man who leaves Ariadne to die on an island. She is saved by Dionysus, a god whom she later marries. But, in the end, the love between mortals and gods never lasts, so Ariadne never finds her happy ending.
One thing that stood out to me is Ariadne’s words about the tragedy of how women are treated. How strangely, every punishment meant for men is afflicted on the women. Like the story of Medusa, who was once a priestess in Athens, before she was raped by Poseidon. Because of this, “Athena struck Medusa’s hair and crowned her instead with living snakes. She took her beauty and made Medusa’s face so terrible that it would turn onlookers to stone.” (Ariadne) Just as Briseis, Circe, and Ariadne all can acclaim, they were punished for the greed and violence of men. Yet these books make them into more than just pawns of heroes and villains of mythology, they make them real people and heroes in their own stories. You can buy the book Ariadne here.