Krisann Muskievicz
LITR 5535 UHCL 2002
 

The Labyrinth Began in the Minotaur’s Maze

Before being able to doodle or write, add or subtract, or complete any other pencil and paper task, I eagerly attempted mazes. The study of the Gothic, especially of Poe’s The Fall of the House of Usher, has reminded me of my enjoyment of this puzzle.  Poe’s use of twisting labyrinths, dark caverns, and dead-end cellars engaged me as a reader, leading me to wonder why I thought this style to be so effective.  Poe’s popularity, and the popularity of the mystery/terror genre, proves I am not unique in my fascination with solving the unknown.  Why are we willing to be confused or scared for the purpose of solving a problem?  What are we attempting to gain or prove through the puzzle’s solution?

In studying the Gothic, I have contemplated the symbolic use of mazes, their metaphorical connection to life, and our human struggle for control.  Very informally, I have also identified maze-lingo occurring in casual speech.  Some statements are interchangeable between maze solution strategies and descriptions of our attempts at solving life’s confusing situations.  For example, “Don’t bother with that. It’s a dead end.” Or, “Don’t waste time going down the same path twice.”  And a favorite of mine, “Be wary of what lies around the corner.”  All of these phrases relate to solution strategies – both in mazes and life.  Even the way my family accuses me of “thinking too far down the path” in my decision-making relates to my initial cognition of mazes.   As I recall my struggles with early and simple mazes, I realize that I have developed coping mechanisms for adulthood that strongly reflect my solution strategies for mazes as a child.  So, what does the maze represent in terms of human development?  What, in this metaphor for life, are we symbolically attempting to control?

The “maze of adolescence” and “the labyrinth of love” are recurring puzzles in life that we fumble through as a shared human experience.  Solution terminology names our frustration with the inability to control these situations, or inadequacy in solving their puzzles.  Are we led, therefore, to seek solutions we can find?  If haunted houses, hedge mazes, and pilgrims’ labyrinths are trials representative of larger challenges, does the reward lie in the composure and confidence achieved in solving the “problem?”  If this is symbolic of the conquest of bigger problems, does successful manipulation of a maze display desirable skill?  Do we use mazes to test ourselves?  The maze image seems to be much more than a children’s game.   As a metaphor for life, the maze intrigued me as a topic for investigation.

To begin answering my numerous questions about mazes, I decided to investigate the form itself.  I began with The Maze and the Warrior by Craig Wright.  This book details the history of the maze and describes the theology and Christian representation found in the maze.  Wright states his inspiration for writing this book as a touching experience while observing the pilgrim’s labyrinth in the cathedral at Chartres.  Therefore, his angle of addressing the maze image is primarily from a theological standpoint.  I found this approach very useful because the form originated in Greek religion and was later spread as part of Christian religion.  White discusses many examples of labyrinths reflecting Christian theology as well as the maze’s rise and fall in popularity as related to history.  White provides an expansive assessment of the form, and I found the origin of the structure to be the most explanatory to me.

White begins his discussion of the maze by recounting the mythological tale of the warrior Theseus and the strong impression of this myth upon ancient Greeks and Romans.  King Minos, according to the myth, sent Theseus into a unicursal maze leading to a deadly Minotaur at the center.  Much to the King’s disappointment, his daughter helped Theseus escape.  Theseus was hailed as a strong and clever hero and his popularity as warrior also spread the form of the maze.  The maze image appeared on pottery, in jewelry, and as standing structures in ancient Greece and Rome.   The spread of the Roman Empire spread the image of the maze.  However, as the conquering spirit of the warrior faded with the Roman Empire, so did the popularity of the maze.

However, floor mazes survived as one labyrinth structure from the Roman Empire- the oldest of which dates back to the Roman Empire’s official acceptance of the Christian religion.  Christianity was named as the official religion of the Empire in 325, nearly coinciding with the 324 dedication of the church of St. Reparatus in Orleansville/El Asnam, Algeria. This church is the first Christian sanctuary to have a pilgrims’ maze.  It is constructed of black and white tile, leading to a center containing the words “Sancta Eclesia” written in a continual palindrome.  The maze symbolizes the path of the new Christian religion moving toward the comfort of the Holy Mother Church, or “Santa Eclesia” (White, page 18).  This maze, and many similar labyrinths in Christian culture, is wrought with twists, turns, cuts and confusion, and ends in the center of the puzzle. To escape the riddle of the maze, symbolically the labyrinth of earthly life, one must “put on wings of spiritual contemplation and, like a bird, fly toward the mountain of the Lord” (White, page 77).  This flight is reminiscent of Daedelus’s part in the Theseus myth.   After discovering Theseus had escaped, King Minos locked Icarus, his own son, in the maze with its inventor, Daedelus.  Daedelus, in his creativity, constructed wings so that each could fly out from the center of the maze.  Icarus was prideful and flew too high, melting his wings and causing his death.  Daedelus, mindful and cautious, survived.  Likewise, in order to be successful in the maze, Christian pilgrims should humbly accept the wings of their faith.  To get out of the maze, one must transcend it spiritually to walk upon it physically. 

