Meaning of Horses as Symbols - Essay Example

The Meaning of Horses Symbolism is used for a wide variety of reasons in various plays and creative works. In "The New York Idea" by Landgon Mitchell, and the play "Mazeppa" by Henry M. Milner, both authors use the symbol of horses to reflect on their own concepts about people and individuals in general. The horses serve as a type of mask to allow the authors to express their own feelings about different personalities. Horses can come to mean a variety of things, however, in both of these stories, and as such, will be discussed and interpreted according to the various standards of what horses generally mean as symbols, both in Freudian (psychological) and mythical terms. In order to understand why horses are used in both stories, we must take a closer look at the general perception of what horses stand for. According to Psychics and Mediums Network, a fantastic website dedicated to the interpretation of dreams and symbols, horses in a dream mean the following: Wild forces that have been tamed are symbolized by the horse. Horses are also a symbol of sexuality and were considered by Freud to represent the terrifying aspect of the father. To dream of ridding an out-of-control horse, may indicate that you are being ‘carried away’ by your passions, whereas a tightly tethered horse may show that you inhibit these natural feelings. Therefore, horses reflect on the feelings of individuals—where they are going and what they are doing. This concept is certainly used in both Mitchell and Milner’s works. As noted above, horses are used to judge different individual actions. In the introduction of “The New York Idea,” Mitchell states, interestingly enough: “The temperament of the race-horse has to be considered—much more, that of the 'star'.” (2). This is an important concept in relation to what we have already been discussing. The author is basically admitting the purpose of the horses in the play itself—to reflect on the actions and emotions of individuals. In Mazeppa, we see a similar stance. The bulk of the narrative focuses on a romantic journey on a horse, the horse serving as sort of escape from reality, or one’s emotions and personal responsibilities. This is especially accurate if we compare this with the Freudian interpretation of horses above. Horses can represent one being carried away by one’s passions, and this seems to be in line with what is going on in Mazeppa. Therefore, the general interpretation of what horses can mean symbolically certainly ties back to what Mazeppa is trying to reveal a horse can mean. Another concept present in Psychics and Mediums network is the reflection of what horses generally mean in mythological terms, and again, this concept can be used to better understand the symbols present in both stories that we are discussing. According to Psychics and Mediums Network, horses can myth logically mean the following: In some myths and fairytales horses speak. In dreams, this represents the voice of your unconscious- a message from your innermost self. In Greek myth, horses were associated with Hades, the underworld and death. However, dream prophecy says that to dream of horses indicates that you will receive news from a distance. And it is extremely lucky to dream of a horse being shod. So, the journey of the horse in “Mazeppa” can be related to the ultimate end of all human journeys—that of death. Basically, there is the sense that no matter what we do with our lives, all of us will eventually face this end of the journey, or the ultimate end, of relinquishing our souls. This concept is not as present in The New York Idea, but if we think of the races present in the story as a type of journey for the horses, then we see a similar concept present; that of the journey and the finish, and whether ones wins or loses it does not really seem to matter when one reaches the final end of all things. The other interesting point to note about this interpretation of horses is the concept of receiving news from a distance. The journey of the horses in both stories can be seen as a kind of interpretation of news, or the way concepts and ideas travel throughout life. Therefore, in both stories, Mazeppa and The New York Idea, we see that horses symbolically represent the basic understandings of what is commonly assumed about horses. Both stories use horses to reflect on the Freudian, or psychological, and mythical definition of horses. This is important because the horses help us to understand the broader goals in the stories, as well as the feelings of emotions in the characters. For instance, the journeys of the horses represent the journey of human emotions or passions, and how they can travel to the ultimate end—death. One’s feelings or emotions can be carried by the horse, as they are in both stories. By doing this, the writers are able to somewhat mask their own feelings and judgments about human emotions, using the horses as a sort of screen. For instance, we can probably assume that both of these writers, believing that horses represent the journey of emotions, feel that no matter what we do, we cannot escape death, or the ultimate end. The horses in both stories seem to constantly bring us back to that point. While this is an assumption, we can certainly see how the writers are masking their own feelings through the use of the horses in the stories. Therefore, when taking a close look at what horses tend to mean in stories at large, we can understand what horses symbolize in both Mazeppa and the New York Idea. In both stories, horses tend to represent the common interpretation of what they generally mean in dreams and myth; that is, the idea of an emotional journey, and the concept of death. Both of these concepts are present in generally in several other literary works, and so these works and authors seem to be using these concepts to mask their own feelings about human emotion and reaction. Works Cited Milner, Henry. Mazeppa. New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 1999. Mitchell, Landon. The New York Idea. 12 March 2004. 16 May 2011. . Read More