From a purely narrative standpoint:
* Tragedy and Loss: The most immediate response is one of tragedy and loss. Icarus, a figure of youthful ambition and hubris, is punished for his defiance of the natural order.
* Warning: The story serves as a warning against overconfidence and the dangers of exceeding one's limits.
* Nature's Power: The sea, a powerful and unforgiving force, represents the limits of human ambition.
From a symbolic perspective:
* The Fall from Grace: Icarus' fall is often interpreted as a symbolic fall from grace, a descent from a higher plane of existence to the mundane world.
* The Price of Ambition: His fate represents the price of unchecked ambition and the dangers of ignoring warnings.
* The Limits of Human Capability: The myth suggests there are limits to human capability, and that pushing beyond them can lead to disastrous consequences.
The response also depends on the particular version of the myth you're considering:
* In Ovid's *Metamorphoses*, the focus is on the tragic consequences of Icarus' actions, and the narrative concludes with a sense of sadness and loss.
* In W.B. Yeats' poem "The Second Coming," Icarus' fall is used as a metaphor for the collapse of Western civilization.
Ultimately, the response to Icarus' fall is a multifaceted one, leaving room for a variety of interpretations and reflections on human nature, ambition, and the limits of our capabilities.