The Different Perspectives of Being Caught in Ovid’s Myth: Diana and Actaeon

The Homeric Hymn to Demeter details the kidnapping of Persephone and the consequent fallout of this event. The myth itself represents a change in the structure of Greek myth, shifting from a centrally matriarchal system to that of a patriarchal. By casting feminine traits in a negative light and masculine traits in a positive light, the myth spreads a new ideology to the formerly matricidal Greeks. When taken individually, each of the scenes could be construed to be symbolic of this new system crushing the old one. However, on their own, no one scene can encapsulate this shift. Instead, viewing the myth as a whole is the only true way to expose the shift in cultural opinion.

A wronged woman gone violent in her grief and madness—Aeneas and Dido or Jason and Medea

Everyone is going to die. This is no secret to the audience of the Greek play Agamemnon. Rather than surprising us with the murders that befall at the hands of vengeance, the Greek playwright uses this common story to display the underlying theme that one must first suffer before they can reach the truth. To understand the significance behind the story of Agamemnon, one must understand the passions and how they relate to the human person, Zeus’s law of suffering into truth, and Aeschylus’s motives for writing Agamemnon and how he reflects Catholic teaching.

In Ovid Metamorphoses, the Roman literature described the ruthless act of Pluto of rape, to seize and carry away Proserpine without the consent of Ceres and in parallel in the Homeric Hymns of Demeter; Persephone was seized and carried away by Hades without the consent of Demeter. The invariant theme that was identified in both the Greek and Roman literature was the loss of innocence of Persephone/Proserpine. Despite the various differences the story was presented, it reinforced the innocence that was stolen from the god of the underworld, Hades or also known as Pluto. Throughout this paper, it will discuss the similar characteristics of the two myths such as the motive that led and encouraged the god of the underworld to kidnap

Retribution is a monster of appetite, eternally bloodthirsty and never filled. Rage, resentment and envy does not change the heart of others. A massive success is the best revenge for a woman. It is the only way to get back at someone for a pain they have caused. In Euripides’ Medea and Ovid’s’ Metamorphoses, Medea and Juno exhibit vengeance to defend their dignity.

The characters in Greek Mythology have multiple interpretations. Among these characters include the dangerous, yet gorgeous Sirens, bird-women who sit on a cliff singing bewitching songs that captivate the minds of innocent travelers and entice them to their deaths. In Homer’s The Odyssey and Margaret Atwood’s “Siren Song,” both poets provide different representations of the Sirens. Homer portrays the Sirens as irresistible in order to establish men as heroes, whereas Atwood depicts them as unsightly and pathetic so she can prove men are foolish and arrogant using imagery, diction, and point of view.

In Ovid’s “The Story of Daedalus and Icarus”, Ovid uses characterization to make the characters realistic and vivid and to reveal plot through the characters’ actions, thoughts, speech and physical appearance. Without the characterization of Daedalus and Icarus, understanding “The Story of Daedalus and Icarus” completely is not possible. Ovid hides important pieces of the plot in the text, and wants the readers to reveal the true meaning of the story by looking into the characteristics of the main characters, Daedalus and Icarus. With the view of their wants and responsibilities, the story becomes clear to the reader and the purpose of this story in a poem is revealed.

Euripides and Sophocles wrote powerful tragedies that remain influential to this day. The vast majority of work recovered from this time is by male authorship. What remains about women of this time is written through the lens of male authors’ perspective and beliefs about the role of women in Greek culture. The works of these two playwrights frequently characterize women as unstable and dangerous. Agave, Antigone, and Medea are all undoubtedly the driving force behind the tragic action in these plays. It is their choices that lead to the pain and death of the people around them. Through an examination of the evidence from three separate works, Antigone, The Bacchae, and The Medea, the role of women in ancient Greek tragedy becomes clear. The actions of Agave, Antigone, and Medea repeatedly prove their characters instability and danger.

