Tiresias and the keys

Last class we talked about the prophet Tiresias, and how Hera cursed him with blindness after he revealed to Zeus that women enjoy sex 9 times more than men. Although the myth doesn’t explain why Hera was so angry, I have a theory based on “Why Women Always Take Advantage of Men,” a folktale retelling of Genesis in Mules and Men by Zora Neale Hurston. (Professor Quinby discusses the story in her book Anti-Apocalypse – you can read the original here: http://xroads.virginia.edu/~ma01/grand-jean/hurston/chapters/Chapter2.html#women)

Basically, the story says that man and woman were originally created equal, but the man went to God to ask for greater strength so “Ah kin whip dis ‘oman and make her mind.” God granted his request, and he went home and beat the woman. The woman goes to God, who tells her that there’s nothing he can do for her now- no matter how much strength he gives her, the man will always have more. The women then goes to the Devil with her problem, and he tells her to go back to God and get the three keys hanging by the mantelpiece.

According to the Devil, “See dese three keys? They got mo’ power in ’em than all de strength de man kin ever git if you handle ’em right. Now dis first big key is to de do’ of de kitchen, and you know a man always favors his stomach. Dis second one is de key to de bedroom and he don’t like to be shut out from dat neither and dis last key is de key to de cradle and he don’t want to be cut off from his generations at all. So now you take dese keys and go lock up everything and wait till he come to you. Then don’t you unlock nothin’ until he use his strength for yo’ benefit and yo’ desires.”

But, the power of the keys comes with a caveat: “Jus’ one mo’ thing: don’t go home braggin’ ’bout yo’ keys. jus’ lock up everything and say nothin’ until you git asked. And then don’t talk too much.”

The man tries to use his strength to break through the doors, fails, and then tries to bargain with the woman for the keys. The Devil tells her not to share: “So de woman wouldn’t trade wid ‘im and de man had to mortgage his strength to her to live. And dat’s why de man makes and de woman takes. You men is still braggin’ ’bout yo’ strength and de women is sittin’ on de keys and lettin’ you blow off till she git ready to put de bridle on you”

I think Tiresias telling Zeus how much women enjoy sex is equivalent to bragging about the keys. If men remain ignorant of women’s greater sexual pleasure, then they have no reason to think that women won’t follow the Devil’s advice not to “unlock nothin’ until he use his strength for yo’ benefit and yo’ desires.” Obviously that works to women’s advantage. If women are supposed to be able to “put de bridle” on men by controlling their access to sexual pleasure, a man who knows that women enjoy sex more can use that knowledge (to continue the key metaphor) to pick the lock on the bedroom door.

Or, as myth scholar Joseph Campbell writes, “I remember talking about this in a seminar one time, and in the interval between sessions, a woman came up to me and said, “I can tell you why Hera got angry…Because from now on she cannot say to Zeus, ‘I’m doing this for you, darling'” (Mythic Worlds, Modern Words 55).

This entry was posted on Friday, May 6th, 2011 at 8:04 pm and is filed under Ariana. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.