Reading Notes - Ovid's Metamorphosis (Reading B)

In the second pard of Ovid's Metamorphosis, stories are a little less thematic than in Reading A. There are stories of unfortunate nymphs and mortals, and of demigod heroes. For instance, Echo and Narcissus--the nymph who fell in love with the man who loved himself. I think that these stories have less intentional interference from the gods. Certainly some of the situations that arise come from distant celestial parentage, like a pagan Rube-Goldberg machine. 

For instance, the story of Perseus is fraught with indirect action from the gods. Perseus, himself of course, is the son of Danae. She conceived him with Jupiter, who appeared as a golden shower to impregnate her despite her father's best efforts to prevent this very thing by sealing her in a room. He then kills Medusa, who has snakes for hair and the ability to turn living things to stone. She was given these traits by the goddess Minerva, who wanted to protect Medusa after Neptune raped her in Minerva's temple. Perseus then flies to Atlas's kingdom, turns him to stone using Medusa's severed head, then flies to Ethiopia. He proceeds to rescue Princess Andromeda, who only needs rescuing because her mother, Cassiopeia, insulted the gods and they demanded the sacrifice of her daughter as punishment. 

I think that this method of weaving stories together explains why so many are obsessed with Greek and Roman mythology. The pantheon and the stories that arise from the god's interactions with mortals are intriguing, and each thread leads back to another and another. I think that as a single writer, it may be difficult to create such a entangled world.

In the context of my Storybook project, or even just my Storytelling assignments, I think that it would be more simple to extend the threads left by Ovid, rather than trying to create a whole new web myself. 

"Medusa"
Source: Wikimedia