Icarus flew too close to the sun because he was trying to flee the conditions he was born into. His father’s warning not to fly too close to the sun was not, as it is now said to be, an admonishment to keep Icarus in his place, proof that Daedalus did not support his son’s ambition. The father was trying to help his son—he’d made the wings after all—by offering advice to ensure his son could escape their family’s enslavement and be free.
