King Midas And His Golden Touch On

Contemporary Society Essay, Research Paper

King Midas and His Golden Touch on Contemporary Society.

Many believe that many pursuits of contemporary society, particularly our desire to accumulate wealth and the unintended consequences of these desires are modern day inventions. The Greek myth King Midas and the Golden Touch demonstrate that these desires along with their unintended consequences have existed for many centuries.

The myth King Midas and the Golden Touch reveals that in ancient Greek culture, the wealthy were preoccupied with becoming richer. King Midas and the Golden Touch is a good lesson for today. The story shows very powerfully what happens when people loose focus on what is truly important. King Midas lived in ancient Greek culture, yet he was a reflection on our modern day society.

The Greek myth King Midas and the Golden Touch tells the story of a man who goes to great lengths to become the wealthiest person in the world. He wishes that whatever he touches shall turn to gold. His wish comes true. At first, he loves the fact that his clothes, bed, and even his rose garden become golden. But, when he can’t eat his food or hug his daughter because they also turn to gold, he becomes extremely upset and wishes that he could take everything back (Hawthorne). Isn’t it most people’s ambition to be wealthy. Though not many people would admit to it, many people would stop at nothing to achieve such great wealth. That is until their ambition backfires and they loose what is really important to them. The myth King Midas and the Golden Touch reveals that in ancient Greek culture, many of the wealthy people were preoccupied with becoming richer and didn’t consider the consequences. Much like many people in our society, who become so blinded with greed their judgement becomes clouded, and they are unable to make sound choices.

King Midas and the Golden Touch is a myth from the ancient Greek culture. Ancient Greek culture has been considered one of the most influential cultures ever to exist. It’s beliefs, values, and ways of life have been passed on over many centuries and become part of many other cultures, including ours.* Greek culture supplied the United States with the democratic form of government. This is shown by the laws that we have and by the way our Constitution is set up. Ancient Greeks created the myth King Midas and the Golden Touch, to ensure power upon the Greek government, the Greek government used the myth much like we use commercials and public service announcements, to put an image into their citizens about the wrong of certain behaviors, in this case greed.

Ancient Greeks were mainly controlled by their culture. This meant that the government controlled them because the government created and changed the culture (Hamilton, 278). The myth King Midas and the Golden Touch gives some ideas into what many Greeks thought was important, besides their culture. Because the entire myth was about becoming rich, it is evident that many Greeks felt very strongly about money.

It is obvious that the United States government doesn’t control modern day culture because there are many different and diverse cultures that exist here.* But, by living in America, most people are succumbed to realize that by living the American Dream, they must have money to maintain it. But, many people can become carried away with the idea of becoming wealthy, much like King Midas, until the point where their ambition collapses on them, much like it does for many of these celebrities. They become so caught up in the wealth, fame, drugs, etc. that it ultimately destroys their career and even their lives ( VH 1, 1998 ).

Individuals in today’s society act similar to King Midas and often end up in prison for crimes regarding money, such as fraud or theft. It is only when one is punished, either by law or other enforcement, that he or she realizes that what they did was wrong. Then they plead to be free of any punishment on the understanding that they will never do wrong again. But, is that the truth.

King Midas’s situation was very serious for he had turned his daughter to gold. Midas loved his daughter more than he loved gold (Pilling, 62). Because it was so important to Midas to have his daughter return to her normal state, he pleaded with Dionysus, the god who gave him the golden touch, to reverse his wish ( Hamilton, 279 ). Only then did he learn what he did was wrong. King Midas was blind to the possibility that he could turn his own daughter into gold ( D’aulaires, 124 ). But, society today is also oblivious to such unlikely possibilities. It is evident that it isn’t in the nature of mankind to forecast what could result due to their actions. In the movie Jurassic Park (a movie about the ethics of recreating dinosaurs and the consequences of doing so), the character that actor Jeff Goldblum played stated that the scientists recreating the dinosaurs only focused on whether they could create them, not if they should (Jurassic Park, 1993). That is what King Midas should have considered. He never even considered the ethics of whether he should, only the fact that he could become rich.

Ancient Greeks believed in many gods. Gods were significant in one’s life, for they, according to the Greeks, created and controlled mankind and everything associated with it. That is why King Midas, a Greek, showed hospitality and kindne