YouTube Transcript:
Icarus: The Flight And Fall - The Meaning Behind The Story (Greek Mythology Explained)
Skip watching entire videos - get the full transcript, search for keywords, and copy with one click.
Share:
Video Transcript
in the area that I grew up in brick
mythology was never something that
really featured in schools but the first
story I was taught was that of Icarus
the boy who flew too close to the Sun
now in the grander scale of Greek
mythology occurs has quite a minor role
but there's no doubt that he's become an
iconic figure and his stories still told
and retold to this day it's likely that
even if your knowledge of Greek
mythology is limited you would have
heard the story of Icarus or at least
know the name today we'll be going over
the story of Icarus and his father
Daedalus as we attempt to understand why
the story has become so popular and what
exactly it means the story takes us to
the island of Crete - during the rule of
King Minos Minos had the problem of
where he would house the Minotaur as he
ran rampant through his kingdom to solve
this issue he enlisted the help of
Daedalus a master craftsman who had
previously arrived in Crete after being
exiled from Athens Daedalus was
instructed to create a large labyrinth
that was capable of holding the Minotaur
Minos was so pleased with Daedalus his
work that his status and position began
to grow as he went from a slave to a
valued member of Minos is Kingdom the
downfall of Daedalus began with the
arrival of the Athenian hero Theseus who
with the help from Minos daughter
Ariadne and Daedalus himself was able to
slay the Minotaur and return from the
labyrinth he then said so back to Athens
with both of the Kings daughters
naturally Minos was infuriated by the
actions of Daedalus and his daughter
conspiring against him with the
Athenians but with his daughter gone the
blame fell solely on Daedalus rather
than lose his price craftsman Minos
decided against the execution of
Daedalus instead he locks both Daedalus
and his son Icarus away in the labyrinth
that they created there are some
variants sources that suggest they were
locked away in a tower but personally I
prefer the irony have been locked away
in a prison that you designed
having designed the labyrinth Icarus and
Daedalus were aware that escape for most
would be impossible but Daedalus was not
most men and the master craftsman began
surmising a plan for his son and himself
to escape aware that they would have to
leave Crete forever
Daedalus planned to do so through the
skies as there would be no chance in
escaping Minos his Navy
Daedalus knew that he would have to
construct a method of flying but this
was no easy task as a manned flight had
never been undertaken before it was
thought that one morning a flock of
birds flew over the head of Daedalus and
he was instantly inspired asking Icarus
to collect all the feathers he could
just like the birds he had just seen
Daedalus would build wooden frames in
the shape of wings when Icarus had
amassed the required feathers they were
glued to the wooden frames using hot wax
once Daedalus had crafted two pairs of
wings he carefully warned Icarus telling
him that the wings had many flaws and
flying too high in the sky would cause
the wax that he used as glue to melt but
flying too close to the sea would cause
the feathers to soak up the excess
seawater making them too heavy to fly
the following day
Icarus and Daedalus decided that they
would attempt to finally escape crete
the two left in the air and began
flapping their wings the invention of
Daedalus had worked and both hey man
Icarus soared through the sky as they
escaped Crete without being noticed the
further they flew the more Icarus grew
in confidence but he's confident soon
turned into overconfidence Icarus was so
overwhelmed by the feeling of flying
that he believed he now knew what it
felt like to be a God and in his
newfound divinity he disregarded his
father's warnings he flew higher and
higher as his father Daedalus could only
watch him fly closer to the Sun the wax
on Icarus his wings began to melt and
the feathers attached to wooden frames
began to drop off when Icarus had
finally realized how high he had flown
it was already too late
as he began to plummet holding onto his
bare wooden frame the wings for dear life
life
Daedalus could do nothing but watch as
Icarus plunged into the sea dine upon
impact the area of water
Icarus landed would be known as the
Icarian sea in the island where his body
washed up upon would also be named eye
carrier in memory of Icarus in most
variations of the story after watching
his son die Daedalus flew to safety
where King Minos would begin his search
for the Crossman as he would not let him
work for anyone else the hero Heracles
witnessed Icarus his death and having
recognized him as the son of Daedalus he
then performed the funeral rites the
Daedalus could not over the years people
have taken dozens of meanings and
Murrells away from the story of Icarus
on a very basic level the story
essentially tells us to listen to our
elders but as we delve deeper the story
means so much more it highlights the
carelessness of youth and some of the
consequences that it may bring we see
Daedalus in his experience maintain
level-headed while fly-in
whereas Icarus is overwhelmed and
somewhat loses control disregarding
everything he was told and lead into his
death you could also see the death of
Icarus as the God's punishin Daedalus
and his son in the eyes of the gods
men were never meant to fly and as an
attempt to elevate themselves the level
of the gods Icarus was killed and
Daedalus faced the lifetime of guilt and
regret the story teaches us to remain
level-headed and somewhat warns against
the pursuit of instant gratification
Icarus could have listened to his father
and once they were safe he could have
experienced his feet in a flying many
more times but he was unable to see the
long-term picture only concerned by how
good it felt now in the present and he
was punished for doing so the fall of
Icarus is a tragic but also necessary
tale of moderation and caution
hopefully I've been able to shed some
light on the story that you may have
heard before and if you enjoyed the
video then please let me know what you
thought in the comments below but as
always I've been your host mythology and
fiction explain you
Click on any text or timestamp to jump to that moment in the video
Share:
Most transcripts ready in under 5 seconds
One-Click Copy125+ LanguagesSearch ContentJump to Timestamps
Paste YouTube URL
Enter any YouTube video link to get the full transcript
Transcript Extraction Form
Most transcripts ready in under 5 seconds
Get Our Chrome Extension
Get transcripts instantly without leaving YouTube. Install our Chrome extension for one-click access to any video's transcript directly on the watch page.
Works with YouTube, Coursera, Udemy and more educational platforms
Get Instant Transcripts: Just Edit the Domain in Your Address Bar!
YouTube
←
→
↻
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UF8uR6Z6KLc
YoutubeToText
←
→
↻
https://youtubetotext.net/watch?v=UF8uR6Z6KLc