Ovids Pygmalion: Crossing the Boundary between Art and Life - Essay Example

? Ovid’s Pygmalion: Crossing the Boundary between Art and Life. One of the most fascinating and influential myths in Ovid’s Metamorphoses is the story told in book 10 about the sculptor Pygmalion who was so disappointed in the failings of the local women that he made his own female statue “and gave to it exquisite beauty, which no woman of the world has ever equalled” (Ovid 10:246-7). Having created this vision of perfect loveliness, he promptly falls in love with her, praying to Venus, the goddess of love, that he might have “one like my ivory” (Ovid 10:276) to be his wife. In due course the statue responds to his kisses and “blushing, lifted up her timid eyes, so that she saw the light and sky above, as well as her rapt lover while he leaned gazing beside her” (Ovid 10:293-4). The moment of transformation, or to use Ovid’s word, metamorphosis, leads Pygmalion to have at least one child with his beloved creature, who responds with adoration to the amorous attentions of her creator. This moment brings about the happy ending that Pygmalion so desires, but it also raises a number of questions about the boundary between art and life, and the nature of the love relationship between men and women. A perceptive study by Alison Sharrock explores the way that Ovid’s story of Pygmalion and his statue provides an ironic commentary on the relationship between men and women in classical times. In her view “Woman perceived is woman as art-object” (Sharrock 36). The artist creates an image of woman, which is then an object of admiration, and even love. From this feminist point of view, there is something demeaning in the way that the woman is treated, since she is not seen as an equal to the male creator figure, but quite literally is admired as a figment of his superior imagination, or an extension of his own self. This shows males as god-like figures, and females as fallible human beings, reflecting the very real social hierarchy that existed in Classical times. Sharrock coins the word “womanufacture” to describe the process of making women into art objects for the enjoyment of men. The perspective of the tale is entirely that of Pygmalion and the character of the statue which comes to life, or even her name, are not revealed, leaving the reader to wonder what she thinks of this turn of events, and whether she ever learns to question the motives or indeed the sanity of her obsessive creator/lover. Another academic study highlights the elements of doubling and incest that this erotic relationship between Pygmalion and the statue contains: “The statue, then, is in Pygmalion’s own likeness, in the sense that it represents his response to the flawed nature of women as they are in nature. It is also his ‘daughter’, in the sense that an artist is the ‘father’ of his creations” (Hardie 10). This article takes a more psychological approach and explores the whole domain of creativity and art, showing how the work of art, whether it be a poem, painting, statue or any other kind of art, always contains a great deal of the creator’s own self. The white ivory is like a blank canvas on which the artist paints his own vision of what it is to be a woman. There is considerable arrogance in Pygmalion’s rejection of real women, in preference for his own created object. Falling in love with one’s own creation is therefore a highly selfish and obsessive trait, which hints at a certain unresolved conflict between men and women in the real world. The story approaches the taboo area of incest since there is very clearly an element of fatherly pride in Pygmalion’s attitude to the statue. A close reading of Ovid’s text highlights further moral undertones in the telling of the story. Pygmalion remains single for many years, because he is disappointed in the moral behavior of ordinary women. This means that he must be an older man at the time of the statue’s creation. His creature is “a perfect virgin” (Ovid 248) and he uses words such as “modesty” (Ovid 249), “sweet” (Ovid 256) “lovable” (265). When she awakes into life she is “blushing” (Ovid 292) and “timid” (Ovid 292). The situation is, therefore, a relationship between a knowing, older man and a female character who is trusting, innocent and lacking in any ability to resist him, or even understand what is happening to her. She is literally only a few moments old when he makes his first advances. The statue has child-like qualities, which gives the whole episode a rather worrying character. It may be that this story reflects a male chauvinist fantasy, in which sexual favors can be conjured up by a man at will, without all the restrictions that society puts in place for the protection of the young and innocent. The power of this myth has not waned over the centuries, and there have been many re-workings of the tale of Pygmalion in plays, poems, novels and films. The mythic moment when the created object comes alive can be seen in Gothic horror, when monsters, come to life, or in science fiction, when robots, cyborgs or superheroes emerge with a mixture of human and non-human attributes. There is always something majestic about such transformations, since they suggest that human beings have the potential to transcend the limitations of the bodies and minds that they have at present. At the same time, these unusual hybrid creations prompt people to worry about the blurring of the definition of what it means to be human. In modern times these ideas are often worked out using the metaphor of technology, which is a special kind of creative activity deriving from modern scientific powers. A common dramatic theme is a love interest between the ordinary mortal and the new, hybrid creature. This surely recalls Ovid’s myth of love across the boundary of art and life and shows that the instinct to create something and then love it, without the intrusion of uncomfortable realities, is still going strong in modern society. One application of the mythic moment of creation that seems to be particularly relevant to the contemporary world is the modern concept of the avatar which has become commonplace in video games and in virtual reality systems. The user “creates” a figure out of a number of idealized visual features, and then gives it a name, a history, some kind of adornment such as clothes, tattoos and fancy weapons. The creature exists only as a number of pixels on the computer screen, but many users become very attached to their creation. Some adolescents imagine that they are this creature, thus reflecting the self-absorption of Pygmalion’s myth, while others form an attachment to their avatar, which can even extend to a romantic level. Sometimes boys create female characters because they take pleasure in controlling her and observing what she does, and in extreme cases they can truly fall in love with their fictional creations. Many a young person has become entrapped in an unhealthy fascination with fictional characters in computer games, most of which contain rather explicit images designed to attract teenagers and young adults. This trend may be harmful for the young, since it encourages a Pygmalion-like retreat from the real world where relationships are often difficult, and women are not likely to respond to romantic overtures with meek and submissive adoration of the male. Art is not life, and it is a dangerous thing to invest too much emotional attachment in artificially created entities. In summary, therefore, the urge to create a perfect being is still alive and well in modern society. The myth of Pygmalion lives on in the cyberworld, and in this context women are still presented as sex objects, while men are presented as powerful, god-like figures. Scantily clad female avatars in video games tap into the same urge to control and possess women. The ancient myth of virginal perfection continues to set impossibly high standards for real live women to attain, and the double standard of acceptable sexual behavior for men and women ensures that women continue to be viewed as sex objects by men. Since the majority of video game players are young males, there is every indication that the blurring between art and life will continue, and that the unequal hierarchy between men and women will be sustained through this process. The social and moral questions raised by Ovid’s story of Pygmalion are therefore still very much an issue in the twenty first century, and this underlines the power of myth to transcend the passage of time. When a created object comes alive at the bidding of its maker, potent moral and psychological processes are released, and this is surely the point of Ovid’s mythic moment. Works Cited. Hardie, Philip. “Approximative Similes in Ovid. Incest and Doubling.” Dictynna: Revue de Poetique Latine 1 (2004), pp. 2-17. [Accessed on 22 July 2012]. Web. Ovid. Metamorphoses. 10:238-297. Translated by Brookes More. [Accessed on 22 July 2012]. Web. Sharrock, Alison R. “Womanufacture.” The Journal of Romance Studies. 81 (1991), pp. 36-49. < http://www.jstor.org/stable/300487 > [Accessed 22 July, 2012].Web. Read More