Analysis of Ovids Metamorphoses - Book Report/Review Example

ELIT2055-A1 World Literature Paper Pyramus and Thisbe Whom death has joined, lying at last together (Ovid's 'Metamorphoses Ovid's 'Metamorphoses', a Greek and Roman masterpiece, woven together with the threads of love and tragedy, was written by one of the greatest poets of his time and helped to established him firmly on the map of Western literature. 'Love' though universal in acceptance, is so personal to the individual. Myriads of tales narrate the experiences of lovers - some successful some not, some happy but some sad, some winners and some losers, some victorious others defeated. Ovid's 'Metamorphoses' is a rich amalgamation of so many exploits of the lovers that stirs intense feelings and emotions within the hearts of its audiences. The fundamental theory encasing the contentions of Ovid is that pure love endures even unto death. However, human nature prevents something as beautiful as love to blossom by nipping it in the bud. The ego, jealousy, anger hatred and wickedness in people blind their eyes to humanity, honesty, faith, hope, virtuousness and justice thus paving the way for his downfall. As one of the most tragic poems 'Metamorphoses' has raked in a lot of mixed reviews from both its readers as well as other poets and critics. But even so it has served to be a great toll of inspiration to them by enabling them to come out with their own works using the ideas contained in Ovid's poem. Several of Ovid's critics and opponents both in the past and present have criticized the poem as being too tragic, but it is this tragic element that has stood the test of time and used over and over again in many of the best works of renowned writers. Quite on the same lines of Ovid's 'Metamorphoses' are many of Sontag's works which has exploited the same theme in Ovid's poem. She has an uncanny method of rewriting or retelling a story previously told. A good example of this is her novel titled 'The Volcano Lover' which exudes love at every step. This is clearly seen in the ensuing passage that states - 'Beneath the layering of history, everything speaks of love.' (Sontag, The Volcano Lover) Another clear example of traces of Ovid's poem in her novel is 'Once these places were men and women, who, because of unhappy or frustrated love, underwent a metamorphosis into what one sees today. Even the volcano Vesuvius was once a young man, who saw a nymph lovely as a diamond.' (Sontag, The Volcano Lover) In Ovid's 'Metamorphoses' the tale relates to the dead lovers being finally immortalized through the symbol of the fruits of the mulberry tree that become black when ripe. The redness of the mulberry fruits symbolizes the blood they had shed which reminds us to mourn for the dead lovers. This sacrificial act makes Pyramus and Thisbe fixed emblems of love and sacrifice proving that their love was true and they were faithful even unto death. Sontag too makes use of this tool but combines both the tragic as well as the comic together. In her 'Sontag's story of Vesuvius' she depicts the mount as threatening - "burns and burns and burns" (Sontag) Though the situation seems tragic, it also is made to seem a bit comic by depicting it as a burning lover. Arthur Golding (translations of 1567) points out that there is a touch of comedy in Ovid's poem too, as there are doubts on the aspect of arrestation when Thisbe cries over the body of her lover Pyramus saying - Make aunswere O my Pyramus: it is thy Thisb, even she Whome thou doste love most heartely that speaketh unto thee. Give eare and rayse thy heavie head. He hearing Thisbes name, Lift up his dying eyes, and having seene hir closde the same. Keats's poem "Ode on a Grecian Um", quite like Ovid's 'Metamorphoses' makes use of the effect of arrestation in metamorphoses. In such a situation when men pursue women in love and when their desire is not satisfied or quenched, they are transformed into inanimate objects such as a star, tree, river or rock which serves to arrest the onslaught. Just like Ovid, Keats too portrays visions of movements that are frozen. A good example of such arrestation of movement can be found in Keats poem when the lovers become a vase's design as their love does not culminate in fruition. The male protagonist Pyramus' stance in Ovid's poem is of a dual and contradictory in nature because it flits between the tragic and the comic. This is clearly brought out when the lovers decide to run away and propose to meet at the fateful place under the mulberry tree when tragedy strikes in the form of a lioness who had spotted Thisbe. The ensuing act of Pyramus sacrificing his life by killing himself does strike a tragic chord in the hearts of its readers but then again makes them realize how foolishly Pyramus had handled the situation. Instead of making sure of Thisbe's condition, he acts in haste by just ending his own life, thus shifting him from tragic to a comic hero or even a fool. 