Everyone has heard of the typical story where the guy decides to fight for his country and cross the Atlantic Ocean to go to war, while the girlfriend (or wife) is left mourning in perpetual tears and praying daily for his return. Clearly, these scenarios mostly always end in tragedy and in death, while some, very few, end in unexpected happiness.
In Alcyone and Ceyx, the story is similar, except that instead of war, it’s the sea, and instead of being killed by blood-hungry men, Alcyones dad, who happens to control all of the vast blue sea, is the one that brings death upon Ceyx. Yeah, what a nice father-in-law, no?
When Ceyx tells Alcyonw about his journey, she says, “If you die my life is over and I shall be cursed with every reluctant breath I draw.” Basically, her life without out Ceyx is shattered and completely hopeless. Seriously? Just because a guy you like (or love) leaves for whatever reason takes up his mind, what kind of self-deprecating girl lets that affect her own happiness? Sure, you love him, but does that seriously make for a reason to drown in your own tears and curse God for your desperate and heartrending existence?
I’m not saying you should be cold-hearted or too laid-back to even register the fact and let it affect you. I’m just saying you can’t base your happiness (or life) on someone else.
When they are on the ship, it says that Poseidon enters the scene, therefore causing the terrible storm that will lead to Ceyx and his henchmen’s doom. What I fail to understand is the fact that Poseidon is the one that controls the seas, and yet Alcyone had said that her father was the one who controlled them, “My father’s winds are wild savage.” But Poseidon isn’t Alcyone’s father, right? I’m sorry to have to point out that in that point of the story I am completely and totally lost.
The winds and ocean blurs in a terrible and malicious storm and that is when Ceyx knows he is going to die. It would really be annoying to know are going to die, especially when you promised your wife you’d be back safely in two month’s time. Another reason you shouldn’t make promises you are not sure you can keep: Your girlfriend is going to end up heartbroken when you die. So refrain from making them in the first place!
Alcyone counts the seconds in which it will take her husband to get home. If only she knew she was wasting her breath.
Aphrodite pities Alcyone’s heart melting hopefulness, and decides to subtly inform her that her husband is in fact, dead. This puts Aphrodite on the top of my list considering she is taking it upon herself to put someone out of their misery.
When she finds out from Morpheus who has transformed into Ceyx, she gets kind of hysterical, or maybe it’s just common procedure to cry and argue when someone important to you has died. What really got to me, and not in an emotional way, but just sounded like a really cool quote, was when she was ranting about how she had asked him not to go and said, “I’m drowning now in the air.” Maybe it’s just me, but the fact she is drowning in pure air makes it fascinatingly deep to me. Oh, well.
You’d think it would be like all the normal tragedies out there where a happy ending is completely out of its reach. Wrong. It turns out, they actually end up together by becoming birds and flying away together to nest in their own happy glory.
I’m not kidding.
And I also ended up happy because I overcame my inner confusion and found, plainly stated in that last line, that Aeolus is Alcyone’s father and he controls the winds.
So in the end, we all get our happy endings.
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