In Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Harry Potter and Cedric enter the final stage of the Triwizard Tournament, where a vast labyrinth awaits them. Tall, manicured hedges combine into complex geometric lines, and winding paths lead to forks in the road. The cheers and cheers of the spectators in the stands were obscured, and a dangerous atmosphere was faintly emitted in the silence.
Harry Potter was holding a wand, dealing with dementor illusions that appeared in his head, and on the other hand, he had to be wary of giant spiders, tail snails, Sphinx and other monsters that pounced at any time. His goal is to find the exit of the maze and get that seductive "top three cup."
The labyrinth in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
The labyrinth in Harry Potter is a territory full of thrills and excitement, and J.K. Rowling has more or less borrowed myths and legends, British plant labyrinths and other materials in the creative process, making the ancient theme of "labyrinth" glow with new vitality and vitality. The love of the "labyrinth" is not limited to Rowling, and there are also many images about the "labyrinth" in the works of the Argentine writer Borges.
Spanish philosopher, poet and anthropologist Santiago Berouet, a veteran "labyrinth enthusiast", in the latest book "Philosophy in the Garden", he has made in-depth interpretation and analysis of the "labyrinth" from multiple dimensions such as history, philosophy and culture.
The book cover of Philosophy in the Garden
How did the maze come about? How many major stages of development have you been through? What is its philosophical implication? What far-reaching influences have it had on art, literature, etc.? With these questions in mind, Beluet will lead us into a world that belongs to the "labyrinth".
Tracing back to its roots, the earliest labyrinth appeared in ancient Greek mythology, and its builder was an Erech from Athens: Daedalus.
It is said that Daedalus, a fine architect and artist, was jealous of his nephew's (and apprentice's) talents, killed him and fled Athens, all the way to Crete.
The king of Crete, seeing that Daedalus was of great talent, asked him to help build a special building in order to imprison minotaur, the minotaur monster. So Daedalus carefully designed a labyrinth: countless forks comparable to the chaotic direction of the River of Fliamiande, constantly confusing people's eyes, and it was almost impossible to escape. It is said that once, Daedalus himself walked in, and he almost couldn't find the exit.
The labyrinth of Theseus and Minotaurs
The "Labyrinth of Minotaurs" contains a terrifying monster, and the labyrinth becomes a "prison", a place of terror, a compromise measure taken when people are unable to completely conquer the forces of evil.
Because even though Minotaurs was already trapped in a labyrinth, the Greeks regularly offered it to young men and women every year. It wasn't until the arrival of the hero Theseus that this changed.
Theseus was originally meant to be sacrificed to the monster, but he received two gifts from the Cretan princess Ariadne: a thread and a sword. He entered the labyrinth with a group of threads, marked the route along the road, and after killing Minotaurus with his sword, smoothly returned to the palace along the same road.
Although the labyrinth is "lost", it is not without a way to crack it. In the story of Theseus' victory over the monster, love, courage and wisdom are important factors that help him out of the labyrinth.
The "labyrinth" that came from mythology was once a reality in ancient Rome.
According to the accounts of Pliny the Elder, Herodotus and other scholars, around the 1st century BC, the Fayoum labyrinth was known for its grand scale and complex structure, and it is recorded that there were "12 palaces in the labyrinth, 1500 rooms outside and 1500 rooms underground".
By the middle ages, labyrinths began to be cloaked in "mysticism" as a means of propagating Christian doctrine. The "labyrinth" of this period is very different from the labyrinth in our traditional concept, and this difference is mainly reflected in two aspects:
On the one hand, in form, the medieval labyrinth is "two-dimensional", mostly in the form of mosaic collages and other forms on the floor of churches.
On the other hand, in terms of meaning, entering the "labyrinth" means facing one's own inner dangers, and the ultimate center or exit represents God's redemption.
By the time of the Crusades, due to the frequent wars and political turmoil, it became very difficult for ordinary believers to go on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, so the spiritual "pilgrimage" through the "labyrinth" of the church became an effective alternative.
A labyrinth painted on the floor of a church in France
The practice of "Christianizing the labyrinth" continued until the end of the Middle Ages, after which the labyrinth gradually left the church and became more "secular" and "three-dimensional", becoming a fun part of the royal and aristocratic gardens.
In Florence, the birthplace of the Renaissance, some aristocrats liked to build a "garden within a garden" in the villa garden of their home, usually a small area and a quiet environment, and enter it through special stairs or passages, which have some of the characteristics of a labyrinth.
In the middle of the 16th century, the real labyrinth began to become popular, and the more famous ones were the villa maze of Cardinal Esther II and the "miniature labyrinth" in the villa of the Medici. Horticulturists arranged shrubs and flowers according to geometric principles, and concentric circles, squares, rectangles and other shapes were common structures.
Labyrinth as part of the garden, its peak period was in 17th-century France. In the Palace of Versailles, which cost 70 million livres to renovate, there is a special "labyrinth". The paths in the park are crisscrossed with Eros, the goddess of love, and many animal statues from Aesop's fables, representing "temptation" and "reason" respectively, with rich and far-reaching meanings. Unfortunately, in 1775, this ingeniously designed labyrinth garden was destroyed and replaced by a "Queen's Grove Garden".
