The Dark Side of Idealism

July 2019 is Power of Idealism month (a discount on the eBook applies until July 31, 2019, if you are a newsletter subscriber with a newsletter discount code).

This post examines the type of Character who strives for excellence and never settles for second-best. Life is grand opera. Passion is everything, and these characters live in a state of heightened emotion and expectation.

Power of Idealism Characters don’t have “complacent” or “satisfactory” in their vocabulary. Icarus, Prometheus, Faust, and Frankenstein are all examples of this Character Type fallen to the Dark Side.

Going Too Far

Throughout the history of storytelling, those that try to play God meet with tragedy. Their reach exceeds their grasp, and they disrupt the natural order. Greek Mythology provides us with two notable examples, Icarus and Prometheus. Icarus flew too close to the sun. Prometheus stole fire from the gods to enable man to rise above the darkness.

Icarus

Icarus and his father (the master craftsman who designs and builds the mythical labyrinth) craft wings to escape their imprisonment in Crete. His father instructs Icarus not to fly too low (complacency) nor too high (hubris). Icarus is young and strong and wants to tests the limits. He demonstrates a key characteristic of the Power of Idealism Character; their reach always exceeds their grasp.

Icarus soars too close to the sun. The heat melts the wax binding his wings, he plummets into the ocean below and drowns. The boy is headstrong, rebellious, and pushes the boundaries too far. His pride and supreme self-confidence are his downfalls.

Prometheus

Prometheus’ intentions are nobler than Icarus’. He wants humanity to have a gift of the Gods. Prometheus gives humans fire to so they are less vulnerable in the dark. In doing so, he angers the gods and earns a grisly punishment. He is chained to a rock as an eagle rips out his liver every day. He experiences this agony for eons until Hercules rescues him.

In Western classical literature, Prometheus is a figure that represents human striving for scientific knowledge and the risks of unintended consequences. In particular, he embodies the lone genius whose efforts to improve human existence could also result in tragedy: Mary Shelley’s novel, Frankenstein is subtitled The Modern Prometheus.

Both of these Power of Idealism Characters go too far. Icarus for selfish reasons and Prometheus for altruistic reasons. These Greek myths are examples of the dangers of reaching beyond your grasp.

Faust

The story of Faust is one of the oldest tales in history. It has generated countless interpretations across the centuries in the books, on stage and screen. All these retellings are about the dangers of temptation. The most famous versions of the Faustian legend are Christopher Marlowe’s play Doctor Faustus and Goethe’s epic poem Faust. Movies on this theme include Damn Yankees (about a baseball player’s deal with the Devil), The Devil and Daniel Webster (about a poor farmer’s agreement, and The Crossing (about blues legend Robert Johnson’s famous musical bargain).

The story is always roughly the same. Faust is dissatisfied with his life, believing he deserves something greater. The Demon Mephistopheles appears, offering him everything he wants and more. Faust experiences triumph beyond his wildest dreams, but only if he gives his soul to the Devil.

He agrees, and amazing opportunities are his. However, Faust soon realizes that time is running out. He doesn’t want to be sent to hell for all eternity and desperately searches for a way out of his deal with the Devil.

The Dark Side tempts Faust to turn towards Satan and away from God. However, he loses only half the bet. He eventually goes to Heaven. Angels arrive as messengers of divine mercy, declare: “He who strives on and lives to strive/ Can earn redemption still” In later movie remakes, there is an “out”, and the protagonist tricks the Devil to win back his soul).

Frankenstein

Dr Victor Frankenstein (not Frankenstein’s Monster, which confuses everyone), does not merely defy the gods. Victor becomes a god, and his creation turns against him.

Faust was a fool for giving away his soul. Escape was not enough for Icarus. Prometheus’ intentions were noble, but his rebellion angered those in power, resulting in terrible punishment. Victor Frankenstein goes further than any of these characters.

Victor wonders– “Can death be reversed? Can Man play God and recreate life?” Against the advice of everyone, he pursues his dream of reanimating dead tissue with electricity. Once Victor brings his horrific creature to life, the doctor realizes that he shouldn’t have perverted the course of nature. The Dead should stay Dead.

Mary Shelley’s creation is a product of the romantic era of literature, a time of heightened passion and melodrama across Europe. If there were such a thing as a Power of Idealism period in history, it would be the romantic era. Shelley surrounded herself with like-minded peers, and one stormy night in Switzerland, she comes up with Frankenstein as her friends come up with the idea of The Vampire Dracula.

Romanticism

Romanticism (also known as the Romantic era) originated in Europe near the end of the 18th century in reaction to the overwhelming changes wrought by the industrial revolution. The movement emphasized intense emotion as the most authentic source of human experience. It was an artistic, literary, musical, and intellectual movement that glorified individualism and idealized a more “heroic” past. Scientific achievement and fear of technology was the cause of great anxiety about the future. Romanticism revived medievalism in a reaction against population growth, urban relocation to factory towns, and industrialization.

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