Ovid And Society In Malouf's Imaginary Life

Change and transformations are constantly happening and are a part of our everyday life. Ovid’s Metamorphoses is a book of collections of Roman Myths about the changes and transformations in the physical world and ones we experience in human life. Ovid explores transformations of all kind in his epic poem, some literal and others figurative. There are stories of change in the human context of aging and also very literal transformations such as turning into a plant.

In Ovid’s Metamorphoses, the reader is faced with a wide array of transformation of humans to objects, plants and animals and also the seasonal transformation due to the emotions of the Gods’. Too most of us today, the changing of the seasons is due to the rotation of the earth around the sun. In Ovid’s Metamorphoses, the changing of the season are shown to be due to the emotions of Ceres, and this changing of the season is one such transformation due to the emotion of a God. Ceres is angry over the loss of her daughter, Proserpina, to Dis, (also know as Pluto or Hades, King of the Dead), her anger causes devastation to the land by droughts, floods and other natural disasters. Ceres

    Ovid reveals two similar tales of incest in the Metamorphoses. First, he describes the non-sisterly love Byblis acquires for her twin brother Caunus. Later, he revisits the incestuous love theme with the story of Myrrha who develops a non-filial love for her father, Cinyras. The two accounts hold many similarities and elicit varying reactions. Ovid constantly tugs at our emotions and draws forth alternating feelings of pity and disgust for the matters at hand. "Repetition with a difference" in these two narratives shows how fickle we can be in allotting and denying sympathy, making it seem less valuable.

Ovid lived from 43BC until AD17 . He was born in Sulmo in the region of Abruzzi, however he moved to Rome to receive an education. He remained in Rome until his exile to a town on the edge of the Roman Empire; Tomis. Ovid’s Fasti, meaning ‘sorrows’ acts as calendar following the dates of the Roman year during Augustus’s time . One book represented one month, and each book was poetic in form. Ovid appropriated the stories of Rome’s history based on how Augustus revived and changed Rome’s pre-existing religious values . It has been noted that the combination of Ovid’s Metamorphoses – an epic

Although it is considered one continuous poem, there are many different focuses. He begins with the creation of the world and humankind. Roman gods are a critical part to each story, and one of his main focuses is their interaction with normal people. He talks about divine rape, which happened to many women throughout Roman history because gods are much stronger and deserving of everything. He depicts gods as foolish and brutal. He insists that the gods are not moral and care far more for sacrifices and tokens of appreciation, rather than moral behavior from the citizens of Rome. Because a lot of his subject throughout the books is typically very dark and not discussed in poetry, Ovid uses humor to ease his writing. Although Ovid talks about people and gods as ever-evolving people, he also talks of metamorphoses through places. For example, Troy is defeated and Rome rises. He continues his stories, often focusing on the same character in multiple, until he has mentioned every important historical moment from the beginning of earth until present time during Augustus’s rule. In comparison to Virgil’s Aeneid, Metamorphoses has very little similarities. For example, the form of both works are considered epics. This means that both poems are very long narratives. The difference between the two is that the Aeneid focuses on one plotline, with only one heroine. Metamorphoses, however, focuses on multiple

Contrary to many men who believe that a man must be strong and not show a woman his tenderness, Ovid shares his heart, saying, “do not think it a shame to suffer her blows or her curses; do not think it a shame, stooping, to kiss her feet” (Art 2. 522-553) . This is simply an outstanding statement, as it serves to show the true emotion and character of Ovid. This statement cannot be taken lightly

In today’s society duty is defined differently than it was in the days of Ovid, Virgil and Valmiki. Duty used to be treated as something the person wants to do for their ancestors and their devotion to one’s family. Today the closest person we have to this is a soldier. Soldiers work for their country and to protect their families from harm. Many times the soldiers go into the army because of a sense of moral obligation to serve their country, rather than for pleasure. Soldiers fit into all of these writers ideas of duty because they are motivated to serve their country. Duty is a big part of society and is still around today, but it is seen in different parts of society then it was back then.

