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It is told that the great Zeus was, once upon a time, caught in a cavern.
It appears that he had a true obsession with perfection, however, since it cannot be found very easily - — not even in the world of the Greek gods — he attempted to take from the goddesses he married, and he married several times, the virtues that he lacked.
I cannot say how he got into that situation, but the fact is that the ones caring that he stayed there were little hybrid dragons whose lower part had the shape of a serpent and whose trunk was that of a woman: these were the delphines.
Let us examine this monster:
The upper part is that of a woman, which saves us the trouble of determining its gender, physically speaking. However, it is important to observe that the "moral and intellectual faculties", which inhabit the parts of the body that lie above the waste-line, are supposed to be asexual.
We are talking about feelings and ideas.
However, if we do not admit sexual equality within this turf, then we could come to the conclusion that half the monstrosity of the delphines is owed to the fact that they are moved by the heart and thoughts of women.
What occupied the thoughts and feelings of the delphines, while they were keeping Zeus from taking over the virtues of others, we will never know, however we are conscious of the fact that it was something more than ideas that this god did not have and that was rightfully of the women.
Could it be this, which women and delphines had in common and for what they fought in unison?
What could Zeus get from both?
Let us think a bit.
If Zeus conquered perfection — and he was close to doing so — then he would never wish for anything more again. In this case, the goddesses — and, who knows, maybe the delphines, in their imperfections — would maintain, for all eternity, the privilege of desire.
If we were in a Christian universe, the bottom half of the monster being like a serpent would be a confirmation in itself of its feminine sexuality, for the latter degraded the whole of humanity, particularly the daughters of Eve, because of their desire. However, since delphines are Greek myths that were rarely seen in action, they cannot be judged so easily.
In another legend they were in the island of Delphos keeping the god Apollo hostage. Apollo — the son of Zeus and Leetonia — keeps, to this day, his temple on that island. The name delphines could come from there, for — as had done his father before — Apollo also defeated the little monsters and all of those who believed that, with this, they had been quieted forever.
Apollo is the god of the Oracles, Medicine, Poetry and the Arts, absolute master of all knowledge that, up to the end of the Nineteenth Century, belonged exclusively to the male universe
Once again women and delphines shared the feelings of exclusion, frustration, defeat and the silence that results from them.
It is true that Nineteenth Century women writers dangerously defended delphina's dreams, exhibited with wisdom and shaped by their dreams. Nonetheless, I ask myself:
What kind of power do the gods manipulate in order to maintain the collective unconsciousness of these powerful smaller myths and therefore deny the Nineteenth Century women writers a happier life even in modern times?
The philosopher Umberto Eco, addressing the students of Harvard University in 1993, touching the dialectic relationship between the author and the reader, said: -We have to follow the precept of the Delphos oracle: "Know yourself". And, as Heráclito reminds us, "the lord whose oracle is in Delphos does not speak, nor hide, but shows through signals", that the knowledge that we seek is limited because it takes the shape of a continuous interrogation. And a few lines afterwards the author reveals:... every secret message can be unveiled, as long as we know that it is a message.
What secret messages did Nineteenth Century women writers leave us through their writings?
Translated by Manuela Pini Fonseca
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