It’s all Greek to Me

Meta
Title:	It’s all Greek to Me
Creator:	0hcicero
Date(s):	Feburary 26, 2017
Medium:	online
Fandom:	Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
Topic:	Greek mythology
External Links:	Meta, Archived version
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It’s all Greek to Me is an Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. meta and speculation post written by 0hcicero. The essay compares Greek mythology to the show's storyline and characters. It was written prior to the first episode of the Framework arc, and therefore includes speculation on what might occur.

Excerpts

AIDA is our ‘Creator’, here - our flawed architect, who, very much like the Ouroboros’ creator in Greek myth, considers the creation of a self-sustaining existence, with nothing lacking, no need for reliance on anyone or anything, no movement, simply a stasis, to be the ideal existence. To a robot who can feel no pain, nor no emotion, to whom sustainability of the self is the only goal, this is perfection, achieved.

Make no mistake, in symbolic terms, the framing of this episode shows Jemma (specifically) entering into the underworld to retrieve her trapped lover. By connecting Jemma’s entry into the Framework with her grave, she is metaphorically entering Hades’ Realm, becoming the gender-bent Orpheus to Fitz’s Eurydice.

This isn’t a new trope in fiction. It’s one of the oldest, and part of what’s known as the Hero’s Journey, or the Monomyth - which is basically perceived to be the original or essential hero-tale structure. Interestingly enough, we witnessed it last season as well, but with Fitz playing the role of the hero, journeying into the realm of death (the planet Maveth), to rescue Jemma.

We already have a Hades and Persephone - Radcliffe and Agnes

Both Radcliffe and Agnes now exist solely (well, sort-of, for Agnes/AIDA) in the Framework, the underworld. Radcliffe is it’s ultimate progenitor, and because of that, I assume AIDA would give him a certain amount of power and control over his narrative within the Framework, making him like a God within the world.

Agnes, like Persephone, her mythological counterpart, exists half in the Framework, and half outside of it, in the real world. Her physical embodiment, AIDA, is outside. Agnes’ other half, her mental self, exists wholly in the Framework.

Jemma’s characterization, throughout the entire run of the show, is Atheistic. She believes in the laws of thermodynamics, not in an afterlife, but in a very scientific version of reincarnation. She doesn’t believe the universe ‘wants’ anything. And now, Jemma, our Atheist, must trust in something entirely outside her comfort-zone. she must trust in her Faith. her faith in Fitz, in their love, in the unbreakable, inalienable nature that binds them, that has tangled their souls up.

Responses

I LOVE GREEK MYTHOLOGY AND THIS WAS SO COOL TO READ THANK YOU!!