Metamorphoses Essay

Ovid’s Metamorphoses is filled with selfish actions and characters. Unexpectedly, however, Ovid chooses to laud selfishness and vengeance by allowing Perseus to be a hero; Perseus is glorified for his killing, despite being defined as selfish and as seeking revenge. Thus, Ovid, through his portrayal of Perseus, lauds selfishness and vengeance. Ovid uses perfect poetry in this passage to praise Perseus and portray him as a hero. First, the rhyme scheme used to describe who Perseus’ enemies. For example

people into pies, has been seen before in Ovid’s Metamorphoses. Why would Shakespeare not write original content? What is there for him, and his readers, to gain from these similarities? Through exploring both works, it becomes clear that these commonalities serve to highlight the brutality of the crimes committed while shedding light on the methods of revenge. Having the same crimes carried out with the same consequences, Shakespeare uses Metamorphoses to explain that this is how things are done, and

This passage forms the exposition of Juno’s katabasis; smoothly beginning the decent with the ekphrasis est via declivis (432), as if to invite the reader to accompany the goddess and her omniscient narrator. Indeed, Ovid privileges himself with the knowledge of Dis and the prisoners within (433) by portraying the cavern through the infernas…sedes. In a sense, these are the very people you and I are destined to become. This makes the decent equally personal and plural. Yet, such a perspective shatters

"Metamorphoses" means "transformations" and there are many kinds of transformations throughout the poem. In fact, nearly everything in the story is in a process of changing. People are transformed as a result of love or hate and sometimes as revenge. Yet, so often these transformations seem extraneous, insignificant to the main point. This paper will attempt to argue that transformation is the main theme in the metamorphosis and the chief agent of transformations is love. As well as other themes

The desire to possess the gorgeousness does not equal the determination to cherish it forever. That is to say, the type of love is unstable and easy to break into pieces. Different from Dido in the Aeneid and those female characters in Ovid’s Metamorphoses, Psyche doesn’t make her judgement of her lover according to his appearance. The fact that Psyche can only hear and touch her husband but not see him ensures that her initial cognition and assessment of him are established in their communication

to be the creator of their fate questioning the obstacles put by gods. In "The Metamorphoses," Ovid has affirmed on the superiority of the divine forces in respect to human beings. The connection between the gods and immortals, in the work of Ovid, is in order with the approach of the relationship between the superior and inferior in which the lesser body is ever at the mercy of the greatest being. In "The Metamorphoses" the relationship between humans and the divine has been described as a rapport

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. The stories make us feel uneasy and that's part of what Hughes is trying to do. The characters in the tales

Shakespeare brings out the absurdity of female objectification for aesthetic purposes in his play Titus Andronicus through the suffering of Lavinia as her pain is equated to scenes of nature, despite being brutally raped and mutilated. While in the Metamorphoses, Ovid uses female suffering as an aesthetic tool in stories like “Io and Jove” and “Apollo and Daphne” to further the beauty in the myths. Overall, Shakespeare critiques Ovid’s use of the aesthetic prerogative to represent female suffering through

and re-maker of their own destinies challenging the hindrances put by gods. In “The Metamorphoses,” Ovid has emphasized on the supremacy of the divine forces in relation with human beings. The relationship between the gods and the humans, in Ovid’s work is in alignment with the concept of the superior-inferior relationship in which the inferior entity is always at mercy of the superior being. In “The Metamorphoses” the relationship between man and gods has been depicted as a relationship reflecting

running away: “She was graceful to see, as the wind bared her limbs and its gusts stirred her garments … 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.” (Ovid, Metamorphoses 1.526-7, 541-3) Apollo could have seized and raped her immediately but instead attempts to woe her with words in a courtly manner. Upon Daphne turning into a laurel tree Apollo declares: “You (Daphne: laurel) will accompany the generals of Rome