Ovid's Devaluation of Sympathy in Metamorphoses

1789 Words4 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: The impact of emotions on decision-making

Ovid's Devaluation of Sympathy in Metamorphoses

Ovid reveals two similar tales of incest in the Metamorphoses. First, he describes the non-sisterly love Byblis acquires for her twin brother Caunus. Later, he revisits the incestuous love theme with the story of Myrrha who develops a non-filial love for her father, Cinyras. The two accounts hold many similarities and elicit varying reactions. Ovid constantly tugs at our emotions and draws forth alternating feelings of pity and disgust for the matters at hand. "Repetition with a difference" in these two narratives shows how fickle we can be in allotting and denying sympathy, making it seem less valuable.

Both tales begin drawing forth a sense of disgust for the situation in general yet arousing pity for each girl's predicament. Ovid clearly labels the love Byblis and Myrrha pursue illegitimate when he summarizes the moral of Byblis' tale stating, "when girls love they should love lawfully" (Mandelbaum 307) and reveals that "to hate a father is / a crime, but love like [Myrrha's] is worse than hate" (338) before describing Myrrha's tale. By presenting the girls as criminals, Ovid leads us to despise them. He then proceeds to draw out sympathy for Byblis and Myrrha as he describes their unsuccessful attempts to overcome these desires. Byblis dreams intimately about Caunus, but "when she's awake, she does not dare / to let her obscene hopes invade her soul" (308). "[Myrrha] strives; she tries; she would subdue / her obscene love," but she cannot (339). Right away, Ovid makes us question if these situations deserve our sympathy.

Byblis and Myrrha compel readers to sympathize with their plight as they orally confess their incestuous passions. They use selective lang...

... middle of paper ...

...d leaves us feeling sorry for Myrrha.

Ovid tells this tale of forbidden sin twice to show how inconsistent we are in allotting pity. He begins both tales drawing forth our contempt for the matters at hand, then ends both tales with images that arouse our pity. Throughout each story, our emotions sway between pity and disgust. Even though incest disgusts us, we sympathize with Byblis and Myrrha as they seek incestuous loves. Byblis' broken heart arouses our sympathy, yet Myrrha's "fulfilled heart" disgusts us. Ovid devalues our sympathy by showing how unstable we are with our emotions.

Works Cited

Mandelbaum, Allen, trans. The Metamorphoses of Ovid. By Ovid. San Diego: Harcourt Brace & company, 1993.

Crane, Gregory, ed. Perseus Project. 1995. Tufts University. 6 Oct. 1999 <http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/text?lookup=ov.+met.+init>

Show More
Related

  • The metamorphoses's lesson

    986 Words  | 2 Pages

    During Antiquity, what could explain the mystery of Earth? No one could explain its creation, and reason of some animals and other elements formation. The author Ovid in the book Metamorphoses uses the God’s myth to explain how the world was created, and explain the meaning of life or the creation of certain animals or plants. Ovid also uses those myths to teach us lessons, which is the main meaning of his myths. All the myths have a very specific ending. Ovid wrote those myth to show us what we should achieve and not accomplish, he is like the master in Tao Te Ching, and his tying to teach us, to be better in what we are doing, by showing the punishments the character had to deal with. The three myths that teach us the most are the Minerva and Arachne myth, the Daedalus and Icarus myth and the myth of Thisbe and Pyramus. In the myth of Minerva and Arachne the lesson is that we should never be to confident and to be respectful to higher-class people. In the Daedalus and Icarus myth, Icarus had over excitement, it made him forget his father’s advices, and in the myth of Thisbe and Pyramus, the myth shows us that we should never take decision to quick and we should always think before acting. Those three myths have a lot in common, they all finish tragically, and the characters are punished or transformed to teach us the creation of some animals or elements.

    Read More

  • Alice Walker

    717 Words  | 2 Pages

    •     AW’s work is deeply rooted in oral tradition; in the passing on of stories from generation to generation in the language of the people. To AW the language had a great importance. She uses the “Slave language”, which by others is seen as “not correct language”, but this is because of the effect she wants the reader to understand.

    Read More

  • Philomela In Ovid's Metamorphoses

    211 Words  | 1 Pages

    Philomela is a minor figure in Greek mythology. Ovid’s Metamorphoses tells the tale of Philomela, the daughter of the king of Athens – Pandion. King Pandion offers his other daughter, Procne in marriage to Tereus. Tereus rapes his wifes sister, Philomela and mutilates her. Philomela and Procne hacked at little Itys, Procne and Tereus’s son and took his body parts, cooked it and fed it to Tereus. As Tereus feasts he asks for Itys to join him, this is where Procne reveals the ugly truth to him. Philomela enters and throws Itys’s bloody head at Tereus. He then jumps up and chases after the women with his sword, wanting to kill them. Before he can get to them, they all turn into birds, and Tereus does not catch them. In the text we are confronted

    Read More

  • Franz Kafka's The Metamorphosis

    1099 Words  | 3 Pages

    Hibberd, John. “The Metamorphosis: Overview.” Reference Guide to World Literature. Ed. Lesley Henderson. 2nd ed. New York: St. James Press, 1995.