Aerial view of the Palace of Versailles
In the 18th and 19th centuries, the labyrinth was once neglected. But in the second half of the 20th century, people regained their enthusiasm for labyrinths and established numerous plant mazes in Spain, Argentina and other places.
From Greek mythology to church floors to becoming part of the garden, the development of the labyrinth has gone through three main stages: "mythologization", "religiousization" and "secularization".
They have a heritage with each other, and they can also see the help of scientific and civilizational progress: the emphasis on "geometric order" and the clever use of mathematical knowledge are reflected in the neat layout of the labyrinth in different periods; the setting of the minotaurs statues and caves in the labyrinth can glimpse the subtle influence of Greek mythology.
But if we think about it deeply, we find that the reason why humans love labyrinths is actually deeper psychological and philosophical motivation.
First, the labyrinth uses plants to create an "enclosed" space that triggers two conflicting emotions: calm and fear, finite and infinite.
The labyrinth is isolated from the hustle and bustle of the outside world, and the green plants have a soothing effect, which is the "calm" side of the maze. But as we walk through the labyrinth, walking to the same fork in the road again and again, fear and anxiety begin to occupy our minds again, and the small space seems to have an malleability, becoming incomparably complex and confusing, and the impact of this anxiety is quite strong.
A labyrinth of plants in a European garden
The "Renaissance wizard" leonardo da Vinci once painted a labyrinth-like pattern similar to a "plant prison" in the halls of the Sforza Palace. In the view of the French writer Edit de la Eronière, it presents the "primitive suffering" of human beings.
Second, the labyrinth can be seen as a metaphor for life.
The Italian poet Paulo Alcanliger once said:
In different historical epochs, the labyrinth has clearly shown the way in which human beings present their destiny before them, but there has always been an important guiding concept: the belief that we can always achieve the liberation of the soul, whether through faith, or through knowledge, or through our perseverance to fight against fate. However, the road must be long.
The essence of the "labyrinth experience" is a journey of self-exploration, on the way will encounter many unpredictable difficulties and obstacles, will deviate from the direction or turn around countless times, but when we get out of the maze and see the light of day, our understanding of our true self will also increase by a few points.
In Greek mythology, Theseus walked out of the labyrinth with wisdom and courage, becoming an opportunity to change the fate of the "sacrifice". The medieval church "labyrinth" embodies religious beliefs into intricate patterns, teaching people to achieve the ultimate salvation through inner exploration. In today's people's lives, "being in a labyrinth" is also one of the feelings that often pop out of the mind.
Furthermore, the labyrinth is an "outlier" in the garden: it is part of the garden, but it is self-contained. Berouet argues that such design concepts suggest that "labyrinths bear the burden of symbolism and metaphysics, which in turn gives them new revelatory meanings of their own"
Gardens and labyrinths, as products of human reshaping of nature, represent charming and interesting, order and chaos respectively, which may be the outward manifestation of human beings' long-standing inner conflicts.
The labyrinth not only exists in distant myths and legends and exotic gardens, but it has also gained a group of fans in the literary world. From the poet Homer to J.K. Rowling, from Foucault to Borges, the "labyrinth" occupies a place in their work.
Rowling, which we mentioned at the beginning, uses the labyrinth as part of the protagonist's adventures, in line with the labyrinth of Minotauros, which is full of monsters and dangers in Homer's Epic. In his novel The Garden where the Path Forks, Borges adopts a unique approach to the "labyrinth narrative", which is given a multi-layered meaning and a long aftertaste.
Borges, The Garden where the Trail Forks
In Borges's pen, the "labyrinth" is where the protagonist Yu Zhun imagines, saying: "I ponder the lost labyrinth under the trees of England: I imagine it untouched on a secret mountain... Not just some octagonal pavilions and pathways, but also rivers, provinces and kingdoms. The location, scope, and layout of this labyrinth were all within his thoughts.
The labyrinth of "paths" and "gardens" has another meaning: it represents the vagaries of time and space, encompassing the past and the future, and on an unknown bifurcation path, you may face life-or-death choices.
Borges's way of telling is also "labyrinthy", the fates of Yu Zhun, Albert, and Madden are intertwined, and a large number of "blanks" in the story also reflect the countless possibilities in the labyrinth.
The labyrinth with its mythological aura, which seems to be a symbol of cross-culture, is the original image that the human collective portrayed in the unconscious state, and the image that has recurred in the imagination of all ages.
For thousands of years, the charm of the labyrinth has never really dissipated. In the fantasy world that belongs to the "labyrinth", myth and reality truly merge.
Religion, garden, art, philosophy, literature, you can see the figure of the labyrinth, people are intoxicated by the emotional impact of the "labyrinth", but also in the process of walking in the "labyrinth", to find a new way to dialogue with themselves.
Resources:
1. Gustav Schwab, Classical Greek Mythology
2. Philosophy in the Garden, Santiago Berruet
3. Guo Liang, "Externalization to Nature: Western Garden Art and Its Design Rheology"
4. J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
5. Borges, "The Garden where the Trail Forks"