The Premature Journey of Jason, Son of Aeson

The following may be misanalysis according to those wiser than myself, but ask yourself this: how much misanalysis or reanalysis has been the source of new creativity? The story and backstory of Jason would not have reached such complexity if variatio were not a tool of the storyteller and the storytold

My obsession with Jason has resurfaced (appropriately for the topic of this post), something which either started with Euripides' Medea, or Pythian 4 - Pindar is one hell of a pharmaka! The trajectory of Jason has the trappings of  formal hero's journey yet he fails in critical ways. Although the etymological data is fascinating, I believe I have identified a larger potential problem with Jason's hero's journey - namely, that he underwent catabasis, the transformative experience of descending to the underworld and returning transformed, prematurely. According to Pythian 4, Aeson of Iolcus, whose name means 'rightly ruling', was overthrown by his half brother Pelias for reasons that we need not explore further here. The upshot of this usurpation was Jason's secret birth. It's important to realize that he was not named Jason at birth; Chiron, the immortal Centaur, divine physician, and trainer to heroes, bestowed that name. Before Chiron received him, however, the household of the deposed king feigned funeral customs over the live baby so that Pelias or his spies would believe that there had been a stillbirth. The baby then passed into the hands of Chiron, who named him Jason. In Greek, 'Jason' means 'the one who will heal' or perhaps 'the one who comes to heal' because the future participle in Greek indicates not just futurity but intention. In this situation, one might think that Jason is primed to become the young hero, the true heir to the kingdom, and that there are, at least not yet, no dark aspects to the legend. There is an aspect that I had not yet considered, and perhaps this applies to all lost princes and true heirs. The catabasis is transformative for the hero not only because he survives it but because he can process it. This processing is not available to a babe. By undergoing the catabasis at that stage of life, there is no possibility of consciously remembering the trauma, but only unconscious warping. The other effect of this journey, on a dramatic level, is that the hero has achieved the hero's journey, however faulty. Once the epic hero has completed his journey to the heights of glory, there is a possibility of falling from those heights. This opens new narrative paths for the storyteller; some heroes rise above yet another challenge, but Jason does not. Jason retrieves the Golden Fleece and returns to Iolcus, but he neither retrieves his kingdom nor kills the usurper Pelias himself. He fails in the intention of his very name! This failure could be the result of an incomplete completion of the hero's journey.