Ishika Paul

Professor Hannah Varkey

European Classical Literature

15 November 2019

ASPECTS OF DESIRE AND TRANSFORMATION IN OVID’S METAMORPHOSIS

The Metamorphosis by Ovid, who is probably one of the greatest Latin poets, touches upon a variety

of themes. The power and danger of love are a main theme running throughout this 15-book epic of

transformations. That amore, love, should be a main feature of Ovid’s epic is no surprise — he is one

of Latin poetry’s greatest love poets. Before turning to epic, after all, Ovid was devoted to the

elegiac verse. His first production was a series of love poems, the Amores. He also wrote the Ars

Amatoria— the art of love. So — no surprise that love and desire remain one of the most potent

driving factors when Ovid turns his mind to the epic verse.Part of the dangerous power of love lies in

the rejected lover. Throughout the Metamorphoses, people are slain or transformed because they

reject the love of some powerful being. Perhaps, as in Apollo and Daphne, the transformation is

salvation.Perhaps, as in Picus and Circe, the transformation is punishment. But nevertheless, the

transformation in each of the tales, never fail to drive home a moral implication in the minds of the

readers.

In this essay, I have focused mainly on the tales of Narcissus and Echo, the tale of Europa, Pygmalion,

Apollo and Daphne and, Athena and Arachne.

The enchanting yet melancholic story of Narcissus and Echo captivates the minds of the readers
from the beginning. Ovid manages to weave a beautiful story of self-love and unrequited love

through the two central characters of his story, Narcissus, a handsome youth from the city of

Thispae and Echo, an Oreiad nymph from Mount Cithareon. The myth recounts of how Echo is

initially cursed by Hera to remain voiceless for the rest of her life,enabling her only to repeat what

was being talked to her, as a punishment for helping Zeus distract Hera from his various affairs.Echo

immediately falls in love with his entrancing beauty but Narcissus, being destined to love only

himself ,rejects her brutally.The tale ends with Echo, weeping till she quite literally, withers away

leaving only the remnants of her voice and Narcissus being turned into the now,aptly named

Narcissus flower. This myth throws light on the power of love and how unrequited love spurns the

lover and the beloved; the disillusionment of life through extreme self-love and how it can ultimately

lead to one’s own downfall.

The second tale focussed upon in this essay is that of Apollo and Daphne. The myth revolves around

the fateful yet contradictory desire between the Sun God, Apollo, Son of Zeus, and Daphne, the

daughter of the River God, Ladon. The tale beings with how an enraged Cupid shoots two arrows,

one made of lead and another of gold, at Daphne and Apollo respectively. The lead arrow instils in

Daphne, a hatred for Apollo while the gold arrow maddens Apollo with a deep desire for Daphne.

This dichotomy is one of the major themes explored through this tale; the battle between love and

lust, love and hatred. Finally, Daphne entreats her father, the River God, Peneus, to put her out of

her misery. And this brings us to the critical junction of the story, wherein she is turned into a laurel

tree. Her hair changes into foliage,her hands transform into branches and her legs root themselves
deep in the earth. She is therefore immortalised by Apollo’s divine powers in the form of a laurel

tree; that will remain evergreen. The myth compels the readers of how the feelings of love and

disgust can lead to dangerous transformations under dire circumstances. It may also be a cautionary

tale reminding us to be careful of what we wish for. It focuses on the paradox of desire-even the

desire to stop desiring is in itself, a desire.

The third story,that of Arachne and Pallas Athena revolves showcases how the excessive desire to

succeed and outshine others, literally the Gods themselves, ultimately leads to nothing but

misfortune. It revolves around Arachne, a small village girl who is known in all the lands for her

exquisite weaving skills. She believed in her own skills so much so that she considered herself better

at it, even better than Pallus Athena herself, who is considered to be the goddess of the art of

weaving. This infuriates Athena ,and compels her to go to Arachne in the guise of an old woman and

warns her against her hubris, but later reveals herself as the goddess. Athena and Arachne engage in

a test of their skill where both of them weave intricate designs depicting various myths and tales

about gods and goddesses. Although Arachne chose to use her skill to mock the Gods and flawlessly

details the gods and their improprieties with mortal women, a thinly veiled ironic affront.But,owing

to her impeccable weaving skills she emerged victorious. Enraged, Athena rips apart,the tapestry out

and Arachne’s heart out of jealousy. This enraged Athena and she metamorphosed Arachne’s arms

and hair into long, slender limbs reduced her head to nothingness and ,thereby made her a spider.