    Read More

  • Nt1330 Unit 3 Assignment 3 Business Plan

    506 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Jaagz’ local area network will use category 5 cable and run IEEE 802.3 protocol. Using IEEE 802.3, the network speed will average about 10 Mbps. It will utilize a combination of a star and bus topology, which is the most common topology used in networks. The bus topology makes up the backbone of the network while the star topology branches out.

    Read More

  • The Concept of Love in Ovid's Metamorphoses

    409 Words  | 1 Pages

    In Ovid's Metamorphoses, the concept of love seems to vary from character to character. In one case, a god in the form of a man desperately seeks a particular woman and refuses to relent until he has her. In another instance, a female goddess cares deeply for a man and goes to great lengths to protect him from danger. In yet another case, both who are arranged to be married seem indifferent about the matter.

    Read More

  • Homosexuality In Shakespeare's Twelfth Night

    1416 Words  | 3 Pages

    Though Olivia originally falls in love with what she believed to be a man, it is apparent that it is the feminine qualities in Cesario that drive her passion for him and his identical twin, Sebastian. Olivia’s indifference towards the well-rounded qualities seen in Orsino is explained due to her inability to love a man; however, her society’s ignorance towards the topic makes

    Read More

  • Network Topology Essay

    1468 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the Figure 2.11, the star network topology is connected to a printer device and a wireless access point device, and acts as the backbone for two branches that connecting 25 PCs in a bus topology. In the star backbone, the devices are not directly connected to each other. For example, if a user wants to print a document, his PC is required t...

    Read More

  • Network Design

    1270 Words  | 3 Pages

    "Implementing a Network Design." Scaling Networks Companion Guide. Indianapolis: Cisco, 2014. N. pag. Safari Books Online. Web. 21 Apr. 2014. .

    Read More

  • Local Area Networks

    888 Words  | 2 Pages

    Local Area Networks also called LANs have been a major player in industrialization of computers. In the past 20 or so years the worlds industry has be invaded with new computer technology. It has made such an impact on the way we do business that it has become essential with an ever-growing need for improvement. LANs give an employer the ability to share information between computers with a simple relatively inexpensive system of network cards and software. It also lets the user or users share hardware such as Printers and scanners. The speed of access between the computers is lighting fast because the data has a short distance to cover. In most cases a LAN only occupies one or a group of buildings located next to each other. For larger area need there are several other types of networks such as the Internet.

    Read More

  • Analysis of King Midas and the Golden Touch

    1396 Words  | 3 Pages

    Naso, Publius O. Ovid: A Legamus Transitional Reader. Trans. Caroline A. Perkins and Denise Davis-Henry. Wauconda, IL: Bolchazy-Carducci, 2007. Print.

    Read More

  • Transformations in Ovid's Metamorphosis

    1371 Words  | 3 Pages

    ...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.

    Read More

  • Theme Of Love In Shakespeare's Twelfth Night

    1008 Words  | 3 Pages

    In 1.1, Shakespeare displays this suffering with Orsino who has unnatural love for Olivia. In this scene Shakespeare has written Orsino as a character who cannot focus on anything except for Olivia because he is captivated by her prance. “Why, so I do, the noblest that I have: O, when mine eyes did see Olivia first, Methought she purged the air of pestilence” (1.1, 20-21). Also within the same scene Shakespeare has Valentine tells Orsino that Olivia was still mourning over the death of her brother. Shakespeare treats love with Olivia with also the same unnatural love but for her dead family, which has isolated her from potential love with Osorio and latter described she isolates her self from the world. “A brother’s dead love, which she would keep fresh And lasting in her sad remembrance” (1.1, 33-34). Shakespeare, within this scene, has his characters engulfed with the feeling of none reciprocated love, which is torture for his main characters, Osorio and

    Read More

  • Networking Report

    6028 Words  | 13 Pages

    ADSL 16port Router with built in Modem & Firewall Source: PC World     The Instant Broadband EtherFast Cable/DSL VPN Router is the ideal solution for remotely accessing a network securely over the Internet using cutting edge encryption and authentication methods.16Port Router, which expands its functionality and security, features by utilizing 56-bit DES and 168-bit 3DES encryption, and Internet Key Exchange (IKE). A built-in IPSec coprocessor from Hifn allows for complete data privacy for the access and exchange of your most sensitive data from your home to your corporate network or between remote branch offices without the additional cost of IPSec VPN client software for each computer. The Router is capable of conducting up to 70 simultaneous IPSec VPN tunnels while allowing additional savings with no upgrade fees or technical support costs.

    Read More

  • Topology And Network Topologies

    978 Words  | 2 Pages

    In this topology, every device is connected to the same line of a cable. In this topology, data us transmitted only in one direction.

    Read More

More about Ovid's Devaluation of Sympathy in Metamorphoses

Open Document