The Metamorphosis And The Chief Agent Of Transformations

Metamorphoses means transformations and there are many kinds of transformations throughout the poem. In fact, nearly everything in the story is in a process of changing. People are transformed as a result of love or hate and sometimes as revenge. Yet, so often these transformations seem extraneous, insignificant to the main point. This paper will attempt to argue that transformation is the main theme in the metamorphosis and the chief agent of transformations is love. As well as other themes and moral lessons like revenge and fate. More directly, this paper evaluates the transformations that represent the damaging nature of the excessive and exaggerated passion and its role in developing fate. Ovid’s poem â€Å"The Metamorphoses† is an†¦show more content†¦Metamorphoses is more than a collection of stories of mythical adventures, it is a reflection on the theme of metamorphosis or transformation. An example of transformation is in book I when Apollo speaks unfavorably to Cupid, who shoots two arrows in revenge. The first arrow causes Apollo to fall in love. Apollo goes after Daphne, but she rejects him. Apollo begs and insists, and Daphne cries out to her father for help. He reacts by transforming her into a laurel tree. Not entirely discouraged, Apollo flounders the tree. At this point, Jupiter notices a young nymph, Io, and his heart suddenly becomes filled with lust. He then rapes her. Juno, Jupiter’s wife, is fishy about their behavior and starts suspecting something. To disturb and cast off his wife, Jupiter turns Io into a cow. But this move makes Juno even more suspicious of course which leads her to ask Jupiter for Io as a present and sets many-eyed Argus to keep an eye over the transformed Io. Besides the two main themes to Metamorphoses which are transformation and love/lust, there are many reoccurring moral lessons that we see in the metamorphosis, Fate is a lesson we learn about the gods, Fate plays a major role in Metamorphoses, as Ovid grasps the idea that life is like a story which has already been written. People cannot escape their destiny. Fate is a concept which both guides and weakens the power of the gods. Mortals pray to the gods both to find out their fate, and to learn ways of avoiding it. At