INVISIBILITY 17
INVISIBILITY THROUGHOUT
HISTORY
Invisibility is perhaps one of the oldest concepts in ancient mythology.
Since the advent of recorded history, people who have been alone on a
creepy night have been frightened by the invisible spirits of the dead,
the souls of the long-departed lurking in the dark. The Greek hero
Perseus was able to slay the evil Medusa armed with the helmet of invisibility. Military generals have dreamed of an invisibility cloaking
device. Being invisible, one could easily penetrate enemy lines and
capture the enemy by surprise. Criminals could use invisibility to pull
off spectacular robberies.
Invisibility played a central part in Plato's theory of ethics and
morality. In his philosophical masterpiece, The Republic, Plato recounts
the myth of the ring of Gyges. The poor but honest shepherd Gyges of
Lydia enters a hidden cave and finds a tomb containing a corpse wearing a golden ring. Gyges discovers that this golden ring has the magical
power to make him invisible. Soon this poor shepherd is intoxicated
with the power this ring gives him. After sneaking into the king's
palace, Gyges uses his power to seduce the queen and, with her help,
murder the king and become the next Ring of Lydia.
The moral that Plato wished to draw out is that no man can resist
the temptation of being able to steal and kill at will. All men are corruptible. Morality is a social construct imposed from the outside. A
man may appear to be moral in public to maintain his reputation for
integrity and honesty, but once he possesses the power of invisibility,
the use of such power would be irresistible. (Some believe that this
morality tale was the inspiration for J. R. R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings
trilogy, in which a ring that grants the wearer invisibility is also a
source of evil.)
Invisibility is also a common plot device in science fiction. In the
Flash Gordon series of the 1930s, Flash becomes invisible in order to
escape the firing squad of Ming the Merciless. In the Harry Potter novels and movies, Harry dons a special cloak that allows him to roam
Hogwarts Castle undetected.
H. G. Wells put much of this mythology into concrete form with his
INVISIBILITY THROUGHOUT
HISTORY
Invisibility is perhaps one of the oldest concepts in ancient mythology.
Since the advent of recorded history, people who have been alone on a
creepy night have been frightened by the invisible spirits of the dead,
the souls of the long-departed lurking in the dark. The Greek hero
Perseus was able to slay the evil Medusa armed with the helmet of invisibility. Military generals have dreamed of an invisibility cloaking
device. Being invisible, one could easily penetrate enemy lines and
capture the enemy by surprise. Criminals could use invisibility to pull
off spectacular robberies.
Invisibility played a central part in Plato's theory of ethics and
morality. In his philosophical masterpiece, The Republic, Plato recounts
the myth of the ring of Gyges. The poor but honest shepherd Gyges of
Lydia enters a hidden cave and finds a tomb containing a corpse wearing a golden ring. Gyges discovers that this golden ring has the magical
power to make him invisible. Soon this poor shepherd is intoxicated
with the power this ring gives him. After sneaking into the king's
palace, Gyges uses his power to seduce the queen and, with her help,
murder the king and become the next Ring of Lydia.
The moral that Plato wished to draw out is that no man can resist
the temptation of being able to steal and kill at will. All men are corruptible. Morality is a social construct imposed from the outside. A
man may appear to be moral in public to maintain his reputation for
integrity and honesty, but once he possesses the power of invisibility,
the use of such power would be irresistible. (Some believe that this
morality tale was the inspiration for J. R. R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings
trilogy, in which a ring that grants the wearer invisibility is also a
source of evil.)
Invisibility is also a common plot device in science fiction. In the
Flash Gordon series of the 1930s, Flash becomes invisible in order to
escape the firing squad of Ming the Merciless. In the Harry Potter novels and movies, Harry dons a special cloak that allows him to roam
Hogwarts Castle undetected.
H. G. Wells put much of this mythology into concrete form with his