Metamorphoses

These questions, like all the study questions we offer, are meant to point up some patterns that are central to the text. They are by no means exhaustive, and they are not meant to be prescriptive. Although we won't be able to touch upon all of them in our discussions, they may serve to get you started on critical readings of our texts. Our discussions will be guided by the interests of the group rather than structured strictly in response to these questions.

See study questions for:
Metamorphoses Part 1
Metamorphoses Part 2

METAMORPHOSES STUDY QUESTIONS (Part 1)
Books 1-6
1. How does Ovid portray the character of the gods and their relationships with others—with their spouses (Jove and Juno, Vulcan and Venus, Pluto and Proserpina), with their offspring (Bacchus, Aesculapius, Arcas, Phaeton), with mortals (Daphne, Io, Callisto, Cadmus, Tiresias)? Does the quality of these relationships differ from that presented by Homer? Vergil?

2. Ovid frequently encourages us to compare and contrast particular tales that are offered as “reflections” of each other. Compare, for instance, the stories of Narcissus (Book 3) and Pygmalion (Book 10), or the Narcissus-Echo story (Book 3) with the Salmacis-Hermaphroditus story (Book 4). What themes and motifs do they share? In what way are they “inverted” reflections of each other? Have you come across any other pairs in the Metamorphoses?

3. Consider Ovid's repeated references to Vergil's Aeneid. We are expected to compare and contrast the two works throughout the Metamorphoses. For instance, the central theme of the Aeneid, the founding of a city, is echoed in the Cadmus story. What qualities and past experiences do the heroes of these two stories share? What obstacles do they face? Is the Cadmus story an “anti-Aeneid”?

4. The scenes Vulcan has carved on the doors of the Sun's palace are presented as an ekphrasis (the rhetorical term for a formal description in poetry of a natural setting or an artwork). This is the first of three instances of ekphrasis in the poem. The other two are the tapestries of Minerva and Arachne (6.70-128) and the scenes engraved on Aeneas' wine-mixing bowl (13.685-99 – although you have not been assigned this passage, you may want to consult it for fun). What is the purpose of these passages? Do they relate to each other thematically or within the context of their respective tales? Does Ovid’s use of the device of ekphrasis differ from Vergil's?

5. Tiresias appears twice in the Metamorphoses (Books 3 and 6). Does Ovid's portrayal of the Seer add to your appreciation of his pivotal role in the Odyssey or does Ovid's much more detailed description detract from Homer's version? For those among you that are familiar with Sophocles' Antigone and Oedipus Rex, how much does Ovid borrow from the Greek playwright's rather cantankerous prophet? Avoiding self-knowledge seems to be a common suggestion!

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METAMORPHOSES STUDY QUESTIONS (Part 2) Books 7-15
1. Art and artists are central concerns in the Metamorphoses. For instance, the fate of artists who suffer either because of their art or in spite of their art seems to be a frequently repeated theme in the poem: Minyas' daughters (Book 4), Pieros daughters (Book 5), Marsyas (Book 6), Arachne (Book 6), Daedalus (Book 8), Orpheus (Book 10). Art also seems to be the central theme in the “companion” stories of Orpheus and Pygmalion (Book 10). Both tales focus on the figure of the artist as creator, as handler of “metamorphic power,” as lover, as “life-giver.” Why is this subject particularly appealing to Ovid? What does it reveal about the nature of creation, both human and divine?

2. The story of Baucis and Philemon (Book 8) centers on the theme of hospitality, particularly the reception of the great at a humble peasant dwelling. Ovid's handling of this theme goes back to Homer's account of Eumaeus' reception of Odysseus in disguise (Odyssey 14). Compare these two versions. What aspects of Ovid's rendering make it particularly “Roman”? What values are underscored? How would you describe the relationship between Baucis and Philemon?

3. The story of Orpheus is a “katabasis,” a “descent into the underworld,” in which the hero enters the Realm of the Dead in order to rescue his wife. How does Ovid's poem comment on the descent narratives of his two illustrious predecessors, Homer and Vergil? In what way does Orpheus' quest differ from those of Odysseus and Aeneas? How are the pivotal moments handled? Does the contrast in descents shed any light on the meaning and cultural setting of each poem?

4. Ovid suggests a parallel between himself and Pythagoras in his concluding book (Book 15). For instance, Pythagoras' ecstatic wandering through the stars (15.147-52) recalls Ovid's prophecy of his own celestial destination in the epilogue of the poem. Likewise, Pythagoras' sermon on the course of human history from the Golden Age to Augustus can also be seen as a miniature recapitulation of the whole of Ovid's Metamorphoses. And, just as Numa is to be instructed by the teachings of Pythagoras, so Augustus (whom Numa prefigures) is – or ought to be – instructed by the teachings of Ovid, that is, by the Metamorphoses.

If this series of highly suggestive parallels is to be believed, what “instructions” are to be conveyed to the Emperor? How do these compare or contrast to those embedded in the Aeneid? Finally, what roles do the three main issues presented in Pythagoras' sermon – metamorphosis, metempsychosis and vegetarianism – play in the Metamorphoses as a whole?

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