The pilgrims’ labyrinth is a metaphor for the spiritual quest.  What is to be gained by the symbolic trials of this puzzle?  What is the motivation for participating in this maze?  It is an earthly assurance of spiritual plenty.  Walking the maze is representative of suffering life for the opportunity of transcendence.  It is an assurance, a sense of control over staying on the right path.  This view of the labyrinth annihilates the concept of the maze as merely a child’s game. 

However, the maze did acquire a playful purpose as it became popular again during the Renaissance.  A re-born interest in classical forms and literature revived interest in the maze.  But this time, the labyrinth moved outside in the form of a hedge maze.  The frivolity of the outdoors changed the interpretation of the maze and it became a place for games and stolen kisses  (White 216).   The solution game is different from the driven, unicursal approach of Greco-Roman and Christian mazes.  The aspect of path choice as a deviation from the original form intrigued me, and I pursued this topic next.

I happily discovered an e-book by Ian Stewart titled The Magical Maze.  This source is essentially a discussion of mathematic principles, but it is presented as a forking journey through a maze that twists through hedges and a haunted house. I was interested in this treatment because it addresses solution strategy as well as the form. To support this approach, the chapters are named “paths” in the author’s figurative journey toward mathematical knowledge.  Each path begins with an installment of a lengthy riddle that continues as a theme throughout the book.  The solution of each chapter’s portion of the riddle segues to the next chapter’s continuation and specific math topic.  I find the incorporation of the riddle very interesting.  In addition to the inclusion of dramatic language in a math text (which I find very appealing), the author moves the reader methodically along the maze’s overall path.  Stewart’s approach to mastering math principles mirrors the strategy of both solving a maze and living life: one stretch at a time.  Solving one part of the maze allows the reader to successfully move on to the next part. The vivid language of the riddle motivates the reader to continue on the journey.  I see this push as representative of the intrinsic motivation to complete a maze or solve one of life’s problems. 

Though the discussion of mathematic principles does not apply directly to my topic, I found its presentation to be very valuable to my study.  Stewart displays that in solving a maze, one participates in a quest – in this case a quest for knowledge, similar to the pilgrims’ quest for salvation.  Why are we willing to suffer the process?  I believe the answer guides me to answer my initial question of “Why are we willing to confuse (or scare) ourselves for the purpose of solving a problem?”   We seek to assure ourselves.   From the struggle, we learn and hone skills, bettering our abilities to achieve fulfillment.

Stewart capitalizes upon the willingness to be scared through his scenes in the haunted house.  He punctuates the aspect of a “testing ground.”   I found this specific maze situation interesting, so from here, I pursued the idea of the haunted house as a maze. 

I discovered an article by Eric Minton titled “Thrills & Chills (designers of amusement park attractions exploit fear),” which appeared in Psychology Today in May, 1999.  The article describes exactly what the title suggests.  Minton examines the ways amusement park designers use our natural fears to create entertainment.  In addition to describing roller coasters, Minton pays much attention to the thrills of the haunted house.  Minton discusses fear as an entertaining emotion when safety is assumed.  Patrons of amusement parks presume they are safe because they know that safety is a major concern for the parks.   Minton cites Terror on Church Street in Orlando:

“Squirting or dripping warm water on a guest is acceptable, and people bump into hanging corpses in Terror on Church Street's morgue, but actors are uniformly coached that no matter how close they want to get to a customer, they cannot make physical contact. Nor can the fake cleaver or bladeless chainsaw they sometimes wield. You can scare people witless, stress designers, you just can't mess with their safety” (Minton 60).

