Ovid Final Essay

Due Date: Monday, April 29, 2013 (by midnight) General Directions

Choose one topic from the topics provided, and compose a thesis-based essay in which you analyze

selected myths from Ovid’s Metamorphoses. This is to be a formal essay, complete with title, introduction, a well-developed discussion, and a thoughtful conclusion.

•    Construct a thesis that provides an interpretive argument.

•    Advance your thesis clearly, deliberately, with an organizing principle in mind.

•    Incorporate representative examples and fitting language from the myths to advance and develop your claims and observations.

•    Incorporate at least one secondary source into your discussion (MLA format in-text citation

& Works Cited).

 

Objectives

To demonstrate not only the quality of your reading and understanding of Ovid’s poem but also the clarity

and effectiveness of your academic/analytic writing.

 

Format

1200 words minimum (4-5 pages) addressing your topic (or one from the list provided).  At least one

secondary source is required for the final essay and you’re welcome to use more than one. Include both the primary and secondary sources in your Works Cited at the end of the essay. And remember, Ovid, not Charles Martin, is the author entry in your citation of the poem.  Charles Martin is the translator.

 

Topic choices: No matter the topic, put forth an argument that interprets a portion of Ovid’s poem. To do this efficiently and successfully, ask yourself what issues he has his characters confront, how his

characters resolve the conflict, or how the conflict is resolved for them. Then look for the common

denominators among them as well as the differentiating details. Your analysis should be leading you to an interpretive claim about what Ovid is up to with his stories – as best you can tell!

 

1.   The rape motif:  Put forth a legitimate and thoughtful argument for Ovid’s inclusion of so many myths involving rape or attempted rape. (No frivolous claims permitted!) Choose a minimum of four episodes and differentiate Ovid’s handling of this motif.

 

2.   Tales of disobedience and/or impiety: Differentiate among at least four and support a thoughtful claim that argues for a pattern or a common thread.

 

3.   Ovid’s tales of love: He has so many in this poem that we can safely say that Ovid is very much interested in the relationships among lovers. What is your interpretation of Ovid’s many love stories, especially in terms of the issues that each situation raises?  Look at two representative stories of requited love and two representative stories of unrequited (or forbidden) love to compare and contrast.  Put forth a thoughtful argument about Ovid’s handling of the love issues.

 

4.   Compose an essay in which you examine Ovid’s handling of characters &/or events that we’ve read before – Iliad, Odyssey, Trojan Women (everyone’s favorite), Agamemnon. Choose four episodes to develop and explore, again, putting forth a thoughtful argument that interprets Ovid’s approach to his work with these established characters.

 

5.   Punishments: Look at times when mortals are punished unfairly or excessively by the gods and by other mortals. Choose two representative divine punishments and two representative mortal punishments to compare and contrast. What thoughtful claim can you make about Ovid’s interest in matters of justice and fairness?

 

 

FYS 140

 

Happily Never After

 

As the title suggests, the Metamorphoses is an exploration of transformations. Betty Rose

 

Nagle notes, “The world of the Metamorphoses is a world of constant change” (238). While some metamorphoses are straightforward and literal, others are subtle and figurative. Love is often described as the true driving force behind the transformations. However, Ovid’s view of love differs from the popular perception today. Our current, predominately romantic, outlooks of love are shaped by fairy-tale endings. In Ovid’s work, love rarely leads to this type of happy ending. Throughout the Metamorphoses, Ovid portrays love as a dangerous, destabilizing force rather than a positive one.

In the Metamorphoses, suffering is often the unintended cause of the gods’ erotic love. Driven by sexual desire, Ovid’s characters often aggressively pursue partners through rape. Ovid begins his narrative by introducing the theme of divine rape. In Book I, Cupid shoots Apollo

with a golden arrow and Daphne with the complementary. Soon, while in dramatic pursuit of Daphne, Apollo begs Daphne to submit herself to him. Daphne then prays to her father for help and is quickly turned into an olive tree. Apollo, filled with lust, kisses and gropes her bark. Stories of sexual desire are often portrayed in such negative light. Male gods often express their affection by violently raping female mortals. This first instance of attempted rape is quickly followed by Jupiter’s conquest of Io (Nagle 237). When Jupiter catches sight of the nymph Io, he is immediately filled with lust and, unlike Apollo, successfully rapes her. To prevent Juno from suspecting his unfaithfulness, Jupiter turns Io into a heifer. Such transformations in Metamorphoses often follow from the effects spurred on by love. Beginning in Book I, with Apollo and Zeus’s unrequited love for Daphne and Io, women are transformed into trees and

 

 

other animals as the poem continues. Throughout the poem, Ovid often associates, “the harm done my male divinities with the satisfaction of amor (love)” (Nagle 239). Love becomes more of an act of dominance and satisfaction than one of affection. Throughout the Metamorphoses, love causes suffering as mortal women are frequently victims of the gods’ violent expressions of love.