Thésée’s accusation of “d 'inceste et d 'adultère” against Hippolytus triggered him to confess his love for Aricia as a defense. However, it enraged Thésée even more as he perceived it as his son’s atrocious attempt to cover up his “brutale insolence”. This scene helped to transit the play to the ‘falling action’ in which Hippolytus and Thésée unwittingly became the victims of Oenone’s perfidy.

This passage contains both Andromeda’s rescue and her subsequent marriage to Perseus. In essence, then, we might say it is transitory. Yet Ovid marks this shift, the first sustained perspective change in 141 lines, merely with the main caesura of 758. Arguably, such a fluid movement means that it is unhelpful to think of this passage simply as a marker between the dénouement of one narrative and the exposition of another; to do so would be to ignore the poet’s structural indentation in addition to the ‘gobbetting’ of the passage itself. The implication is that Ovid treats the gods in Perseus’ Homeric sacrifice with the same narratological brush as the bacchanalian excess animi…laeti. Could this invite a direct comparison with Bacchus, the purveyor of rituals?

Transformations from one shape or form into another are the central theme in Ovid's Metamorphoses. The popularity and timelessness of this work stems from the manner of story telling. Ovid takes stories relevant to his culture and time period, and weaves them together into one work with a connecting theme of transformation throughout. The thread of humor that runs through Metamorphoses is consistent with the satire and commentary of the work. The theme is presented in the opening lines of Metamorphoses, where the poet invokes the gods, who are responsible for the changes, to look favorably on his efforts to compose. The changes are of many kinds: from human to animal, animal to human, thing to

Ovid's new excursion into hexameter is greatly complemented by the novelty of his subject matter (Keith 238). Ovid's subject matter is very broad and unique in its containment of various subjects.

At first glance, Tales from Ovid appears just to be a compilation of disturbing narratives. It is as if Ted Hughes, finding nothing better to do, decided to try his hand at awfully vivid writing. There doesn't seem to be any clear pattern in the stories. But maybe we are searching a bit too deep for meaning. Reading Ovid is about accepting the terrible things that could happen and do happen.

In the myth “Tereus”, Tereus, the protagonist, is overcome by lust for his wife’s sister, Philomela, which makes him do gruesome things. His wife’s only desire was to see her sister. Tereus was able to fulfill her desires, but the moment he laid eyes on her, he couldn’t help his feelings of lust. This deep and demented feeling of lust drove him to kidnap her, abuse her, and rape her. Ovid shows his change in morals by saying, “The lust that took hold of him now combined the elemental forces of his national character and his own” (Hughes page 215). Ovid then goes on to conveys how strongly he desires Philomela by using the simile, “His lust was like an iron furnace- first black,

“The story that the dreamer remembers combines the two classical versions even though they are, or seem to be, irreconcilable. This reconciliation is, we must remember, an act of memory protected by the fiction of the dream; it can be most easily seen in the composite character of Aeneas. He is Virgil’s epic hero and Ovid’s false lover, admirable and treacherous. As such, he and his story are an appropriate visual summary of the value of fame which is inherently ambiguous. From his memory of two old things, the dreamer has created a “new thing” an eccentric retelling that recognizes the validity of conflicting truths in history – “fals and soth compouned” (Buchmaster 284).

A less dictionary-like definition of poetry is, “putting the best words in the best possible order.” The poet may astutely choose words possibly with a double meaning in order to indirectly convey a message, evoke emotions, or to slander. Then, the poet may unconventionally place such words and phrases perhaps out of expected order for the sake of creating a “word picture,” emphasizing the speaker’s feelings, or offering tangibility to the poem. By incorporating this idea onto works, the poet will have auspiciously written a superb poem. This theory may be applied to a few of Catullus’s poems specifically “Carmen 5”, “Carmen 8”, and “Carmen 85”. The meticulous choice of words and arrangement highlight the central focus of the poem, obliquely criticize traditional Roman law, manipulate the audience’s attitude, transmit the speaker’s emotions, paint “word pictures,” and offer symbolic meaning consequently producing a successful poem.