Maddy Kirkwood
June 16th, 2022
2nd Reflection Memo Sections 4 and 5 – Rhodanthe and Dosikles
Novel and Spirituality
There are a number of new people introduced in sections 4 and 5 of Rhodanthe and Dosikles. One of which is, Artaxanes, the emperor of Pissa, who visits Mistylos and requests that he reinstate the city of Rhamnon back to Bryaxes. Mistylos does not oblige right away and instead deflects the request by instructing Gobryas to offer Artaxanes welcome and accommodation. Mistylos puts on a great banquet for Artaxanes in which Artaxanes becomes rather drunk and entranced with the theatrics of the banquet. Artaxanes is less threatening as the dinner goes on and, therefore, less aware of what Mistylos is scheming, and his unwillingness to give Rhamnon back to Bryaxes.
A part of this fourth section that intrigued me were the lines in which Gobryas and Mistylos are commenting on the live sparrows flying out of the lamb’s belly, and how wonderful and spectacular Mistylos is because he can procure such things that defy the laws of nature. Gobryas says to Artaxanes regarding Mistylos’ powers, “Or indeed he might give the order, perhaps, in the middle of battles and he would make soldiers, hard fighting men, with their swords and shields, give birth to swarms of puppies” (71). Artaxanes replies with skepticism and says that he does not wish to have this particular gift, so similar to the pains of childbirth that “curse” women, to be bestowed upon him. Mistylos responds by reminding him how Athena was born out of Zeus’ head and further remarks, “how can we say that something is shameful for earthbound men which is honourable for the heavenly gods?”. I was not expecting Mistylos’ response to be of something of this nature. It is another reminder of just how much the people of this time worshipped the gods and believed the stories told about them to be the truth. They put inordinate amounts of faith into their spiritual beliefs, and nearly every big decision made in this story, takes the gods, and what their preferences would be, into account.
In the fifth section of this story, Mistylos sends Gobryas to gather people for the battle against Bryaxes. Artaxane tries to convince Bryaxe that Mistylos has unnatural and mystical abilities, but Bryaxes dismisses him. Bryaxes also puts his faith in the gods to assist him in the battle, “Yet, trusting in Fate and the assistance of the gods and in Justice who takes vengeance on mischief-makers, I make my move confidently against Mistylos’ spears,” (p. 87). The characters in this story also seem to talk to the gods as if they are always listening and ready for a conversation. Byraxes talks to Areas and Poseidon and seems confident that they can hear him. This aspect of the storytelling interests me because it is a constant reminder to the audience that the people who lived at this time put a huge emphasis on divine approval. Interestingly, these two sections of the novel do not pay much attention to Rhodanthe and Dosikles, or their story. This is curious to me because they were such central characters to the storyline up until these two sections.