The Malta Classics Association is hosting its seventh public lecture of its monthly lecture series, this time hosting Jessica Alexander from the University of Virginia who will present a paper examining the portrayal of the Minotaur – a mythical creature portrayed during classical antiquity with the head and tail of a bull and the body of a man.
Her paper – ‘The Minotaur is always monster: utilising the Minotaur’s portrayal in children’s picture books to understand monsters’ – examines how the Minotaur and Theseus are portrayed in different children’s picture books.
“When we reexamine the Minotaur and Theseus using an anthropomorphic lens and monster theory, I conclude that the Minotaur will always be seen as a monstrous figure and never be humanised even to child audiences,” writes Alexander in her abstract.
She concludes that the Minotaur can never be viewed as a readable character but is always the antagonist.
“I utilise Liz Gylon and Jeffery Andrew Weinstock’s definitions of monster theory and anthropomorphism to understand how the Minotaur is portrayed in different children’s picture books ranging from the famous D’Aularies written in the 1950s to Donna Jo Napoli and Chrstina Balit’s book published in 2011,” explains Alexander.
She also analyses the characterisation of the Minotaur in ancient sources like Plutarch and a Roman sarcophagus.
By analysing the way that ancient sources characterised the Minotaur, the researcher concluded that the Minotaur was viewed as a monster character even in antiquity.
“Though this may seem obvious, by establishing how the Minotaur was established in antiquity, I continue to map how the Minotaur is characterised in modern retellings. Utilisation of some ancient sources is needed to create a timeline between antiquity and the jump made to the 20th century,” she continues. Alexander will proceed to analyse the way that contemporary children’s authors characterise the Minotaur and Theseus.
“I concluded that contemporary authors of the 20th and 21st centuries also characterised the Minotaur as a monster without any human qualities besides his conception. The authors of the modern children’s picture books did not think to give enough agency to the Minotaur to allow readers to see even an inner monologue, even if his thoughts would be about killing Ariadne and Theseus.
“Even if later authors use ‘he’ instead of ‘it’ when describing the Minotaur, all authors failed to give the Minotaur agency and create empathy for him. Later authors sway away from leaving all monstrosity to the Minotaur, though. Theseus is blamed for his mistakes like leaving Ariadne on Naxos, but ultimately, the Minotaur will always be the villain.”
The online public lecture is taking place on August 13 on the Malta Classic Association Facebook page at 7pm.