Tag Archives: human nature

The Deep Dive Into the Human Hero Complex

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While reading, one particular passage stood out to me, regarding human nature and interference. In The Romance of the Faery Melusine, we are introduced to the ideology of good and evil being created to “give rise to the other,” the basis that “humans do not show their mettle if left to themselves.” (The romance of the Faery Melusine, pg. 12)

In regards to human nature, how many people only carry out good deeds for the sake of gaining praise. Defeating an “evil” power gives way to the feeling of achievement, the admiration of others. Many people live by a saying, “if I don’t see it, it doesn’t affect me.” There is little empathy or remorse given from the vast population in relation to suffering and danger. In almost all fairytales, the hero, typically a male, only acts on bravery to defeat a “villain,” as their home or community is being threatened. What is the violence was in a town over? Would the heroic prince go out of his way to gallop across the river and save these villagers he barely knew? Highly unlikely.

We can see these examples represented in our own modern day. The government only acts upon brutality when they believe there will be negative connotations for them if they choose to remain silent, or they can expect a certain gain or financial benefits. How would humans function without an evil power to battle, in order to gain applause? Would there ever be a need to commend bravery when such a trait was not needed? What plot would our stories and legends center around if there were no heroic tales to be spread, no lessons to be taught to children on the courageousness of our heroes? Is this the reason for these tales?

To create a sense of “moral good,” encouraging us to fight in order to gain approval? What about what happens when no one is watching, when there is no one around to recount your bravery, your heroic deeds being lost through the passage of time? Is this why Sirens were created as an evil force of nature, hellbent on temptation? The fearless male hero, the turning of a deaf ear to their cries, creating a message that you too can have power over wickedness – the glory you will receive upon your return will be shouted for all those to hear, for generations to come.

Humans: The Truest Aquatic Mammalian Species

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Steve Mentz takes a really interesting perspective on establishing a clear relationship between the ocean beyond its existence just being something we enjoy; he recognizes it is embedded in our nature in more ways than one. He references the popular oceanic centric book we often discuss, Moby Dick: “One of the most widely quoted phrases from the novel holds that ‘meditation and water are wedded for ever.’4” (Mentz, 139). The word meditation is what truly defines this, considering how it’s perceived and utilized within modern society. Meditation’s connotation of peace and relaxation begin to flesh out how water belongs to “nature”, in the sense of relaxation’s connection to being stationary, to being at rest.

Without trying, water finds itself resting within us, our genetic makeups, and connecting to it allows almost this greater connection and grounding to ourselves. Minor habits like needing to drink water when we want to stop tears from coming, or splashing cold water when we become so consumed by anger, we need a snap back to reality. It is literally married to our ideals of breaking calamity, our need for stability because of its connection to the natural world around us. The life it takes on, the movement of its own, to run and crash the way we could, to dance and shine the way fire can, draws us to spiritually connect with it as something of solitude, as it juxtaposes flame’s intensity.

His insight on this intertwined reality ties back to our focus on mermaids specifically when he addresses the ocean’s connection to us: “A poetics that emerges from an encounter with alienating water always relates itself to the awkward relationship of humans and water; we depend upon it and love it, but it cannot be our home” (140). This peace found within it, combined with an inability to ever truly be immersed in it totally seems to have almost driven the need to create mermaids. Desire to be and feel human cognition, but be able to survive as aquatic beings describes them so exactly, and reflects how their existence forces us to recognize how the peace can be disrupted. So long as the world deteriorates at the rate it does, our creatures that depend on it for sustenance, and not just a moment of grounding, suffer and thereby push attention on its decline. It gives us a way to holistically appreciate it, and in trying times, a way to recognize faults.