This is my 5 lines that I take with me to a desert island. They are located in the story of Pythagoras (pg 522) and the person speaking is Helen.
...and she asks how she
could ever have been sought and carried off
as prize--not once, but twice. You, Time, as well
as envious Old Age, devour all;
with gnawing teeth, with slow and lingering
demise, you two destroy, consume all things.
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
Sunday, March 25, 2007
Favorite Metamorphose: Galatea & Acis
Galatea and Acis
pg. 460
This is the story of a bit perverse love triangle between three “people.” A goddess named Galatea falls in love with a young man named Acis. However, the love of those two is interrupted by the love of Polymethus (the Cyclops) for Galatea. The problem is with Galatea, who loves Acis in a a traditional sense, but also has just as powerful feelings of hate for the Cyclops. Even though she hated him, she still was possessed by him (mentally). While Galatea and Acis run off into the woods and hide under the shelter of a rock to fondle one another, Polymethus decides to climb to a tall peak and to sing a love song to his reluctant Galatea. All the world below him can hear his bellowing voice and his 100 reed flute, and that includes the fornicating Galatea and Acis. The Cyclops surprisingly sings not only of his immense love for the goddess, but also of his dislike of her. He promises her that she will regret not loving him and tells her that if he ever sees Acis he will rip him apart to demonstrate his strength in muscle and in heart. Just as Fates would have it, after the Cyclops finishes his song and goes blundering through the wilderness, he discovers the nest of the two lovers. Galatea dives into the sea, and Acis turns to run. His last words are a prayer to the gods to make him cross over from man to water. The Cyclops in a fit of rage lifts a chunk of rock from the earth and heaves it at Acis. He barely caught Acis but the weight of even that little bit was enough to bury Acis and diminish him to a pool of crimson blood. However that blood didn’t stay crimson for long and soon the blood turned to water. The rock burst in half and out came a reed plant. Acis then appeared out of the river, his top half much like his former self only much larger and his legs were transformed into waves. On his forehead rested two newly formed horns. He had become a river-god and the river retained his former name.
I like this story because it seems to be about the conflict of beauty v. sublime. In Galatea, the beautiful is represented by the young man Acis and of course the fearful Cyclops plays the sublime. This story seems to take the “beautiful v. sublime” a little too literal as the purposed sublime character destroys the beautiful character. If we closer at the Cyclops song though we see him address his ugliness and say that he has more to offer than that. He defends his looks by comparing them to both average men and to the Gods, “the sun has but one eye and he is a God.” I read this story as proof that even the most horrible people are capable of love, and that ugly/horrible people have feelings too.
pg. 460
This is the story of a bit perverse love triangle between three “people.” A goddess named Galatea falls in love with a young man named Acis. However, the love of those two is interrupted by the love of Polymethus (the Cyclops) for Galatea. The problem is with Galatea, who loves Acis in a a traditional sense, but also has just as powerful feelings of hate for the Cyclops. Even though she hated him, she still was possessed by him (mentally). While Galatea and Acis run off into the woods and hide under the shelter of a rock to fondle one another, Polymethus decides to climb to a tall peak and to sing a love song to his reluctant Galatea. All the world below him can hear his bellowing voice and his 100 reed flute, and that includes the fornicating Galatea and Acis. The Cyclops surprisingly sings not only of his immense love for the goddess, but also of his dislike of her. He promises her that she will regret not loving him and tells her that if he ever sees Acis he will rip him apart to demonstrate his strength in muscle and in heart. Just as Fates would have it, after the Cyclops finishes his song and goes blundering through the wilderness, he discovers the nest of the two lovers. Galatea dives into the sea, and Acis turns to run. His last words are a prayer to the gods to make him cross over from man to water. The Cyclops in a fit of rage lifts a chunk of rock from the earth and heaves it at Acis. He barely caught Acis but the weight of even that little bit was enough to bury Acis and diminish him to a pool of crimson blood. However that blood didn’t stay crimson for long and soon the blood turned to water. The rock burst in half and out came a reed plant. Acis then appeared out of the river, his top half much like his former self only much larger and his legs were transformed into waves. On his forehead rested two newly formed horns. He had become a river-god and the river retained his former name.
I like this story because it seems to be about the conflict of beauty v. sublime. In Galatea, the beautiful is represented by the young man Acis and of course the fearful Cyclops plays the sublime. This story seems to take the “beautiful v. sublime” a little too literal as the purposed sublime character destroys the beautiful character. If we closer at the Cyclops song though we see him address his ugliness and say that he has more to offer than that. He defends his looks by comparing them to both average men and to the Gods, “the sun has but one eye and he is a God.” I read this story as proof that even the most horrible people are capable of love, and that ugly/horrible people have feelings too.
Saturday, March 17, 2007
Deucalion and Pyrrha
Deucalion and Pyrrha
(15-19)
This story stuck out at me because of how similar it seemed to the biblical story of Noah. Jove, disturbed by the human race which he describes as a “malady which can’t be cured,” decides to destroy the sacrilegious human race. As he winds up to throw his mighty thunderbolts, he remembers a prophecy that states if the land and water are set ablaze then the heavens too will go up in flames. Since he worried about losing his kingdom, Jove decides instead to drown the human race in a massive flood. Jove with the help of his brother Neptune kills off all of humanity except for Deucalion and his wife Pyrrha. If one doesn’t count the massive arc and the animals counted two by two then one can see the direct similarity of the Noah story. In the Bible version, God is upset about the sinning and idol worship occurring all over the world (sacrilegious) and God tells Noah to build a boat and to collect all the animals on Earth (two of each--male and female), so when the Earth is flooded Noah, his wife, and all the beasts of Earth will be saved.
