Tricksters Throughout Mythology

Out of all the different aspects of world mythology that we have covered so far, the idea of the Trickster is by far my favorite. The three characteristics of Hyne’s analysis that I wanted to discuss were: The fundamentally ambiguous and anomalous personality of the trickster, which I thought Coyote from the Native American mythology portrayed perfectly, the deceiver or trick player, which describes Hermes, and the shapeshifter, which is an essential part of Loki’s character.
Coyote plays a role in so many Native American myths that his character seems to be constantly evolving and shifting. He plays tricks on humans and “gods” alike, and Iktome, who is essentially his partner in crime for several stories, seems to wind up the butt of the joke several times, such as in “What’s this? My balls for your dinner?” where Iktome’s wife gets the best of Coyote and her husband. There are stories where Coyote appears to “win” or trick his opponents, and then there are stories where he is portrayed as slightly stupid, like in “The Bluebird and Coyote” where he runs into a stump and gets covered in dirt. Coyote’s character is fully ambiguous and useful in many different settings.
Hermes, who was the great-nephew of Prometheus, is described as a great deceiver. In the story “Hermes tricks Apollo” he is supposedly a “trickster, from the moment he opened his eyes.” In Greek mythology Hermes is the god of travelers, thieves, pranksters, and many others. He is highly intelligent and uses manipulation to get what he wants from other gods and mortals alike.
Shapeshifting plays a huge role in several of Loki’s myths. He is able to not only change his species, but also his sex and this allows him to bear children while in a different form, if we remember this is how the eight-legged colt Sleipnir comes about, and several other strange children that he bears. In some myths he uses his shapechanging abilities to the advantage of the gods. He changes into a mare in order to distract the stallion of the giant building the wall around Asgard. He changes into a bird in order to rescue Ida and her golden apples from the frost giant that enslaved her. But he also uses it to deceive, especially as the myths draw nearer to Ragnarok, for instance he changes himself into an old giantess to prevent the resurrection of Baldur.
For my essay on a contemporary Trickster I am going to use the character of Rumplestilskin from the Television series Once Upon a Time. He is such a novel character with such a rich background and history, and I love the twist that the writers of the show have put on the stories surrounding him. He embodies most of the necessary characteristics needed to define a trickster including the ambiguous personality, deceiver/trick player, shapeshifter, situation invertor, and sacred/lewd bricoleur.