Quinn McNamara
English 1010 F 9:00-12:00
Professor McKeever
5 November 2012
King Midas as an Allusion
King Midas was the ruler of Phrygia, a country in which is now connected
with Turkey. The Greek legend of Midas is that he prayed to the gods for a wish
in which he asked that everything hr touch be turned to gold, and it was
granted. However this gift Midas soon found to be a curse of his own greed. When
he go to eat his mouth turned the food to gold, if he tried to drink wine or
water it would be turned to gold. Literally everything he touched was turned to
gold even his own daughter. It was a curse in which to teach Midas to not be
greedy. He soon asked to be cured of the curse and in order to bathed in the
river Pactolus which ridded of the “golden touch.” People mention Midas when
talking about greed or lust. An allusion found using Midas is found in Sara
Paretsky’s Indentitty Only, (1982)
when she wrote “'All I saw was the money. I just didn't want to look down that
road. If I had . . . It's like some story I heard once. Some guy, Greek I think,
was so greedy he begged the gods to give him a gift—everything he touched would
turn to gold. Only thing is, these gods, they zap you: they always give you what
you ask for but it turns out not to be what you want. Well, this guy was like
me: he had a daughter that he loved more than life. But he forgot to look down
the road. And when he touched her, she turned to gold, too. That's what I've
done, haven't I?' 'King Midas,' I said.”
(qtd. In Delahunty, Dignen, and Stock 30) Here Midas is used as an
allusion because it is describing the persons lust and greed for money and how
he or she knows of King Midas’s legend and how when having greed for something
can make you or others miserable.
Works Cited
Delahunty, Andrew, Sheila Dignen and Penny Stock. “King Midas” The
Oxford Dictionary of Allusions. New York: Oxford UP, 2001.
Print
English 1010 F 9:00-12:00
Professor McKeever
5 November 2012
King Midas as an Allusion
King Midas was the ruler of Phrygia, a country in which is now connected
with Turkey. The Greek legend of Midas is that he prayed to the gods for a wish
in which he asked that everything hr touch be turned to gold, and it was
granted. However this gift Midas soon found to be a curse of his own greed. When
he go to eat his mouth turned the food to gold, if he tried to drink wine or
water it would be turned to gold. Literally everything he touched was turned to
gold even his own daughter. It was a curse in which to teach Midas to not be
greedy. He soon asked to be cured of the curse and in order to bathed in the
river Pactolus which ridded of the “golden touch.” People mention Midas when
talking about greed or lust. An allusion found using Midas is found in Sara
Paretsky’s Indentitty Only, (1982)
when she wrote “'All I saw was the money. I just didn't want to look down that
road. If I had . . . It's like some story I heard once. Some guy, Greek I think,
was so greedy he begged the gods to give him a gift—everything he touched would
turn to gold. Only thing is, these gods, they zap you: they always give you what
you ask for but it turns out not to be what you want. Well, this guy was like
me: he had a daughter that he loved more than life. But he forgot to look down
the road. And when he touched her, she turned to gold, too. That's what I've
done, haven't I?' 'King Midas,' I said.”
(qtd. In Delahunty, Dignen, and Stock 30) Here Midas is used as an
allusion because it is describing the persons lust and greed for money and how
he or she knows of King Midas’s legend and how when having greed for something
can make you or others miserable.
Works Cited
Delahunty, Andrew, Sheila Dignen and Penny Stock. “King Midas” The
Oxford Dictionary of Allusions. New York: Oxford UP, 2001.