The Versions of Opposite Mythologems

Özet

Mythological thinking does not have any ethnic and religious frames; it encompasses
the whole universe (to the scale that every specific society with mythos thinking has)
and by its logic attempts to explain the consequences of reasons in it. That’s why despite
diversity of mythology, we often encounter universals there generated from homogenous
perceptions, more specifically, they represent more or less different versions
of development of one mythologem.
One of such images is an enchained character who has a rather long mythological biography
full of metamorphoses. It was formed from the most dramatic story of mythology
of old peoples. This is a myth related to cosmogony process about struggle of opposite
forces where two origins fight each other. Punishment for the defeated character is homogenous:
he is located in confined space and thus his destructive force is suppressed
in order to save the world from destruction. All forms of punishment are meant for isolation
of the negative character. These perceptions may have generated the means of
punishment of criminals in real life (confinement, keeping in jail…).
The myth of struggle of the opposites gave rise to the folkloric motive of Struggling with
God. It was widely spread in folklore of peoples of the world and created a gallery of
punished-chained heroes. These are gods, zoomorphic or monstrous creatures, goliaths,
heroes, even people. This kind of realization underwent multiple transformation in
various epochs, various cultural traditions. Its biography starts with the character of god
of the old generation being in confrontation with the new generation which later transformed
into an evil spirit or a monster. The life of this character has become so diverse
in folklore that it became an unfairly punished kind of a hero whose release was related
to protection of people’s wellbeing and national dignity.