House of Asterion & What It Realizes

With House of Asterion Borges has achieved a re-characterization of a classic creature. The half bull-half human reminds me of the Minotaur of Roman mythology. It is not to say that this character is not menacing as he threatens to exact punishment on those who accuse him within the first few lines of this myth as well. However, while the more traditional creature is fearsome and brutal, the Asterion of Borges myth seems rather reserved and rational. Borges is able to encapsulate the loneliness and rationality of the creature juxtaposed to his frightening exterior. His loneliness is personified in the description of the house itself, very large with no furniture it lies empty just as Asterion himself and yet he always comes back to it every night because of the fear of what is outside. This is just like his loneliness that lies within him and yet he cannot get rid of it because he is afraid of being with others. His aloneness makes him create
“another Asterion” with whom he feels not so alone, and yet this is just a figment of his imagination and he is still without real companionship. Nonetheless the Asterion is not without hope. He waits for his savior, questioning what he will be like and when his return is. Though he knows not when or where, he waits with eager anticipation.  Borges was able to recreate a character, one that was so violently different from mankind, so that the audience would sympathize with his plight. He successfully re-depicted this mythological being.