Mini Task 3.

1
Critique the Greek

Name: Helaena Gabrielle A. Morales Teacher: Ma’am Lim

Gr. & Sec.: 10 - St. Damian Date: March 25, 2022

THE STORY OF PYGMALION AND GALATEA

Pygmalion and Galatea is perhaps one of Greek mythology's most well-known

legends. Pygmalion and Galatea has been one of the greatest influential and motivating
ancient Greek tales, serving as the inspiration for numerous theatrical productions,
films, and artworks. Pygmalion, a sculptor, uses his passion for sculpture to express his
feelings toward the women of Cyprus. He disliked being around ladies because they
made him feel unpleasant. He completely avoided every woman in town. The story of
Pygmalion and Galatea depicts a person's devotion for something.

Pymalion was a skilled Greek sculptor who lived on the island of Cyprus.
Pygmalion only recognizes the imperfections in every woman in Cyprus, which
encourages him to live life to the fullest. He devoted his life to sculpting and eventually
created Galatea, a beautiful masterpiece made of ivory. Pymalion would treat Galathea,
his sculpture, as if she were a real woman. He felt himself applying hammer and chisel
strokes with increasing fondness. Every day, he would give it presents, caress, kiss, and
chat to it. He selected seashells, beads, songbirds, trinkets, and blossoms that he
thought would appeal to women. He'd dress the statue up in finery, placing diamonds on
her wrists, garlands around her neck, and even pearls on her ears. Pygmalion is
completely dependent on galatea; imagine how much more so if it were alive. What an
irony that he, who loathed women, would form a bond with a lady who could never
return his emotions. When Pymgalon approaches Aphrodite, the goddess of love, and
presents her a bull, the plot of the story becomes even more intriguing. The plot
revolves around love and longing.

Galatea transformed into a human and married Pygmalion not long after. All are
enthralled by Pygmalion and Galatea's extraordinary love story. Perhaps Pygmalion was
meant to fall in love with his own creation and subsequently marry the object of his
devotion. Thousands of people, even young lovers, are still enthralled by this
extraordinary love that existed between two individuals at a time when society was in its
existence.
 Pygmalion and Galatea is a well-known story. There are two versions of the story.
The other Pygmalion was a king, but he was the ruler of Cyprus. This Pygmalion is
famous for falling in love with an ivory statue of a woman. Pygmalion was said to have
carved the statue in several versions of the narrative. However, if we look to Ovid's
Metamorphoses, which was written much later than the original Greek stories, during
the heyday of ancient Rome, such a plot description can be expanded out. The statue,
on the other hand, was not given a name. Despite this, Pygmalion names the statue
Galatea in popular culture.

According to twentieth-century literary scholar Meyer Reinhold, the term Galatea

was first linked with sculpture in the eighteenth century, when Jean-Jacques Rousseau
produced a play about the Pygmalion tale. The name, on the other hand, is perfectly
appropriate for the ‘ivory statue' in the story, as it means "milky white" in ancient Greek.
The myth of Pygmalion and Galatea, in particular, is rich in meaning and significance.
The story conveys something true about art, inspiration, and masculine attitudes toward
femininity and womanhood.

Another understanding of the Pygmalion tale is plainly less positive, since it

implies that males can only like or adore women who are fashioned in their image. The
Pygmalion myth has been written about by a number of poets, including Robert Graves,
who believed passionately in the idea of the feminine muse motivating the new artist
and composed two poems about it. Pygmalion expresses sorrow for making the wish for
the statue to come alive in Roy Fuller's villanelle on Pygmalion and Galatea.