Ovid Study Guide - Summary Metamorphosis PDF

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Study guide for Metamorphoses...

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Metamorphoses by Ovid Study Guide Who is Ovid, and what are the Metamorphoses? - Roman poet - Lived from 43 BCE to 17 CE - Wrote Metamorphoses (his magnum opus) around 8 CE - Metamorphoses is a massive single poem comprising 15 books and over 250 myths - It tells through these stories the narrative of everything from the creation of the world to Ovid’s present time, ending with the death of Julius Caesar just a few years before Ovid’s birth Ovid’s style, form, and genre - Ovid wrote in Latin in poetic form and used dactylic hexameter, the same form Homer used when writing his Greek epics - Although the Metamorphoses  could technically be called an epic poem (due in part to its continuity throughout), its massively wide variety of themes, characters, settings, and stories sets it apart from epic poetry as a genre and puts it into a class of its own - It follows Vergil’s one-upping of Homer, and seems to one-up the both of them, telling the story of the entire world in a matter of 15 books - Ovid uses extremely descriptive wording and imagery, often using color descriptors and multiple adjectives for some nouns and constantly conjuring vivid images in the reader’s mind - To maintain the continuity, Ovid ensured that every transition between two stories, no matter how different they were, would function as a segue and not a sudden switch Themes and Motifs in the Metamorphoses - Metamorphosis (Transformation) - Obviously. As he explicitly states in his prologue, Ovid weaves his continuous poem together by means of the “Changes of shape” and “new forms” (1.1) which occur in every one of his stories - Although every story contains at least one transformation (a few, such as Caenis, contain two), there are many types of transformation (from human to animal, plant, or inanimate object and vice versa, of sex, etc.) - Example: Every story - Nature - Elements of nature are present throughout both Ovid’s language and analogies and the metamorphoses themselves, especially in many of the earlier ones (that tell stories from mythology), where people are transformed into animals or plants and vice versa - Examples: Daphne becoming a tree (and Apollo using the analogy of “a wolf pursuing a lamb” (1.504), and Ovid describing Apollo as a greyhound and “one

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running to capture his prey” (1.533)), Lycaon becoming a wolf (~16.230), the creation story itself (1.5), etc. Violence - As with almost every text we’ve read this semester, many of the stories contain violence and violent language - Examples: This is most notable in the later stories involving the Trojan war (books 12-15), but also the earlier myths such as Daphne and Apollo (physical and sexual violence) (1.450) Mythology and the gods - Many of Ovid’s earlier stories, such as the ones we read in books 1, 3, 6, and 10, are retellings of stories already present in Roman mythology, some with slight variations (but that’s true of every piece of text that talks about mythology; there are even discrepancies between the Iliad and the Odyssey). Furthermore, the gods are almost always involved in the metamorphoses, again especially in the earlier ones - Examples: Narcissus (3.339), Apollo/Daphne (1.450), the flood (1.253), etc. Power - Several of the metamorphoses involve power dynamics, especially when the metamorphoses come as punishments from the gods - Examples: Narcissus and the flood (examples of divine punishment) and Apollo/Daphne (example of power dynamic within the story) Etiologies - Many of the transformations seem to be explanations of how we came to have certain things/animals/phenomena in the world - Examples: the creation story (explaining the whole world), Arachne (explaining how we got spiders) (6.1), Narcissus and Echo (explaining how we got echoes) Love/Desire - Love and desire are present in many of Ovid’s stories both as motivating forces for good and for evil (though we don’t necessarily know where he stands on many moral issues such as rape) - Examples: Apollo’s “love”/desire for Daphne and Pygmalion’s love for his statue (Galatea) (10.243) History - Ultimately, Metamorphoses  is all about telling the history of the world through the lense of the above themes. As we get to the later books, in which Ovid tells of the fall of Troy and the later Greek heroes (Achilles, Ulysses, etc.) as well as the more recent figures, like Julius Caesar, the stories become more and more fact-based and historically accurate (as far as we can tell), while still speaking of the gods and other-worldly transformations.

Key Stories/Myths Creation of “Everything” (Book 1, pg. 5-20) -

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Ovid “weaves” us through his stories from the beginning of time to his own lifetime. The common “thread” is the idea of transformation, which seemingly connects all of them. There is an emphasis on art, particularly his  art, and the gods who transformed it as he writes. Creation begins with Chaos, or disharmonious elements that eventually come together to create the Earth. Nature is separated into domains and life is given roles based on them (Ocean, Air, etc.). Humans are created from the Earth in the likeness of the divine and would hold dominion over the rest of the beasts. There are four ages that follow human creation: - Golden Age: Peaceful, no farming, no civilization, no punishment, or laws - just nature and the season of Spring. - Silver Age: Seasons are divided in four, and spring became short. People now started to take shelter in caves. - Bronze and Iron Age: Man discovered weaponry and things like creed. Civilizations began to form and people started fighting with one another. The four ages show a gradual descent back into Chaos, as people become more civilized. Cyclicality, or returning back to some inherent character, is an important motif. After a massive flood, because the Gods thought humans would become too powerful, human beings were reborn from pieces of stone.

