To Everything, Turn Turn Turn

千葉真一   仲代達矢

Sonny Chiba    Tatsuya Nakadai

Title: Phaethon in the Chariot of the Sun God Artist: Godfried Maes (Flemish, 1649-1700) Date: undated; presumably 2nd half of 17th century Genre: mythological art Movement: Baroque Medium: pen and brown ink and brown and gray wash, with framing lines in brown ink Dimensions: 17.7 cm (7 in) high x 23.2 cm (9.1 in) wide Location: private collection

As recounted most famously in Ovid's Metamorphoses, Phaethon, the illegitimate son of the sun god Helios and the Oceanid Clymene, demanded that his father grant him a wish to prove that Phaethon was really his son. Helios agreed, whereupon Phaethon unwisely asked to drive his father's sun chariot for a day. The horses of the sun proved to be too much for him, and he lost control, veering near the Earth and creating the Libyan desert. Ultimately, Zeus/Jupiter intervened and struck Phaethon with a thunderbolt to prevent Earth's complete destruction.

This chapter has a lot of influence from Greco-Roman mythology and other stuff as well. In this part, Angelica, Arthur's former mistress, feels depressed and humiliated over the events that have occurred recently. Whilst she's in her monastery, a messenger from the queen (Arthur's widow) comes to her, announcing that she has been condemned to death.

Angelica is taken to a Round Table (maybe The Round Table TM?), where she's told to choose the manner in which she will die. She chooses the seventh option where she will put on a garment that will barbecue her (which sounds very familiar because Morgan sends a similar garment to her brother Arthur in another Arthurian text). Then, Angelica dies in the manner she chose, her last words being of forgiveness towards her queen.

Arthur's widow, who receives the news that Angelica's sentence has been carried out, feels baffled over the other woman's last words (and feels regret). Some time later, the queen starts being haunted by what seems to be the Furies, Angelica's ghost and many other things. Ultimately, the queen ends up taking her life because she can't take it anymore.

References

Embroidered Linen "Merveilleuse" Gown, French, 1796-1800