Analysis of Huxley's employment of Greek mythology and evolution of

alphabet in the universality of language in his essay 'Adonis and the

Alphabet'.
Aldous Leonard Huxley was an English novelist and critic gifted with an acute and far-ranging
intelligence whose works are notable for their wit and pessimistic satire on English society. His
bibliography spans nearly 50 books, including novels and non-fiction works, as well as essays,
narratives, and poems. He followed with several more equally successful satirical novels before
publishing the work for which he is best known, Brave New World. A dark vision of the future, it
is widely regarded as one of the greatest novels of the 20th century. After a serious illness left
him partially blind as a youth, Aldous Huxley abandoned his dreams of becoming a scientist to
pursue a literary career.
In this essay, Huxley uses Greek mythology in his works and reflects the belief in the power of
myth to convey complex ideas and universal themes. Huxley draws on the myth of Adonis to
explore the evolution of language and the role of the alphabet in the spread of culture and
knowledge.
Adonis, in Greek mythology, a youth of remarkable beauty, and the most favorite of the goddess
Aphrodite (identified with Venus by the Romans) who is the goddess of sexual love. Aphrodite
put the newborn infant Adonis in a box and handed him over to the care of Persephone, the
queen of the underworld, who afterward refused to give him up. An appeal was made to Zeus,
the king of the gods, who decided that Adonis should spend a third of the year with Persephone
and a third with Aphrodite, the remaining third being at his own disposal. Adonis, who, being a
hunter, ventured into her domain and was killed by a wild boar. Aphrodite pleaded for his life
with Zeus, who allowed Adonis to spend half of each year with her and half in the underworld.
So that they can be equally shared by both.
The central idea of the myth is that of the death and resurrection of Adonis, which represent
the decay of nature every winter and its revival in spring. He is thus viewed by modern scholars
as having originated as an ancient spirit of vegetation. Annual festivals called Adonis were held
at Byblos and elsewhere to commemorate Adonis for the purpose of promoting the growth of
vegetation and the falling of rain. The name Adonis is believed to be of Phoenician origin,
Adonis himself being identified with the Babylonian god Tammuz.
Huxley’s employment of Greek mythology in “Adonis and the Alphabet” is a reflection of his
belief in the power of myth to convey complex ideas and universal themes. By drawing on the
myths of Adonis and the Tower of Babel, Huxley explores the evolution of language and the role
of symbols in the spread of culture and knowledge, while also cautioning against the dangers of
imposing a single, standardized language on a diverse and complex world. He defends
Shakespeare’s poem Venus and Adonis in which Shakespeare praises the sexual relationship of
Adonis and Aphrodite. Huxley defends that by saying that describing two people’s love and
intimacy is thousand times better than promoting violence and brutality. He describes it as lustful
and not indecent. He compares all this from the works of Dante as well that his work is not
unrefined as it is said to be and this is all a misconception.

Alphabet and their evolution is an important aspect that Huxley mentioned in his essay. The
ruins of many successive civilizations are found at Byblos, one of the oldest Phoenician cities.
Inhabited since Neolithic times, it has been closely linked to the legends and history of the
Mediterranean region for thousands of years. Byblos is also directly associated with the history
and diffusion of the Phoenician alphabet. A nameless person gave perfection to ABC alphabets in
Byblos city. Here one must say that this unknown letter makes did a remarkable job that finally
united everyone in one single language. So these references clearly tell us that at that time
reading and writing had already started in Byblos city, Homer also followed those and the
writing pen was also being used there. Byblos is the core of the evolutions of alphabets. Huxley
says that discovery of alphabets was a happy discovery and we should be thankful for Byblos
people and archeologists who discovered it.
Huxley also uses the myth of Adonis to explore the power of symbols and their ability to convey
meaning across time and space. The alphabet, as a system of written symbols, has played a key
role in the spread of culture and knowledge, allowing ideas to be transmitted across vast
distances and through different cultures and languages. However, Huxley also acknowledges the
limitations of the alphabet, which is unable to convey the full range of human expression and
emotion.
Huxley mocks St Dominic by saying that they people would praise and laugh on him if he kills a
bird that jumps on the worshiper’s head. And people would justify his doing by saying that the
bird had evil spirit that’s why it was causing problem to worshippers. Huxley totally denies this
justification by giving examples from different religions. Like in church, on Sundays birds are
always welcomed and are taken care of at the church. Likewise, doves are sacred in Syria and
Mohammedan pigeons are always welcomed in the mosques of Damascus. If it produces and dirt
the Muslim would just smile at it and pass. After all, they are creatures of God. In Hindi, there
are animal and bird goddesses. And if the animals interfere in worship, they are never killed
instead are taken care of. The doing of St Dominic is evil and his religious teachings are useless
if he is not polite towards animals. Huxley emphasizes that like many people Dominic was also
tangled in superstitious beliefs and orthodox.
He further states that every religion is the system comprising of rules. There is primitive way of
worshiping God, and having strong belief on everything that religion says. There is divinity in
every religion. Religion plays an important role in development of language. That’s why
language changes and has variations from place to place and people to people.
Language and its use was more easily recognized with the help of linguists and ontological
methods. He makes this more evident by Hindi concept of Nama-Rupa. Nama (meaning name)
and rupa (meaning form) are the components of completion of language and its subjectivity and
objectivity. Huxley also presents the view point that no language is perfect. And there is no fix
rule in language. Language has its different forms if one object has one meaning for person, it
can have a different meaning for other person in other language. He says:
No language is perfect, no vocabulary is adequate to the wealth of the given universe, and no
pattern of words and sentences, however rich, however subtle can do justice to interconnected
Gestalts
Huxley sees this process of exchange and adaptation as a key factor in the universality of
language, allowing for a shared pool of ideas and knowledge to be developed and transmitted
across different cultures and languages. Despite the universality of language, Huxley cautions
against the dangers of imposing a single, standardized language on a diverse and complex world.
He draws on the story of the Tower of Babel to illustrate the consequences of attempting to
suppress or eliminate the diversity of human language. According to Huxley, the diversity of
human language reflects the diversity of human experience and culture, and any attempt to
suppress or eliminate this diversity would result in the loss of valuable nuances and variations.
He argues that diversity should be celebrated and nurtured, rather than suppressed or eliminated,
in order to promote a richer and more vibrant human culture. Like he states in the essay:
Wisdom comes only to those who have learned how to talk and read and write without taking
language more seriously than it deserves.
Furthermore, Spoken language involves speaking and listening skills, while written language
requires writing and reading skills. The spoken language uses tone and pitch to improve
understanding; written language can only use layout and punctuation. Huxley than mainly talks
about Hebrew language. Hebrew is a Northwest Semitic Biblical language within the Afro-
asiatic language family. It was natively spoken by the Israelites and remained in regular use as a
spoken language by their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. Spoken in
ancient times in Palestine, Hebrew was supplanted by the western dialect of Aramaic beginning
about the 3rd century BCE; the language continued to be used as a liturgical and literary
language, however. It was revived as a spoken language in the 19th and 20th centuries and is the
official language of Israel. Huxley here also mentions special features of Egyptian language
which comprises of symbols. Chinese have used their language in an impressive manner with
daily inventions they make. He also focuses on development of western sciences through
language playing a vital role.

In conclusion, Aldous Huxley’s essay “Adonis and the Alphabet” explores the evolution of the
alphabet as a key factor in the universality of language throughout the history. Language plays
an important role in our learning. The alphabet, as a system of written symbols, has played a vital
role in the spread of culture and knowledge, allowing ideas to be transmitted across vast
distances and through different cultures and languages.