SE - On Arachne
I started thinking about Arachne, and had to get this off my chest, or I wouldn’t be able to concentrate on anything.
CHAPTER 60 SPOILERS like whoa.
After having some time to digest the events of chapter 60 and stop squealing about how awesome Medusa is, I realized that, intentional or not, the downfall of Arachne was brought about in Soul Eater in the same fashion as in classical mythology. Okay, no, the ancient Greeks did not have the benefit of an ass-kicking Maka, but you’ll see what I mean.
First, a brief recap of the original story: Arachne was a lovely young woman who was very skilled at weaving, and had been given her skill by Athena herself. However, the fame had made the girl proud; she denied her teacher, and boasted that she could best even the goddess a contest of weaving skill.
When Athena approached her and took up the challenge, Arachne shamelessly wove various scandals of the gods into her tapestry: many women seduced by Zeus, Neptune, Apollo, Dionysus, and Cronus. The subject matter scandalized Athena, the virgin goddess, and the flawless weaving enraged her. She destroyed the tapestry, and struck Arachne with the shuttle of her loom. The girl could not bear the rage of the goddess, and attempted to hang herself. At the last minute, Athena pitied her-somewhat. She forced Arachne to continue to hang as a penalty, but also allowed her to continue her craft by changing her into a spider.
(Told by Ovid in his Metamorphoses, book 6, lines 1-145)
And Soul Eater’s Arachne? Well, obviously, there’s the spider connection. But the parallel is certainly deeper than that: Arachne’s greatest flaw was clearly her excessive pride. In the myth, she dared to challenge a goddess. Though she rivaled the goddess in skill, she was not her match in power. The Arachne of myth was bold, both for challenging Athena, but also for the stories which she chose to portray. Ohkubo’s Arachne had been challenging a god for at least 800 years. She had taken the knowledge in the Book of Eibon and used it to create the demon weapons. And most recently, she desired to merge with and absorb the Kishin to control, and be mother to everything through insanity. Both Arachnes deny the help which they have received, from Athena and from Eibon’s Book, and both reach beyond their means to receive the recognition they feel is their due.
Their downfall is brought about in the same way, literally: by pride and weaving. Just as Athena’s opponent drew the wrath of a goddess because of her audacity and too-perfect skill, and was thereby destroyed, the witch Arachne had her web subverted by Maka and Soul. She too placed everything into her weaving, and was destroyed because of it.
Pride and weaving, people. Watch out for them both.