'Metamorphoses' is considered as a pagan love story retold, and which seems sacrilegiously sinful due to its suicidal ending and is an odd misfit in a Christian cathedral. The tragic love story of Thisbe and Pyramus is sculpted on a column of the minister of Basel in a Romanesque piece of art. Suicide that was considered to be a very grave sin, raises a lot of questions when it is seen glorified on the walls of such a religious place as a Christian cathedral. The question to this always elicits an answer that it is an allegorisation of the old narrative. 'Gesta Romanorum' which is a collection of ancient legends depicts Pyramus as being Christ's representative. Thus the sacrifice made by Pyramus through suicide is taken allegorically to mean Christ's sacrifice for us on the cross to save mankind. Thisbe in Ovid's tale stands as a symbol of the human soul that is pursued or driven by the lion which is a symbol of the satanic forces of evil. The combined allegory in the poem portrays the liberation of the human soul through the timely intercession of the sacrifice made by her savior (Pyramus) who by killing himself commits self sacrifice. Thisbe's suicide takes on the interpretation of following her savior in faith and total abandonment. Ovid's tragic love story has thus been transmuted into an allegorical version of Christ on the cross, a scene which was not yet pictorially represented in Romanesque churches, perhaps because of its painful and suicidal implications. (Pfendsack, 50-52.) In making an allegory of a heathen tale, Ovid had overcome the taboo, but in doing so he had omitted the much needed component of the grotesque which is, that absolute faith is not capable of tolerating the misreading of the different signs. This angle questioned the integrity of Ovid's work and hence he had to edit parts of the old poem. By making use of a lot of euphoric visualizations, he had to strike an acceptable chord while trying to do justice to it. In order to convince his readers and gain their confidence and move away from the paradox relating to the Christian faith, Ovid had to shift his emphasis from the crucifixion of Christ to one of self - sacrifice while not highlighting the suicide factor, accepting defeat while applauding victory, portraying mourning while depicting the essence of triumph and acknowledging weakness even while making an assertion of power. Quite in contrast to Ovid's religious allegory is Shakespeare's 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' where he tilts the interpretive balance from the heroic to the comic is the character of Bottom as a fool. Contrariety plays a major role between both the plays while bringing out the differences between them. While Ovid's Pyramus and Thisbe are depicted as a kind of human sacrifice where both the lovers have to die so that they are ensured of a long and happy life, Shakespeare has sculpted Bottom as an audience's sacrifice where eternal love is ensured. In coming to grips with the sacrificing lovers in Ovid's 'Metamorphoses' the audiences find it difficult to accept the heroic deeds of Thisbe and Pyramus because they expect a happy ending. On the other hand, Shakespeare's depiction of tragedy through a fool such as Bottom, is much easier for the audience to accept, because his sacrifice is laughable and light. Francis Meres sums up this closely linked literary kinship between Ovid and Shakespeare in the Western canon with the following words - "as the soule of Euphorbus was thought to live in Pythagoras, so the sweete wittie soule of Ovid lives in mellifluous and hony-tongued Shakespeare..."(Meres, 1998-9) In studies ranging from genre and allusion to literary self-consciousness and the anxiety of influence, these scholars have revealed an Ovid who was arguably as fine a reader of his predecessors as Shakespeare was of him. (The Oxford Classical Dictionary, 1996) References Bryn Mawr Classical Review 2002. 10. 17 www.bmcr.brynmawr.edu/2002/2002-10-17.html Charles Martinadale (1989) Meres' conception of literary history as metempsychosis receives an astute analysis. On Ovid as "one of the finest readers" of antiquity, see S. Hinds s.v. "Ovid" in S. Hornblower and A. Spawforth (eds.) The Oxford Classical Dictionary (3rd edition, Oxford, 1996) 1086. Susan Sontag. (1999), Pyramus and Thisbe www.pages.unibas.ch/shine/wbroewf.htm Read More