            Minton continues by discussing the human fear of loss of control as the basis of the haunted house.  However, the fear is tempered by the assurance that the situation is truly safe, allowing it to be entertaining.  Minton highlights the warped mirror as a terrifying, scream inducing gag.  This trick plays upon imagination, surprise, and a loss-of-self amid a confusing situation.  Yet, it is physically non-threatening.  The morphing of the usual reflection is terrifying because not only is the patron in unfamiliar and scary surroundings, he or she cannot see the normal self in the reflection.  It is a snapshot of correspondence: the patron is in the haunted house, and now the haunted house is in the patron.  All apparent control of surroundings and self is lost in this seemingly simple mind trick.  Knowing that no control has truly been lost, the patron enjoys a hearty scream.

 In a haunted house, we willingly experience conditions otherwise encountered in unexpected and threatening situations.  Minton’s article helped me appreciate the dependence upon safety that allows the haunted house to be entertaining.  We test ourselves within a reasonable limit.  This reminded me of Poe’s style and my enjoyment of “The Fall of the House of Usher.”  I would never want to truly face the situations encountered in this tale.  In fact, I wouldn’t dare step into that house.  But from my safe perspective, I was fascinated by the twisted surroundings Poe described.  Like the haunted house at the theme park, Usher’s haunted mansion allows safe imagination in a threatening venue.  Wanting to turn my direction back to Poe, I looked for a source describing Poe’s style and found David Ketterer’s very useful book.

In The Rationale of Deception in Poe, David Ketterer perceives Poe’s style as a manipulation of reality.  Ketterer writes in his preface, “Operating on the belief that in relation to a sensed visionary reality everyday reality constitutes one gross deception.  Poe finds himself in a better position to attack the false reality than to reveal the true.  He hopes to destroy a deceptive reality by means of various technical and thematic deceptions of his own” (Ketterer, xiii).  Poe, in creating his works, seems to enjoy the same emotions we do in reading his works.  In writing, he is attempting to rearrange and test reality; in reading, we are testing ourselves through his rearranged reality.  Confusion and control are core issues in the study of Poe and in the study of mazes.

Ketterer discusses elements of Poe’s writing that can also been seen in the maze image: “Space, time, and self are the three factors, or coordinates, that obstruct and mislead man’s comprehension, consequently leaving him in a state of deception…Poe is concerned particularly with these three coordinates” (Ketterer 1).   Space, time, and self are also three factors important to participation in a maze.  The spatial confinement, urgency of solution, and containment of one’s self within the maze are in direct relation to Poe’s coordinates.

The Rationale of Deception in Poe contains a detailed evaluation of Poe’s writing as a continuum of work in the manipulation of reality.  Poe’s numerous creative pieces are discussed throughout the body of this text as Ketterer relates each to Poe’s attack on a false reality.  The study of individual stories from this perspective could have easily led me off my topic.  However, contemplating Poe’s coordinates of space, time, and self, I was reminded of my earlier findings about confusion and control.  Confusion of space and time prompts the self to seek control in a contrived manipulation of reality.  Poe’s thoughts, style, and content mimic a maze. 

Jorge Luis Borges continues the metaphor of writing as a maze in “The Garden of Forking Paths.”  This short story contains the statement of Dr. Yu Tsun as dictated during World War I.  In the statement, Dr. Tsun seeks his ancestor’s original manuscript at Dr. Stephen Albert’s home after confusing contradictory drafts have been published.  Dr. Albert winds Dr. Tsun through the house to the library, stating, “ ‘Here is Ts’ui Pen’s labyrinth’… indicating a tall lacquered desk. A labyrinth of symbols, an invisible labyrinth of time… Ts’ui Pen must have said once: I am withdrawing to write a book.  And another time: I am withdrawing to construct a labyrinth.  Everyone imagined two works; to no one did it occur that the book and the maze were one and the same thing”  (Borges 25).  In Ts’ui Pen’s work, life is the actual maze with different paths and endings diverging from one set of circumstances.  Is that not like our lives?  Don’t we imagine different endings for ourselves based on our choices?  Again, control is at the heart of the maze, for the writer and the reader.  The spiritualist, the child, and the daredevil in each of us seek assurances that we can control our fate, either by well-made choices or persistent strength.

