The Humphries 's ' The Metamorphoses '

“The Metamorphosis” is a surreal story by Franz Kafka surrounding the transformation and betrayal of Gregor Samsa, who wakes up one day, reborn into a large insect. Along with the bizarre and nightmarish appearance of his new hard back, brown segmented belly, and many legs, Gregor only desire is to live a normal life, unfortunately, this is impossible because he struggles to even get out of bed. Gregor transformation into an insect is a vivid metaphor for the alienation of humans from around the world. After losing human form, Gregor is automatically deprived of the right to be a part of society. Franz Kafka could relate to Gregor because he too was mistreated/neglected by his father and worked a job that he was unhappy doing. Franz and Gregor both were providers for their families. Alienation, isolation, and loneliness were not hard to recognize during the Modernity and Modernism time period.

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

The three themes present in these tales of creation are chaos, sin, and transformation. From the beginning we see how God brings order to chaos, not creation out of nothing. Chaos is the primordial state of existence in Greek myth, and hence, these stories have an immense effect on the way people think of the universe. Chaos has a pervasive presence not only in the physical world but also in the lives and actions of human beings as Lycaon’s case represents. Ovid described Chaos as “a huge agglomeration of upset”. By separating and transforming material object and living being, the creator god imposes rational order on unruly matter. Thus, transformation is another important theme in these tales of creation. This shows that the Greco-Roman community

    Byblis and Myrrha, two of Ovid's impassioned, transgressive heroines, confess incestuous passions. Byblis yearns for her brother, Caunus, and Myrrha lusts for her father, Cinyras. Mandelbaum translates these tales effectively, but sometimes a different translation by Crane brings new meaning to an argument. As Byblis and Myrrha realize the feelings at hand, they weigh the pros and cons of such emotions. Despite the appalling relationships in question, each young girl provides concrete support and speaks in such a way that provokes pity for her plight. Their paths of reasoning coincide, but Byblis starts where Myrrha's ends, and visa versa; Myrrha begins where Byblis' concludes.

From the exile of the poet Ovid arose the epic poem Metamorphoses, a story that follows the creation of the Roman Empire from the beginning of time. Leading up to book XV Ovid continues to paint the gods in an unfavorable manner for their outrageous behaviors. Ovid exhibits a greater respect for those who exert intelligence than those who exceed in battle. Augustus Caesar, the adoptive son of Julius Caesar, was responsible for the exile of Ovid, in an attempt to implement censorship. For these reasons, Ovid disapproves of the deification of Julius Caesar, and, in fact

In Metamorphoses, Ovid tells the reader his intention--"to tell of bodies changed / to different forms"--and invokes the gods to help him with the poem.

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.

In Ovid’s Metamorphoses, the world came to be in a much different way than in The Songlines. A “Great Creator” separated the Earth and the sky, the sea from the land, and the heavens from the the air.3 In this work, not only did Ovid describe the creation of the world, he also wrote about how the “things” of the world came to be. The Metamorphoses are filled with stories about the gods getting angry with the humans and punishing them for their actions. The first one written is about Lycaon and the god Jupiter. Lycaon questions Jupiter’s legitimacy and then tries to trick him. Outraged, Jupiter turns Lycaon into a wolf and floods the earth, only sparing one man, Deucalion, and one woman, Pyrrha, because of their devotedness to the gods. This is not the only example of this and is seen again with Arachne and the goddess Minerva. Minerva, a cunning and confident goddess, approached Arachne and challenged her to competition: weaving. After the competition came to an end, Minerva turned her rival Arachne into a spider out of rage for being defeated. 4

He portrays rape and harassment as dehumanizing acts. In one of his poems, Ovid tells the story of the god of the sun, Apollo, who, after being struck with Cupid’s arrow, burns with desire for the nymph Daphne. Despite Daphne’s stern rejection and relentless attempts to escape the god’s chase, Apollo continues his unwelcome pursuit of the “timid maid”. With nowhere else to escape, Daphne pleas her father for her form to be changed. In her fear, Daphne begs for a change of form entirely, preferring this to rape; she asks him to destroy the loveliness that causes her to be pursued.

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

The second point is how the sculpture echoes the words lamb and beauty. Ovid writes, several times throughout the story, the analogy of predator and prey. Which is

In the metamorphosis by Franz Kafka, the style enhances the nightmarish quality of the work. One example of how he shows a nightmarish quality is when he stated in the book, “I cannot make you understand. I cannot make anyone understand what is happening inside me. I cannot even explain it to myself.” In this example it gives it the nightmarish feel by providing a sense of hopelessness. From this quote it shows you how alone Gregor feels insides and how he can’t express his own feeling to anyone not even his family. Another example of this straightforward style was at the end of the story where Gregor thought to himself, “But Gregor understood easily that it was not only consideration for him which prevented their moving, for he could easily

In the section of the poem, Book I:1-20 The Primal Chaos, the first line reads,” I want to speak about bodies changed into new forms” (Ovid). In this line Ovid is announcing that he is the narrator of this poem and it is about events which have caused change and/or transformation.

An ancient prose narrative, all versions of “Arachne and Minerva” warn readers of the consequences facing those who disrespect the gods by recounting Athena’s actions when faced with mortal hubris. In studying prose narratives, William Bascom defined a valid myth as one: set in an earlier world, focused on a main character of a divine nature, and considered sacred and true by its original audience. Ovid’s “Arachne and Minerva” adheres to Bascom’s definition of a myth because it was viewed as a truthful account of the past, detailed the goddess Athena’s true process of addressing human disrespect, and focused the legitimate divine repercussions that follow

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