Reading Notes: Ovid's Metamorphoses, Part B
This part of Ovid's Metamorphoses from Ovid's Metamorphoses, translated by Tony Kline (2000). covered the stories of Echo, Narcissus, Pyramus and Thisbe, Mars and Venus, Perseus and Andromeda, and Perseus and Medusa.
Echo:
In this story, a nymph is cursed by Juno for distracting her while other nymphs make love to Jupiter. In her rage, Juno curses the nymph Echo and only allows her to repeat what others say. Echo eventually stumbles across the beautiful Narcissus and falls in love with him but is cruelly rejected by him. She runs away in humiliation and turns into a stone. (This story might be hard to retell. Perhaps I could have a young shy girl in modern times who stutters fall in love with a popular and beautiful boy in her school only to be cruelly rejected by him when she confesses her love for him. She then grows completely silent, never speaking for the rest of her life. This would be a rather sad story.)
Narcissus:
Narcissus eventually sees his own reflection and falls in love with himself. Knowing that he cannot have himself, he refuses to leave the pool where he sees his reflection, turning into a flower after a time. (If I chose to do a story over Echo, I would combine it with the story of Narcissus, continuing the story after Echo falls into eternal silence. Narcissus would be driving his car on his way home and, seeing his reflection in the window of his car, would become distracted and crash, passing away because of his love for himself and his beauty.)
Mars and Venus:
Vulcan is told that Venus, his wife, is having an affair with Mars. In his anger, Vulcan fashions a fine net and uses it to capture his wife and Mars in the act which the other gods and goddesses find hilarious. (This would be a fun story to retell. I would have it set in modern times. A man finds out that his wife is cheating with his best friend so he hides a camera to catch them in the act and shares the footage to all of their mutual friends in order to humiliate them. But all of their friends find it hilarious and the wife and her lover become viral stars and make a lot of money from going on shows and writing books. This story would be told from the point of view of the husband who will suffer not only because of his wife's infidelity and his friend's disloyalty, but also because he will be made the laughing stock of his friends and the world. His plan to humiliate them will backfire on him in the most embarrassing manner!)
Echo:
In this story, a nymph is cursed by Juno for distracting her while other nymphs make love to Jupiter. In her rage, Juno curses the nymph Echo and only allows her to repeat what others say. Echo eventually stumbles across the beautiful Narcissus and falls in love with him but is cruelly rejected by him. She runs away in humiliation and turns into a stone. (This story might be hard to retell. Perhaps I could have a young shy girl in modern times who stutters fall in love with a popular and beautiful boy in her school only to be cruelly rejected by him when she confesses her love for him. She then grows completely silent, never speaking for the rest of her life. This would be a rather sad story.)
Narcissus:
Narcissus eventually sees his own reflection and falls in love with himself. Knowing that he cannot have himself, he refuses to leave the pool where he sees his reflection, turning into a flower after a time. (If I chose to do a story over Echo, I would combine it with the story of Narcissus, continuing the story after Echo falls into eternal silence. Narcissus would be driving his car on his way home and, seeing his reflection in the window of his car, would become distracted and crash, passing away because of his love for himself and his beauty.)
Mars and Venus:
Vulcan is told that Venus, his wife, is having an affair with Mars. In his anger, Vulcan fashions a fine net and uses it to capture his wife and Mars in the act which the other gods and goddesses find hilarious. (This would be a fun story to retell. I would have it set in modern times. A man finds out that his wife is cheating with his best friend so he hides a camera to catch them in the act and shares the footage to all of their mutual friends in order to humiliate them. But all of their friends find it hilarious and the wife and her lover become viral stars and make a lot of money from going on shows and writing books. This story would be told from the point of view of the husband who will suffer not only because of his wife's infidelity and his friend's disloyalty, but also because he will be made the laughing stock of his friends and the world. His plan to humiliate them will backfire on him in the most embarrassing manner!)
Painting of Vulcan by Peter Paul Rubens. Source: Wiki Commons
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