Reading Notes: Ovid's Metamorphoses III Part A
Overall Impression:
While these stories seemed to jump from completely different people doing drastically different things, they are all connected. The central point to all these stories, it seems, is that if you do something to please the Gods, or help them, you will be rewarded, but if you go against the Gods wishes, or do something to hurt them, you will be punished.
The story of Philemon and Baucis shows a time in which they were rewarded for their kind efforts to the Gods. The story of Erysichthon shows a time in which he was punished due to his cruel efforts toward the Gods.
Effort is needed to research all the characters and specific places if you have not heard of them before. This is needed if you want a full understanding of the story as these references are key pieces to comparisons between major characters or their powers/strengths.
Likes/Dislikes:
All of these stories have great detail. They allow you to fully picture exactly what people look like, how the fights would unfold, and even describe feelings and sentiments to where you can start to feel them yourself. They feel like short films more than readings, which makes sense as these stories were first told in an oral form. This is something I hope to recreate in my stories.
Another thing I liked about these stories was that there was always some sort of action described. Whether it be a fight, a verbal conflict, or an act of service/disservice, there wasn't a single story of passivity. This made the stories even easier to read and I think went to reiterate the main point, that your actions have consequences.
While these stories seemed to jump from completely different people doing drastically different things, they are all connected. The central point to all these stories, it seems, is that if you do something to please the Gods, or help them, you will be rewarded, but if you go against the Gods wishes, or do something to hurt them, you will be punished.
The story of Philemon and Baucis shows a time in which they were rewarded for their kind efforts to the Gods. The story of Erysichthon shows a time in which he was punished due to his cruel efforts toward the Gods.
Effort is needed to research all the characters and specific places if you have not heard of them before. This is needed if you want a full understanding of the story as these references are key pieces to comparisons between major characters or their powers/strengths.
Likes/Dislikes:
All of these stories have great detail. They allow you to fully picture exactly what people look like, how the fights would unfold, and even describe feelings and sentiments to where you can start to feel them yourself. They feel like short films more than readings, which makes sense as these stories were first told in an oral form. This is something I hope to recreate in my stories.
Another thing I liked about these stories was that there was always some sort of action described. Whether it be a fight, a verbal conflict, or an act of service/disservice, there wasn't a single story of passivity. This made the stories even easier to read and I think went to reiterate the main point, that your actions have consequences.
Finally, I liked that all these stories had their own individual takeaways, but also produced an overarching moral. While they act as entertainment they can also act as lessons or ways to evoke critical thinking. This is also something I hope to recreate in my stories.
Some dislikes: the word choice was still a little confusing at times. You can tell this was meant for a scholarly audience. I would recreate these stories in a more modern voice to reduce confusion and create ease in reading. I also didn't like the fact that male Gods always seemed to do favorable things and sent the female Gods to do the dirty work. Even though they were spoken highly of, it was mostly in reference to their beauty. It would be interesting to modernize these stories in this way as well.
Favorite stories:
All the stories about Hercules were interesting. I think we all know some things about him due to his greater popularity. However, it was cool to see the differences between him in this story and those in his more pop-culture stories.
I also really enjoyed the Philemon and Baucis story. It stood out against the rest for it's total difference. The other stories focused on some more tragic things while these story seemed more joyful and celebrated hard work and love.
(Painting by Cornelis Cornelisz. van Haarlem Haarlem
1562-1638 of Hercules and Achelous. Source: Wikimedia)
Biblography: Ovid's Metamorphoses III, originally by Ovid, translated into English by Tony Kline.
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