The stories in Ovid’s Metamorphosis explore many elements of human nature, including love and sexuality. Many of the myths involve a god falling in love with a girl, as Zeus does with Io (pg. 21). They may also involve a girl not wanting anything to do with love in any way, idolizing Diana, Goddess of the Maidens. There are many sides to love and sexuality in the book. Metamorphosis explores ancient Roman and Greek ideals about individuals, the way that love was perceived, and how the people of that time saw gender as pertaining to love. Many of the stories imply that women had no say in sexual encounters; it was always up to the man what happened. Many times, in fact, the women were forced into sexual situations that they wanted no part in.
Ovid divides his book up in several different ways. He changes from gods hurting human, to humans hurting humans, to humans becoming gods. He also divides it up in that the first sections were about gods in love, then he moves on to gods avenging themselves and others, and then to the pathos of love, and finally to the history of Rome. In dividing the book up in these ways he helps to show the importance of individuals as compared to gods or the creation of their city. For example t
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If it was necessary to conform to some ideal or custom, then they would, whether they agreed with it or not. Procne exacts revenge on him by killing his son and going to her sister to help her. ” Juno makes Echo lose her power of individual speech. The fact that some of the issues that he addresses are taken lightly indicate that they had different values than we do. For example Echo loves Narcissus desperately, yet he wants nothing to do with her. They saw it as a way to procreate, as equivalent to sex in many cases. Tereus is married to Procne, yet he desires her sister, Philomela. The fact that someone could write about this in a book supposedly meant for entertainment show that the Greeak and Roman people must not have thought that rape was a very serious thing.
A few times, when men do something horrible in Metamorphosis they lose half of their man hood, one even becomes half woman, Hermaphroditus. ” The fact that Echo can only repeat what her love says, as well as what others say, indicates that she herself has no real identity.
Ovid could go as far as to indicate that all women in ancient Greek and Roman society had no identity of their own.
The gods and goddesses often see erotic desire as a means for revenge. ” In this story Ovid addresses the issue and comes up with a solution, one woman should become a man.
Approximate Word count =
1425
Approximate Pages =
6 (250 words per page double spaced)
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