With the difficulty of analyzing the psychology of lost civilizations, anthropologists utilize the stories as a means to uncover the group's thinking on certain topics. Greek and Roman mythology includes a plethora of stories that have been rigorously examined to learn how these peoples thought. While reading the stories of Ovid's Metamorphoses, I noticed a difference in the description of a divine rapist and a mortal rapist. Two key stories that portray this are Jove in Arcady and The Story of Tereus, Procne, and Philomela. Through the analysis of these two stories, I will propose possible attitudes that Greeks and Romans had on the topic of rape.

males to be precious and more prestigious than the females. The birth of a boy

The sculpture Apollo and Daphne, created by Gian Lorenzo Bernini, is based off a story from Book 1 of Ovid's Metamorphoses. It is a portrayal of when Daphne is turned into a tree when trying to escape Apollo after they were both shot with an arrow by Eros. The sculpture is a powerful visual of Daphne and Apollo’s emotions as Daphne was captured by him. To evaluate the photo further I will discuss the feeling of empathy the sculpture made me feel and two connections the sculpture has to Ovid’s story.

In the play called “Euripides 1, Alcestis and The Medea”, they share a common theme, which is heroism. In the play, the two main characters who are females, show a sign of heroism and honor. In addition, both of their husbands named, Jason and Admetus, show dishonor in the scenes, that are the cause of their misfortune In results, in Greek heroism and honor, comes with great sacrifices, hidden emotion, yet in the 21 century, heroism is looked upon differently. In the play “Alcestis,” Alcestis shows great Greek heroism and honor, despite that she has children, she is willing to die for her husband, because no one else wants to die for him.

The stories that as a whole make up the body of ancient Greek mythology have treatedthe complex subject of women in various ways. Although women are generally considered to beweak and subordinate to their husbands, there exist some examples of strong, even heroic womenin certain myths. Such “extraordinary” women include Deianeira, Phaedra, Medea, Penelope,and Clytemnestra, among others. This discussion of women will focus on the latter two,comparing and contrasting them and addressing the ways in which the former is often considereda “good” wife and the latter a “bad” wife. The comparison of Penelope and Clytemnestra willultimately show that, in certain ways, the line between “good” and “bad” wife is rather blurryand the distinction between husband-killing monster and devoted, faithful wife is not as clear-cutas one might expect.The major works in which Penelope and Clytemnestra appear are Homer’s Odyssey andAeschylus’ Oresteia, particularly the Agamemnon. One of the first things to notice about theseworks is that they were both written by men, for men. Given the ancient Greek context, this is arather obvious observation, but it deserves to be pointed out because it should be expected thatmen would have a biased view of women. Hesiod’s Theogony and Works and Days describe thecreation of Pandora, the first of “the race of women”, as a gift and punishment from the gods.While she is made to “look like a goddess immortal, / having the lovely, desirable shape of a

The poetic tone of Aristophanes' Lysistrata differs greatly from the poetic tone of the Greek tragedies we have read in class. However, after analyzing this Greek comedy, it seems to share some of the main characteristics of Euripides' Medea. Within these plays, we meet shrewd, powerful masculine women who use the art of manipulation to get what they want from others and to accomplish their goals. This theme of manipulation is employed through various means and techniques. The women of these plays also seem to contradict the stereotypical woman and have characteristics similar to the Homeric Greek warrior.

Upon encountering Daphne, Apollo falls madly in love with her. Overcome by Cupid's arrow, Apollo sets aside reason and becomes engulfed by his hope of attaining his love. Before being transformed, Apollo would most likely have paid little or no attention to Daphne, but now, Apollo is overcome by his lust for beauty. Ovid compares Apollo's love for Daphne to a flame in a brush. This metaphor used by Ovid is very effective. The change that goes through Apollo is very sudden and fast. The imagery of a flame rapidly spreading through brush conveys the idea of an almost violent change. The god is consumed with a desire for the girl. His chase is fueled by a hope to overcome the ultimate futility of his actions. He sees every part of her as beautiful, her eyes, hair, face and even speculates as to the beauty of her hidden regions. Unsatisfied by the sight of Daphne and wanting more than just a glimpse of her beauty, Apollo follows Daphne as a hound chases a rabbit. The hope for his fruitless love keeps Apollo close on Daphne's trail, and fear motivates Daphne to stay just out of reach. When Ovid tries to convey the intensity of the flight, he says, 'He gave the fleeing maiden no respite, but followed close on her heels, and his breath touched the locks that lay scattered on her neck,';(p. 43) Finally, burdened by mortal exhaustion, Daphne prays to her father to deliver her from her torment. As the words leave her mouth, Daphne is transformed for the second