MetamorphosesBy Ovid

A long, long time ago, there was a man named Ovid. He had a love and talent for poetry. His epic poem, Metamorphoses, confused readers because it was a collection of stories with no main plot or protagonist.

Inspired by Greek myths and legends, the stories told in Metamorphoses may seem random, but they all share one thing...

Tiresias• Tiresias came upon snakes mating in the woods. He poked them with

a stick to get them to stop. This action angered the Goddess Hera, so she turned Tiresias into a woman. When she(he) came across the snakes again, she(he) let them be and was turned back into a man.

• Sometime later, Hera and Zeus get into an argument over who gets more pleasure out of sex: men or women. To settle the argument, they decide to ask Tiresias, because he had experienced life as both sexes. Tiresias reveals that women get more pleasure than men from sex. This angers Hera, for she had Zeus convinced that the men gained more pleasure from the experience. In her anger Hera strikes Tiresias blind. Feeling bad about what had happened, Zeus gives Tiresias the gift of second sight.

Narcissus & Echo• Echo is a wood nymph who was cursed by Juno with the ability to only

repeat what is spoken to her. She was in love with a man named Narcissus, and watched him in the woods every day.• Narcissus is an arrogant, self-centered man. He is very handsome and

felt that no one was worthy of his love.

•While in the woods one day, Narcissus hears footsteps. He calls out to whoever it is to reveal themselves and come join him. Suddenly out of the woods Echo comes flying and jumps onto Narcissus. She is so happy that he asked her to join him. But Narcissus flings her off of him and declares that he would rather die than be with Echo.• Echo runs away, embarrassed, and eventually dies of grief.

Her body becomes one with the mountains, and only her voice remains.• Angered by the behavior of Narcissus, the gods decide to

curse him to love someone who could never love him back.

• One day later Narcissus comes across a pool of water. He looks into it and mistakes his reflection for a water nymph. He leans in to kiss the nymph, but when he touches the water the image fades. Narcissus emerges from the water confused as to why the nymph will not love him. He dies from grief, sitting by the pool of water, waiting to be loved by someone who is not real.

Arachne• Arachne was a gifted weaver. Her skills were admired by all. Observers

would comment that she was so good, she must have been trained by Athena herself. This made Arachne scoff. She declared that not even Athena could weave better than her.• Athena got word of this declaration and decided to pay Arachne a

visit, disguised as an old woman. Athena walked up to Arachne and warned her not insult the gods. Arachne laughed and boldly stated that she welcomed a challenge from the goddess Athena and would accept any punishment given to her.• Upon hearing this, Athena revealed herself. Arachne stood her

ground. Both weave such beautiful pieces that it is unclear who is victorious.

• Athena was jealous and furious. She destroyed Arachne’s creation and made her feel full guilt for her actions.• The guilt was too much for Arachne to handle, and she later hung

herself.• Athena, feeling bad for what she had caused, brought Arachne back

to life as a spider, so that she and her descendants could be talented weavers forever.

Daedalus & Icarus• Daedalus and his son, Icarus, served under King Minos. One day the

king asked Daedalus to build a Labyrinth so that he could imprison the Minotaur. King Minos would pick tributes to sacrifice to the Minotaur.• One day the King of Athens, Theseus, came to King Minos and told

him he would like to volunteer to be sacrificed. He had intentions of slaying the Minotaur. The king’s daughter, Ariadne, fell in love with Theseus and begged Daedalus to show him how to get through the Labyrinth. Daedalus agreed and showed Theseus the way. The King of Athens slayed the Minotaur.

• King Minos found out what Daedalus had done and imprisoned him and Icarus in the Labyrinth.• To escape, Daedalus made wings out of feathers and wax for him and

his son. They would fly away. Daedalus warned Icarus not to fly too close to the sun, for it would melt the wax in his wings. But Icarus was overcome with the joy of flying, and flew high in the sky, close to the sun. His wings melted, and he fell to the sea, dead. Daedalus lived and made it to Sicily. Icarus’s body washed up, and he was properly buried.

Orpheus & Eurydice• Orpheus was a talented and famous musician. He met Eurydice, and

they fell in love and got married. The God of Marriage, Hymen, attends their wedding, but offers no words of encouragement and doesn’t speak at all.• After the wedding, Eurydice decides to take a walk in the woods. The

shepherd Aristaeus appears and chases after Eurydice in lust. Not paying attention to where she is running, Eurydice stumbles upon a viper. It bites her and she dies.

• Overcome with grief over the loss of his wife, Orpheus decides to go to the Underworld and get Eurydice back.• He uses his music to charm the creatures and souls in the Underworld

so that he can find Hades and Persephone. When he finds them, he gives a speech and begs them to release Eurydice. Hades and Persephone agree, but there is a catch. Eurydice must walk behind Orpheus out of the Underworld, and Orpheus is not allowed to turn and look at Eurydice until they have both existed back into the mortal world.

• Orpheus and Eurydice begin their walk out of the Underworld. Orpheus is so overcome with passion and happiness that as soon as he exits the Underworld he turns to Eurydice. But she hasn’t fully exited the Underworld, and so she is immediately sucked back in.

•All of these stories share a common theme: metamorphosis. Whether it be physical, mental, or spiritual, all the characters transform and grow. They all learn something. When you look at the metamorphosis of the heroes in the stories, you can see that Ovid’s epic poem, Metamorphoses, isn’t random at all. It is a poem that represents the changes that anyone can go through, the changes that the world and humans have gone through since the beginning of time. It represents development and growth and understanding.

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Damrosch, David. Gateways to world literature: the Ancient World through the Early Modern period. Boston: Pearson, 2012. Print.