In book one of the metamorphoses, Ovid talks of artists, and how art can be used to create and transform. Metamorphoses means transformation or change, so in one word, Ovid’s title tells the reader what is to come. Ovid uses art in the Metamorphoses to prove a point. To show how strong the human spirit is, or to teach you to watch what you say, because you never know who is around. The story of Arachne displays a great example of watching what you say. Minerva hears Arachne saying that she is the greatest weaver, and Minerva sets out to prove her wrong. With Daedalus and Icarus, Daedalus uses his art to try and find an escape for him and his son. Showing just how strong he is and how much he cares for his son. For Pygmalion, his art shows the power of his love and how much he wants to find the proper woman for himself.
Book six, the story of Arachne tell of a girl who grew up in a humble home, and had the most wonderful weaving, so much so that she compares herself to Minerva’s talents. Arachne creates magnificent art with these skills, art that people would travel to see in progress.
The nymphs used often to leave their haunts, Mount
Tmolus’ vines or the banks of the river Pacótlus, to gaze on Arachne’s amazing artistry, equally eager to watch her handwork in progress (her skill was so graceful) as much as to look at the finished article (Ov. Met. 6.14-18)
In this case, Ovid uses art to have Minerva teach Arachne a lesson. Both ladies have fantastic skills, but Minerva was the one who taught her, and had more experience weaving. This did not stop Arachne from trying to win, but it was futile. Minerva is a god after all. If Arachne had just listened, and was humble about where her skills came from, she would not have ...
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...y of time on your hands. With the help of Venus, this statue of a woman becomes the real thing, flesh and blood. Someone who Pygmalion can love, and she can love him back as well.
As for Ovid, the connect that I see between the creator in the creation myth and Ovid the creator in the epilogue is that, Ovid created the entire book, Metamorphoses, and in the end of the book he says,
That day which has power over nothing expect this / body of mine / may come when it will and end the uncertain span of / my life. (Ov. Met. 15.872-874)
We can see that Ovid is definitely not immortal; his life will come to an end eventually. The creator in book one, created everything, with the exception of man, which is the category that Ovid falls into. Ovid created the entire story, but he did not create the entire world, nor do I think that he is trying to give himself that credit.
The author talks about the meaning behind the two pieces, Doryphoros (Spearbearer) and Aphrodite of Knidos. He begins by going into the basic history of what men and women at the time were expected to do during their short lived lives. He paired these two pieces because of the masculinity and femininity that divides and unites the two classical Greek sculptures. Stewart talks about genders and the gender roles that were expected of men and women at the time the artwork was made in ancient Greece. Both pieces are linked to power and vulnerability. The author goes into full detail throughout his research, giving background, reasoning, and explanation between the importance of the pieces, linking them to the important of idealized perfection.
While working, there were people who would come from remote areas and watch her weave skillfully. On page 19, the text says, “If Athene herself were to come were to come down and compete with me, she could do no better than I.” Her bold action was challenging Athene, a goddess, to a weaving competition. Additionally, on page 19, “Arachne herself flushed red for a moment, for she had really believed that the goddess would hear her.” Arachne took an action that could possibly embarrass herself. During their competition, Arachne had designed “a pattern of which showed evil or unworthy actions of the gods, how they had deceived fair maidens, resorted to trickery, and appeared on earth from time to time in the form poor and humble people.” and Athene had designed “a border of twined branches of the olive, Athene’s favorite tree, while in the middle, figures began to appear. As they looked at the glowing colors, the spectators realized that Athene was weaving into her pattern a last warning to Arachne.” Athene had created that embroidery to warn Arachne, and Arachne made an embroidery to disgrace the goddess. Arachne’s bold action caused Athene to be angry and then turned Arachne into a spider. Arachne’s consequence for her bold action was her descendants and herself to turn into
... must simply bow to the writers cunning and somewhat existential flair in renewing the myths of old. It is hard to see why it took so many years for the Metamorphoses to become part of mainstream education yet it can also be seen as a work of mythological superiority in the form of poetry covering all genres with its underlying tales of deception, sexual exploits, corruption, rape and the hunt can be transported into modern life.
In contrast, Ovid conceived a different purpose for his epic. He wrote fifteen books, compared to Virgil's twelve, with many of his stories originating from Greek and Roman myth, concerned with the transformations of shapes, from the creation of the world to Julius Caesar's death and deification. He focuses on entertaining the reader in a humorous fashion, and rather than establishing Rome's origins in history, he is more concerned with establishing his own fame, for the future ages. These different backgrounds of the two authors illustrate that they each had contrasting agendas for their books. Thus, the portrayal of the gods differs greatly-Virgil's are austere and purposeful, whereas, Ovid's are humorous, reflecting his neoteric style, and intentionally different from the Virgilian gods.
Ovid's purpose for writing the creation story is geared more towards explaining creation as it happens, in his opinion, whereas the Bible stresses the fact that the God of the Hebrews is responsible for the world's existence today. Overall, Ovid is very detailed in explaining the formless mass, creation of the earth, waters and land metaphorically. The Biblical account seems to be more plain, simple, and organized; not spending time on intricate detail. There seems to be no specific time frame for creation in Ovid's writing, whereas, the Bible states that it takes God six ... ... middle of paper ... ...