Apollo and Daphne (Book 1, pg. 28-33) -

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Apollo is struck by an arrow that causes him to love Daphne, while Daphne is struck by an arrow that causes her flee Apollo, both physically and in spirit. Daphne’s refusal to love can be interpreted as an attempt to protect her sexuality. This occurs again with Caenis later in the book. She explicitly wishes to remain a virgin and her father permits it. Apollo ferociously pursues Daphne, worrying for her getting hurt, but eventually giving in to his passion. He is compared to a “greyhound” that is chasing down its prey and closing its “jaws” on Daphne. A peculiar metaphor for a God and the “act of love” that gives an insight on what love means in this book. Daphne in her efforts to avoid being “captured” by Apollo, asks to be rid of her beauty that gave her to love. Her form starts changing into a tree. - This transformation is particularly interesting due to the different angles from which we have observed it in class. Looking from Apollo’s side, it is elegant, no emotion can be seen on their faces, and Daphne’s body is still there.

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Meanwhile from Daphne’s side, we see that this transformation is occurring while Daphne is still running away. It appears almost violent, Daphne’s body is already entrenched in roots, and her face shows distress. Looking at different translations, there are many mentions of her limbs being transformed and rooted in place. There is an emphasis on her previous motion and a loss of bodily autonomy, though this is what she had asked for. As Apollo names Daphne “Apollo’s tree,” the top of the tree “seems” to nod in agreement. Though, this interpretation of consent is ambiguous.

Caenis (Book 12, pg. 473-89) -

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Caenis was once courted by many suitors and she was raped by Neptune. She wished that she could become a man so that she would never have to suffer this experience again. Neptune granted it and also gave Caenis immunity to “sword points” (i.e. weapons that would penetrate the body). Centaurs were invited to a wedding where they got drunk and caused a violent uprising. Centaurs start killing everyone, but can’t kill Caeneus. One centaur claims Caeneus will always be a woman, tells him to remember the shame he suffered to become a man, and go back to basket weaving. Caenus kills the centaur on the particular transition between horse and man. No centaur can kill him. Caeneus decides to return the blow and, here, he is acknowledged to be man by the centaurs. They feel feeble to have been defeated by the hands of someone whose sex is in doubt. The centaurs crushed Caenis under the weight of several trees. From the pile, a rust winged bird emerged. Caeneus remarked to be the sole bird of his kind among men. Seeing this symbol, the remaining men killed of the rest of the centaurs.

Ajax/Ulysses (Book 13, pg. 497-515) -

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After Achilles’ death, Ajax and Ulysses (AKA Odysseus) both want Achilles’ armor/shield To determine who will be awarded the armor, Ajax and Ulysses debate their merits and qualifications to “the chieftains,” who will decide what happens Except Ajax doesn’t address his speech to the chieftains, he addresses it to the people, which Ulysses is smart enough not to do Ajax says his valor, strength in battle, and familial connection to Achilles should earn him the armor, while Ulysses says his wits, skill in debate, and the fact that he has been wounded and suffered for the people should give him the win - It’s ironic that the competition between the better debater and the better fighter is a debate - I wonder who it’s biased toward? Ulysses also says that Ajax isn’t as qualified because he wouldn’t understand the artwork on the shield, raising an interesting point about how Ovid values art and calling out Vergil for writing a character (Aeneas) that doesn’t understand fine art Surprise! Ulysses, the one who’s skilled in debate, wins the debate (and the armor).

Hecuba (Book 13, pg. 517-25) -

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During the sacking of Troy, Hecuba’s daughter is killed by the sword, so she doesn’t have to suffer the life of a slave. Hecuba grieves for the loss of her children (at the hands and spirit of Achilleus), the fact that she has to see their bodies, her inability to give them proper offerings, and the prospect of becoming a slave. As Hecuba sees her last remaining son’s dead body, she loses herself in rage, and fills her mind with images of vengeance. Hecuba lured the man who murdered her son with gold and killed him. She then started to defile the body and savagely claw at his eyes. As she turned to speak, she barked and became a dog. People and gods alike were distressed by her fate. Hecuba had a particular relationship with the dead. She was also mentioned to have been kissing the bones of her sons and keeping Hector’s ashes in her garments....