Through the story, we see a darker side of desire being portrayed. The kind of desire that corrupts

and transforms you into a baser version of yourself. It throws light on how momentary desire can
haunt you for a lifetime.

The story of Pygmalion speaks mounts about the nature of male desire woven intricately with the

idea of transformation aided by the gratification of the divine. The story can be looked at through

the lens of artistic and sexual triumph, through the power of masculine desire that is largely self-

referential. The story also hints at themes that relate to the power of art,sexual triumph and

masculine desire which can also be seen in the tale of Narcissus and Echo. The willingness of

Pygmalion to create the “ideal woman” through his art but at the same time, despising all the

women in the land creates an interesting dichotomy in the minds of the readers. The very fact that

Pygmalion falls in love with his own work of art reveals to us how maddened with desire he is, for his

own artistic abilities. He is so deranged with uncontrollable love for his own creation, that he even

goes to the extent of adorning it with flowers, jewels and other embellishments, although it was a

lifeless figure. He becomes a prisoner to his desire and this disillusions him into believing that the

statue is something made out of flesh and blood. The very fact that Athena is overjoyed in seeing

that his ivory masterpiece resembles her in form,may be interpreted as to how even the gods take

delight in being desired by men , at least in this myth. Galatea in a sense,mirrors his own idea of

perfection he has of himself. This also tells us more of his own desire for himself in his own twisted

way; how he seeks to see himself in everything he creates or does.

Ovid refers to himself as “tenerorum lusor amorum” — the player of tender loves.But the tales of

love and desire of the Metamorphoses are not tender. They can be violent. Rape is a disturbiningly

common reality for Graeco-Roman women. Love and desire remains a powerful sentiment in most
of the myths Ovid places in front of the readers. Amor, eros, desire — driving people toward each

other and at the same time, pulling them in one direction or another. The poet knows it and exposes

it here, often at its grimmest — murder, deception, Oedipal love, conspiracy, suicide, starvation.

Maybe this is why Plato has Socrates articulate about seeking the good and the beautiful, and that

our powerful desires will ultimately only be satisfied by our hunger for the kallisto, the most

beautiful. Otherwise, we risk being turned into children of nature.

 WORKS CITED

1. Allison, Jane. “Love: First Sights in Ovid.” OUPblog, 1 Oct. 2014, blog.oup.com/2014/02/love-

first-sights-ovid/.

2. Danahay, Martin A. “Mirrors of Masculine Desire: Narcissus and Pygmalion in Victorian

Representation.” Victorian Poetry, 1 Apr. 1994, www.jstor.org/stable/40003078?

seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents.

3. “Echo and Narcissus in Greek Mythology.” Greek Legends and Myths,

www.greeklegendsandmyths.com/echo-and-narcissus.html.

4. Freeman, Amanda. “Women & Religion.” Athene and Arachne - Women &

Religion, 14 Nov. 2009, 23:41, women-religion.wikidot.com/forum/t-196859/athene-and-

arachne.

5. Micheal. “Ovid's Pygmalion: a Study Guide.” Ovid's Pygmalion: a Study Guide, 2017,

www.cummingsstudyguides.net/Guides3/pygmalion.html.

6. Mjh. “Love's Dangerous Power in Ovid's Metamorphoses.” The Wordhoard, 22 Oct. 2016,

matthewhoskin.wordpress.com/2016/10/22/loves-dangerous-power-in-ovids-

metamorphoses/.

7. “Pygmalion and Galatea.” U*X*L Encyclopedia of World Mythology, Encyclopedia.com, 13

Nov. 2019.

8. “Themes, Motifs, and Symbols - Myths and Legends.” Google Sites,

sites.google.com/site/mythsandlegendsnotes/apollo-daphne/themes-motifs-and-symbols.