Post 04: Archetypes in Metamorphoses

An archetype is a character, action or situation that represents a pattern of human nature. Through the usage of characters in situations of literature, the literary work is given a universal acceptance because the readers are able to identify the characters and situations in their social and cultural contexts. In Metamorphoses, Ovid works his way through subject matter, and jumps from one tale to the next, telling stories of creation that were heard centuries before his time. Metamorphoses does entail some archetypes, due to the creative stories and creatures involved, and because of Ovid's writing, the readers are able to enjoy the reading and the search of these archetypes that make the creation story unique.

The archetype that stands out the most to me in Metamorphoses is Chaos, whom was not known as a "god" but was the creator of the world, according to Greek mythology. In my opinion, Chaos is the "hero" of this particular creation story, since it is the one that brought creation unto the world in the minds of the Greeks. Chaos is a "raw confused mass, nothing but inert matter, badly combined discordant atoms of things, confused in the one place" (728) and because of Chaos, the world became a better place. Before Chaos, there was land, sea and air, but these all needed more. Chaos made the water swimmable, gave the air light and made the land livable for man and animals; basically Chaos fixed everything to better serve human life that eventually exists. Chaos represents the perfect pattern of human nature, just like God to Christians also does this. God is the creator to modern-day Christians and those before, and Chaos was and still to this day is a god to Greeks. Those who believe in the creation story Metamorphoses accept how the world was created, making Chaos an archetype in Ovid's work.

Another archetype that I was able to identify in Metamorphoses was love - be it Cupid's strike of love upon Apollo most importantly. The love Apollo had for Daphne was not brought upon him by the goodness of Cupid, but because of Cupid's fierce anger. He stated to Apollo, "you may hit every other thing Apollo, but my bow will strike you: to the degree that all living creatures are less than gods, by that degree is your glory less than mine" (733), which entails that Cupid's strike is only to teach Apollo a lesson. He falls in love immediately and wants to marry her, but Daphne wants no part in that of course. I think that this love between the two reveals to readers that not all love is real, and that sometimes feelings can be one-sided. This love expressed in Metamorphoses is a social situation in a cultural tale that easily represents human nature, because situations such as these happen all of the time in real life, and even today. Of course people, in all seriousness, do not get hit with Cupid's arrow and fall in love - that's just absurd! But it's sort of ironic how in American culture, Valentine's Day is based on the story of cupid. This archetype shows how Greek mythology relates to our creation stories and beliefs, and how past mythologies that are thousands of years old can still play an important role in our cultures today.

Lastly, rape and the other mistreatments of women in myths of Metamorphoses is an important set of archetypes. These stories of rape are definitely the most abundant, where violence and suffering are marked, and the consent of the woman is unheard of. It's sad because women have gone through traumatic incidents not only in Metamorphoses, but in real life too. Mistreatment of women, including physical violence and alienation of rights, existed in the time period of Metamorphoses to even today, where some people think it is easy and acceptable to attack women. This archetype entails how the world viewed women then, and how times have changed and what still remains of the violation of women.