Myth Rationale

When Thetis, Achilles' mother, dips her son into the river Styx, the protective waters render almost every part of his body immortal; however, as Thetis exposed Achilles' heel whilst dipping the rest of his body into the river, he was never to be fully out of harm's way. Everybody, no matter how outwardly powerful and flawless they appear, has their own personal Achilles heel, something that makes them imperfect and ultimately, human.

There are different types of flaws and while everybody is flawed to a degree, some people are quick to point out others imperfections as being inhuman or unnatural, while conveniently forgetting the flaws that they themselves possess. There are also those who refuse to believe that imperfection exists in any form, and so create impractically high standards for themselves and those surrounding them: they try to sculpt themselves into something that is not realistic and therefore constantly set themselves up for defeat.

Using the myth of Achilles heel as the foundation for my tapestry project, I am going to attempt to compare and contrast two prominent views on imperfection: the first view is that imperfection, in it's finest form, is perfection. The other representation being that flaws in humans are extremely undesirable and that we should all model ourselves after a God who was thoroughly perfect. I will explore the scale of thought on imperfection, from those who believe that perfection is non-existent and all flaws should be accepted, to those that think perfection is something that should be hunted down until it's attained.