Ariadne’s Thread

Basic Information

Ariadne was a princess in Greek mythology, a daughter of King Minos of Crete. King Minos created the Labyrinth and would send seven boys and seven girls every 7 to 9 years into the Labyrinth, which was a giant maze, as a sacrifice to the Minotaur, who was half man and half bull. During one of the years of sacrifice, a prince named Theseus volunteered himself to enter the maze, as he wanted to kill the Minotaur. Ariadne fell in love with him, and gave him string, so that he would not lose his way within the maze (hence, Ariadne’s thread). The myth varies after this, in some variations Theseus abandons her, Perseus fatally stabs her, or Dionysus marries her. 

Function in Essay 

Miller, in this essay, subscribes to the version of the myth where Dionysus and Ariadne marry to further his Apollonian and Dionysian critics but to continue this thread of logic from Dionysus to Ariadne. He does this to critique the work of critics, as he writes that “The work of [uncanny] critics is in one way or another attempt not only by the Apollonian thread of logic but by Ariadne’s thread as she might be imagined to have rescued it from the too rational or betraying Theseus…” (125).

Further Information

There is not a lot of further information beyond the basic myth, but author Leon Burnett reads Ariadne’s story as one not containing typical gender roles found in literature, writing That “Yet [Ariadne’s story] is not the stereotypical gender role of confinement. She is not the damsel in distress waiting to be liberated, like Andromeda, for example. The topos, in fact, is reversed. It is her ball of thread that saves Theseus who then leaves her to her fate far from home…” (46). By explaining how Ariadne defied the roles of her time and of traditional myth, Burnett makes a case for the importance of Ariadne’s story. In addition to the myth, Ariadne’s thread means “…solving a problem by multiple means – such as a physical maze, a logic puzzle, or an ethical dilemma – through an exhaustive application of logic to all available routes. It is the particular method used that is able to follow completely through to trace steps or take point by point a series of found truths in a contingent, ordered search that reaches an end position” (Wikipedia). This use of the term Ariadne’s thread is often found in STEM fields, like biology and psychology.

Evaluation of Sources

It was hard to find secondary sources on this project, as initially I wasn’t sure if Miller was referring to Ariadne’s thread as a logic term or if he was referring to the myth. However, I found a couple of scholarly sources, like Burnett’s piece, that provided more insight into which one Miller was probably using and why.

List of Sources Consulted

“Ariadne.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 11 Jan. 2020, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ariadne.

“Ariadne’s Thread (Logic).” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 26 Dec. 2019, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ariadne%27s_thread_(logic).

Burnett, Leon. “Ariadne, Theseus, and the Circumambulation of the Mythic Self.” Journal of Comparative Literature and Aesthetics, vol. 40, no. 2, 2017, pp. 41–52., search.proquest.com/docview/2348878977/fulltextPDF/432160A22118485CPQ/1?accountid=8381.

Miller, J. Hillis. “Steven’s Rock and Criticism as Cure, II.” Critical Theory: A Reader for Literary and Cultural Studies, by Professor Robert Dale Parker, Oxford University Press, 2012, pp. 120–133.