The complex pagan religious system of the Romans mirrored that of the Greeks, but what Ovid sought to create was a solid (nearly Bible-like) account of the formation of the world and the source of the multifarious gods. Essentially, Ovid is seeking to rationalize and dogmatize the dozens of deities. Ovid believed that the relationship between the gods and man was reciprocal; they depended on each other for existence:
In the movie A Beautiful Mind, the description of schizophrenia is shown in many accurate ways. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) states that the symptoms of this disease are delusions, hallucinations, disorganized speech, or unorganized or catatonic behavior. People with schizophrenia are also socially withdrawn and awkward when in contact with other people. These traits of the sickness are shown in detail throughout the movie by way of the character John Nash’s struggle with the disease. Nash is a very intelligent professor but believes he is working with the government to foil a Soviet attack plot. Nash eventually goes onto win a Nobel Prize for one of his theories. The movie shows the effects of schizophrenia on not only one man, but also on the friends and family of the ill individual. Treatment is discussed but not to any great length due to him ignoring the doctor’s orders on medication. Overall the movie shows some very prevalent traits of the disease in great detail during certain parts of the film.
Over the course of history, art has been used for many different purposes. It has been used to relay a message to the illiterate and show off the face of an emperor. Presently, art has no other purpose except to be aesthetically pleasing to the eye. Back in the days of ancient Greece and Crete, that was not the case. The Minoans were a people who lived on an island near one of the oldest and most well-documented civilizations of the Western world. While they may have been advanced for their time, much of what we now know about their culture has come from examining their art. In the Minoan culture, different forms of artwork held different religious and political meaning.
There are consistent parallels created through descriptions of Ovid’s political status. Due to his ostracism, he is separated both from outside elements of society and ideals that exist in his own mind. In the opening paragraphs, Ovid describes his natural surroundings and the characteristics of the landscape, and ends with the statement:
Pygmalion gets its name from the commended story in Ovid's Metamorphoses, in which Pygmalion, sickened by the isolates and abhorrent lives of the women of his period, decides to live alone and unmarried. With wondrous workmanship, he makes a superb statue more flawless than any living woman. The more he looks upon her, the more significantly he falls head over heels in adoration for her, until he wishes that she were more than a statue. This statue is Galatea. Lovesick, Pygmalion goes to the asylum of the goddess Venus and supplicates that she accommodate him a critical one like his statue; Venus is touched by his friendship and brings Galatea to life. Exactly when Pygmalion returns from Venus' haven and kisses his statue, he is satisfied to
The difference between the way Homer and Ovid present the gods and their relation to human being is that in Homer, the gods are more tough on the humans than in The Metamorphoses. In The Iilad, some gods were focused on returning Odysseus home while some were trying to stop him in his tracks. This story also focuses more on environment and symbolism because of the way the story is written. In Metamorphoses, the gods seem to care more about human beings. They show stronger emotions towards them. You can see this through all of the theme changes that occur in the story. They penalized people who were wicked and reward those that were piety. Metamorphoses set the tone in Book I, when the gods punished Lycaon for trying to kill Jupiter in his
This anti-epic certainly does not follow the adventurous theme of the epic. There is no protagonist hero to focus on unless you visualize the god's prey as the hero in his/her escape. The assembled writings seem to be more of a recording of the misdeeds of the gods. It appears that Ovid wanted to write about the desires of gods and people instead of a great adventure.
Moreover, both My Fair Lady and Pygmalion shared similar connections to the myth in Ovid’s Pygmalion as well as certain character archetypes through their endings. Some of the themes are more prominent in the ending of the movie as opposed to the play although both are able to emphasize the same
young Arachne becomes especially famous with her amazing weaving and spinning. But when Arachne becomes famous she becomes very rude and develops a bad attitude of hubris. She thinks that she is as good as all gods and goddesses. The daughter of Zeus, Athena listens to what Arachne is saying. Athena wants to disguise herself as a crone to warn Arachne about her hubris. Arachne does not listen to the wiseness of the crone and responds very rudely. Then Arachne proceeds to insult Athena. Athena reveals herself as a goddess and
...ses may be read and interpreted separately, taken together rather than apart, the stories can be more effectively linked. The use of repetition throughout the work and constant symbolism in each tale help connect the stories. The entire work is in poetic form, and the literary techniques used are consistent with the time period. Common symbols are used throughout. A common motif is the stretching out of arms preceding metamorphosis. Also, the imagery of hunting coincides with that of sexual passion. Daphne is a huntress and is associated strongly with the forest and nature. It is fitting then that she is the character pursued by Apollo. The vocabulary of hunger and thirst, or devouring and drinking are associated with acts of violence. The constant repetition and the imagery in Metamorphoses are key to interpreting what Ovid is trying to convey to the reader. The power of change is the central issue in each story and in all the stories combined. Change as a vehicle of escape, punishment, or any means to an end is apparent in virtually every story in the book.