Through this study, I have learned how a form of play is really a psychological exercise.  We are willing to be confused or scared so we can test ourselves in mazes, knowing that we are ultimately safe.  We can gauge our development physically, mentally, and spiritually, based on our reactions to these tests.  We seek to control that which we feel is uncontrollable: the afterlife in the pilgrim’s maze, death in Poe’s stories and in haunted houses, and chance in Borges’s labyrinth.  With the option of choice comes the possibility of choosing poorly.  We seem to think that making a game out of reality will make it easier to handle.  We reduce our fears to a safe and seemingly simple game, and the practice prepares us for true challenges.   Childhood, and childlike, practice allows us to form thought patterns useful in problem solving.

My research has led me to see that the magic of the modern maze lies in the lack of consequence for mistakes, allowing it to be entertaining.  The labyrinth provides rewards for correct choices, and minimal setbacks for poor choices.  It is a safe forum for mistakes and learning.  Continuing the maze as a metaphor for life, the maze affords the opportunity for safe errors – a situation useful in developing control over the “fight or flight” aspect of human reflex.   The fight or flight reaction is an involuntary response to threat that prepares the body for confrontation.  If reactions are contrived and practiced in truly safe situations, people can be sensitized and become less reactive (Gimeno).  This control becomes source of confidence.  We prove to ourselves that we can indeed handle ourselves in the face of threat- that we are competent to decide correctly, defend ourselves, and get away safely.  The maze builds confidence, and we as humans enjoy this affirmation.

*   *   *

I intend to incorporate both my research process and content in my career as an English teacher.  I have always tried to encourage students to appreciate literature for more than the entertainment value of the piece, and I now have a personal example to reference.  This study took me into the literature, pushing me past simply enjoying “The Fall of the House of Usher.”  I tracked Poe’s artistry of tension from his creepy mansion, to the Minotaur’s labyrinth, onward to an Algerian cathedral, to the Garden of Forking Paths – and I found out why I liked it.  This project format is one that I can surely adapt for my grade level as a research opportunity. 

My teaching of Poe will also improve, as I’ll be able to better discuss suspense and control as elements of Poe’s style.  Poe’s creation of suspense is a trait students pick up quickly. I now feel prepared to guide them more toward the motivation of Poe’s style and his manipulation of reality.  I look forward to discussions about the reasons students enjoy Poe, pushing them to see the need they are fulfilling in themselves by enjoying suspenseful pieces.

I also have a few topics I could pursue further.  I mentioned palindrome as part of the pilgrim’s maze.  Word play and cryptography would be a very interesting branch to take.  I found a website on cryptography that included an encrypted message supposedly written by Poe.  A contest was held to see if someone could find a solution, and it took over two years to solve, with a monetary prize going to the winner.  Cryptography has become an important issue as computer encryption has become a lucrative endeavor.  It would be interesting to find out how Poe’s hobby has become a multi-billion dollar industry.

Another topic that has changed with the times is our comfortable fear level.  As I was researching the psychology of fear, I found many articles related to last year’s terrorist attacks.  Most of the articles gave assurances of reasons to feel safe and ways to prevent fear in children.  I wonder how the entertainment industry has been impacted by these events.  Do we still want to go to horror films?  Do we still spend millions of dollars at theme parks?  Would we rather be scared in a safe environment than in reality? Or would we prefer not to be startled at all?  What is our tolerance level? 

Finally, I would like to find out more about mysteries, as I also encountered this topic in researching Poe.  I’d like to look at the history of the genre and at its growth in popularity.  I’m also curious about the vengeance aspect of “getting the bad guy.”  How are audiences swayed to cheer for the detective or, at times, pull for the criminal?  How does the author tamper with the ideas of right and wrong?

Though I feel like I’ve solved one part of this puzzle, there are many more questions to investigate.  

Works Cited

Borges, Jorge Luis.  “The Garden of Forking Paths.”  Labyrinths: Selected Stories & Other Writings.  Ed. Donald A. Yates and James E. Irby.  New York: New Directions Publishing, 1964.

Gimeno, Dr. M. J.  “The Stress and Phobia Center”  June 30, 2002

<http://www.panicattack.net/description2.htm>.

Ketterer, David.  The Rationale of Deception in Poe. Baton Rouge:  Louisiana State University Press: 1979.

Minton, Eric.  “Thrills & Chills (designers of amusement park attractions exploit fear).”  Psychology Today May 1999: 60.

Stewart, Ian.  The Magical Maze.  New York : John Wiley & Sons, Inc. (US), 1997

<http://emedia.netlibrary.com/reader/reader.asp?product_id=26369>.

Wright, Craig.  The Maze and The Warrior.  Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2001.