‘’The real magic is to understand which words work, and when, and for what; the trick is to learn the trick.'
The novel begins with the story of Scheherazade and it also presents her efforts to find some ‘’cure’’ to the King’s tendencies of killing virgin girls. After she studied the matter from different perspectives, she reached the conclusion that the King can be tamed only through magic. But for her, magic wasn’t a genie or some fantastic artifact, but the words that a person uses. Scheherazade understands that if she were to use the right words, she would be able to tame the King and this would be the most powerful kind of magic. This quote puts emphasis on the idea that it is extremely important the way we communicate and the way we chose our words because even if we don’t realize it, they have a great impact and they are more powerful than anything.
‘’I perhapped our problem to be mixed marriage: Argives and Ethiopians were oil and vinegar, I declared, palatable when right-proportioned but never truly mixable. Pah, she spat: all marriages were mixed, a man and one woman.’’
What is clear is that Perseus and his wife, Andromeda, had troubles in their marriage just like any other couple. But while Perseus thought that there was something he could do to save his marriage, Andromeda believed that the problem is the result of the fact that they are mixed. Because of this, problems were inevitable and no matter what the couple did, they will never disappear and will only become worst as time goes by.
"But I never was a king," Cepheus said, "only consort to a queen. Cassiopeia, her majesty, that's the whole story; that's why we're all here, for better or worse.
Cepheus, just like Perseus, was controlled all his life by a much stronger woman. Neither Perseus nor Cepheus were able to control their wives and they ended up doing what they wanted, tainting more than often their husband’s reputation. While Perseus likes to think that he was the one in control in his marriage, Cepheus admits willingly that his wife ruled the country more than he did and had more power than he had. This also appears as a motif in the novel, as the women are portrayed as being more powerful than their men.
Learn about life from art.
Perseus was advised by his sister to learn about life from art. Perseus ended up doing just that because he was being taken care of Cayxa, he was shown murals portraying certain periods in his life. By analyzing the paintings, Perseus was able to realize what he had done wrong and think about what he should have done instead. The art created by Cayxa helped him have a new perspective on his life and the decisions he took, and to think about what he should have done differently.