Oppressive love is not just a tool used by divine gods, but also by mortal men, in that Ovid portrays male mortals treating the women of their affection in a similarly brutal ways. Throughout the Metamorphoses, mortal males rape, abduct, and slaughter women.  In one example, Peleus ties down Thetis to prevent her from escaping while he rapes her. It is clear here that a woman’s suffering is a typical effect of love. Perhaps the most grotesque myth in all of the Metamorphoses is the myth of Tereus, Procne, and Philomela. In this myth, Ovid adds to the theme of rape by exposing even more horrifying acts, including the murder of a child, kidnapping, and cannibalism. Tereus, overwhelmed by lust for his sister-in-law, repeatedly rapes Philomela. To prevent Philomela from speaking, Tereus cuts out Philomela’s tongue. When Procne hears of her husband’s betrayal, she slaughters her own child and serves the child to Tereus in a meal:

“Tereus begins to feed and shortly stuffs his gut with flesh and blood that he himself begot,

and in the blindness of his heart, commands,

‘Bring Itys here!’ Procne is unable

to hide her savage joy; and eager now to be the bearer of misfortune cries,

‘The one that you are seeking is within.’” (VI. 944-951)

 

Such revenge might seem unreasonable because this vengeance hurts Tereus, as well as Procne. However, Ovid emphasizes that love is the source of anger. Tereus’ love for Philomela, as

 

 

fleeting as it is, is the destructive force that causes murder, further painting love negatively. Emotionally transformed by grief and revenge, Procne is transformed and now capable of unspeakable cruelty. Rather than portraying love as a bonding force, Ovid successfully depicts love as a source of destruction in the lives of even mortal characters.

Ovid argues that love often causes betrayal. Many of Ovid’s characters, specifically Scylla and Medea, suffer the torments of love as they find themselves pulled in opposing directions. When King Nisus’ daughter, Scylla, falls in love with Nisus’ enemy, Minos, Scylla betrays her people to a foreign army. Scylla kills her father, becomes Minos’ bride, and presents her country to Minos as her dowry. Ovid stresses that love is a destabilizing force because Scylla’s passion leads her to betray her family in hopes of gaining Minos’ liking. Similarly, Medea’s love for Jason causes her to betray her father and her home. In an effort to help Jason win the Golden Fleece, Medea used the magic of Hecate to help Jason preform various feats. Although Medea desires to be faithful to her father, Ovid emphasizes Medea’s internal conflict as also urges to help Jason.  In self-awareness, Medea claims,

“I’d act more sanely, if only I could,

but this new power overwhelms my will;

reason advises this, and passion, that; I see the better way, and I approve it, while I pursue the worse.”

(VII.31-35)

 

Medea, driven by love, knowingly betrays her father. Ovid highlights the deceitful nature of love. When women express affection for men, their passion often causes them to betray their families, fathers, and cities. This seemingly inevitable aspect of love, betrayal, further emphasizes Ovid’s negative view of love.

Although Ovid does display love passionately, he is quick to emphasize that love is threatened by possessiveness. This extreme possessiveness can be seen when Apollo kills his

 

 

girlfriend Cornois after she cheats on him. Apollo’s reaction is one of “murderous rage as he immediately shoots Cornois with an arrow” (Nagle 252). Although Apollo regrets his action, it is too late for even the god of healing to save Cornois. Apollo’s possessive love provokes his response of immediate rage. Pyramus and Thisbe also take their affection to an extreme when a misunderstanding results in the pair’s suicide. Forbidden to marry, Pyramus and Thisbe whisper their love for one another through a crack in the wall:

“‘O grudging wall,’ they cried, ‘why must you block us? Is it too much to ask you let lovers

embrace without impediment of stone? Or if it is, won’t you please let us kiss? It’s not that we’re ungreateful-we admit all that we both owe you, for allowing our words to pass into attentive ears!’”

(IV. 111-117)

 

The two lovers plan to run away and arrange to meet under a mulberry tree. Thisbe arrives first, but flees after seeing a lioness. Pyramus arrives and finds the tracks of the lioness and Thisbe’s shall. Pyramus kills himself thinking Thisbe is dead. Thisbe returns and after briefly mourning kills herself. The story of Pyramus and Thisbe hints at the darker side of love that Ovid explores. Through this example, readers see that even healthy, passionate love can cause eventual destruction. Passion, though a seemingly positive aspect of love, essentially brings death to Ovid’s characters, again emphasizing Ovid’s poor depiction of love.

Throughout the Metamorphoses, Ovid emphasizes that love has power over everyone. No mortal or god can resist the suffering, avoid the effects, and escape the pain to which love often drives us. Ovid best emphasizes the overwhelming power of love through the story of Venus and Adonis. Venus suffers passionately when Adonis dies on a hunting trip. The myth of Venus and Adonis demonstrates that even the goddess of love is not immune from love’s destabilizing