Deucalion is saved mainly because he lived near the peak of a high mountain and he was Prometheus’s son (divine blood=chosen by God). After grieving for the death of EVERYONE, Deucalion and Pyrrha pray for some way to revive humanity. The gods are touched by her piety and tell her to “drop the bones of the great mother.” Pyrrha refuses to scatter the bones of her dead mother but Deucalion convinces her that the gods meant mother as in Mother Earth and bones as in stones. This seems to be an archetype for human beings being formed from clay, as what happens in the bible when God makes Adam. Anyways, the rocks are magically formed into new human beings (also happens in the story of Cadmus and the story Medea & Jason). This Ovid explains is why the new human beings is tough and tenacious because of our “stony ancestry.”
(15-19)
This story stuck out at me because of how similar it seemed to the biblical story of Noah. Jove, disturbed by the human race which he describes as a “malady which can’t be cured,” decides to destroy the sacrilegious human race. As he winds up to throw his mighty thunderbolts, he remembers a prophecy that states if the land and water are set ablaze then the heavens too will go up in flames. Since he worried about losing his kingdom, Jove decides instead to drown the human race in a massive flood. Jove with the help of his brother Neptune kills off all of humanity except for Deucalion and his wife Pyrrha. If one doesn’t count the massive arc and the animals counted two by two then one can see the direct similarity of the Noah story. In the Bible version, God is upset about the sinning and idol worship occurring all over the world (sacrilegious) and God tells Noah to build a boat and to collect all the animals on Earth (two of each--male and female), so when the Earth is flooded Noah, his wife, and all the beasts of Earth will be saved.
Deucalion is saved mainly because he lived near the peak of a high mountain and he was Prometheus’s son (divine blood=chosen by God). After grieving for the death of EVERYONE, Deucalion and Pyrrha pray for some way to revive humanity. The gods are touched by her piety and tell her to “drop the bones of the great mother.” Pyrrha refuses to scatter the bones of her dead mother but Deucalion convinces her that the gods meant mother as in Mother Earth and bones as in stones. This seems to be an archetype for human beings being formed from clay, as what happens in the bible when God makes Adam. Anyways, the rocks are magically formed into new human beings (also happens in the story of Cadmus and the story Medea & Jason). This Ovid explains is why the new human beings is tough and tenacious because of our “stony ancestry.”
Tuesday, March 13, 2007
Iphis and Ianthe
Iphis and Ianthe
(page 316-321)
In this story, Iphis is born to a poor woman, who under orders from her husband must only allow a boy to live, if she gives birth to a girl then that girl must be destroyed. However, Telethusa (Iphis’ mother) has a vision which asks her to spare the child. Telethusa listens to the Gods and lies to her husband, telling him that she gave birth to a boy and then she gave the girl the name Iphis which could be a name for either sex. Iphis turns 13 and falls in love with Ianthe, a woman. “among the animals, no female wants a female!” Iphis pleads to the Gods in her confusion. Telethusa prays for Iphis on the dawn of her wedding and miraculously Iphis is turned into a man.
Does the story sound familiar? I’ll through out some recent generation translations Juwannah Man, The Hot Chick, Mrs. Doubtfire, among many others I forget, but the point I am trying to get across is what all these themes have in common, a dramatic gender role switch. We discussed Greek Comedy as a complete upheaval of society and as in Lysistrata with the powerful women, these characters assume roles not customary to their gender. Not a big surprise that all the movies that I listed were considered comedies. In fact, I could not think of a single title in which a gender role was switched and the situation wasn’t comical. However, Iphis and Ianthe does not go into the specifics of a gender role switch like the others; instead, it seems to give fuel more to the question of homosexuality. Iphis herself recognizes her love for Ianthe as unnatural, but it is not clear whether or not Iphis wishes to be a man. I wonder if the Greeks used this story as an explanation to same sex feelings or maybe they just had a fascination with unnatural love (the story before was of a brother/sister love relationship)
(page 316-321)
In this story, Iphis is born to a poor woman, who under orders from her husband must only allow a boy to live, if she gives birth to a girl then that girl must be destroyed. However, Telethusa (Iphis’ mother) has a vision which asks her to spare the child. Telethusa listens to the Gods and lies to her husband, telling him that she gave birth to a boy and then she gave the girl the name Iphis which could be a name for either sex. Iphis turns 13 and falls in love with Ianthe, a woman. “among the animals, no female wants a female!” Iphis pleads to the Gods in her confusion. Telethusa prays for Iphis on the dawn of her wedding and miraculously Iphis is turned into a man.
Does the story sound familiar? I’ll through out some recent generation translations Juwannah Man, The Hot Chick, Mrs. Doubtfire, among many others I forget, but the point I am trying to get across is what all these themes have in common, a dramatic gender role switch. We discussed Greek Comedy as a complete upheaval of society and as in Lysistrata with the powerful women, these characters assume roles not customary to their gender. Not a big surprise that all the movies that I listed were considered comedies. In fact, I could not think of a single title in which a gender role was switched and the situation wasn’t comical. However, Iphis and Ianthe does not go into the specifics of a gender role switch like the others; instead, it seems to give fuel more to the question of homosexuality. Iphis herself recognizes her love for Ianthe as unnatural, but it is not clear whether or not Iphis wishes to be a man. I wonder if the Greeks used this story as an explanation to same sex feelings or maybe they just had a fascination with unnatural love (the story before was of a brother/sister love relationship)
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