Burning The Sky

Pheaton:


On the sky he sails,
burning in dispair

Forever And Always, As Trees

This last story I loved. Zeus and Hermes dress up as beggars and knock on doors of the whole town. No one has a cent to spare. Finally they get to the last house, a very humble one and those are the only people who show sympathy and generosity towards them (to their surprise). They have dinner with them (Baucis and Philemon). They are extremely over the top generous. When the whine gets poured they realize the bottle doesn’t get unfilled. That’s when they realize who Zeus and Hermes are. The gods turn their house into a mansion and make everything wonderful. They say because of their generosity they can pick one wish. Baucis and Philemon wish only to die at the same time. They both turned into trees to live happily as they wished. This story was very cute. It reminded me of older couples. You can see how much they love each other, and what they have they live so happily with. The only thing they really want is each other. They already know death is near and they want to spend their last years with their loved ones. I thought this had such a good message as well. The humblest people were the ones willing to give the most. The rich are only greedy, selfish, and unhappy.

 

Sorry Dad I Crashed Your Car

The story of Pheaton was probably my favorite one. Pheaton if at a therapists and is complaining about a little accident he had earlier. Apparently his father is the sun god, Apollo, but wasn’t around much when he was a kid. He recently went and confronted him saying he didn’t like that he wasn’t around because nobody believes him and his class mates would tease him. So Apollo says he is right and that he is sorry and tells him he may have whatever he wants. He says “Now, there’s only one thing I want, I mean it’s obvious right? I say, “Give me the keys to your car.” Immediately he starts backpedaling saying it’s his job” Page 65-66. Long story short Apollo gives in and Pheaton doesn’t listen to his instructions and burns Africa with the sun. Now he is complaining to the therapist. This was actually very funny to me because it reminded me of the classic spoiled son situation. Couldn’t you just picture a little rich kid asking his father for the keys to the convertible and ending up crashing it after a party? This all seems pretty familiar to me. And like every little rich boy, he ends up in therapy. I don’t think I need to say much more on my opinion about this story, it’s like it was written for some friends of mine.

The next story was interesting because it was a series of questions and answers in the middle of the play. Basically it was about Love, the son of Aphrodite who fell in love with Pschye. The problem was Love wouldn’t let Phsyche see him because he wanted he love to be pure and transparent and not based on looks. But Phsyche’s jealous sisters told her he was a monster. She decided to go at night and take a look for herself. The wax from the candle woke him up and she had to suffer the consequences for not trusting him. Aphrodite made her do ridiculous things like sort out thousands of seeds until Zeus called it off and made Phsyche immortal. They got married and lived happily ever after. Now I don’t know why but this reminds me of Websites like match.com. These websites practically set you up on blind dates and you have to be able to trust that the person is really who you think they are. This story would be one of the lucky ones. Most of the time the blind dates go horribly wrong, women as much as men are in it for the money or because of a profile picture they put up from ten years ago. This story just kind of reminded me of trust. There was also another connection I made and one that I liked. It said that love had to be transparent, it had to be based on personality. I really liked how she couldn’t see him until she met him and was in love. So many relationships are just based on looks and the results are trophy wives or just plain airheads who have learned to survive only on looks. I really liked that part, the only thing tht bugged me is that he could see her and how beautiful she was. It would have been more fair if neither one had seen the other. I also thought it was interesting how Aphrodite got into the relationship so much. A lot of boys are actually very much spoiled by their mothers which causes problems in their relationships. That’s when the wife gets a phone call about how her husband absolutely needs his dinner cooked. It’s interesting how many connections there are in this play to modern day life. I'm really enjoying this book more than all the others.

Disguised Pickup

The next readings are actually two stories intertwined into one. It begins with the story of Pomona and Vertumnus. Pomona doesn’t accept any suitor and so Vertumnus tries to win her heart. He tries everything possible from dressing up as an old woman to a fisherman but nothing seems to work. He finally gets caught in his foolishness and decides to tell her the story of Myrrha. Myrrha is also a girl who wouldn’t accept any suitor. Aphrodite had had it and told her love would come to her no matter what. It turns out Myrrha had  some kind of sick Oedipus Rex syndrome and was actually waiting for her father because no one else seemed qualified enough to suit her. So the nurse maid arranges everything so that Cinyras gets set in a trap to have sex with his own daughter. She told him that a pretty girl wanted him that was the age of his daughter but he could only have her blindfolded. So Cinyras agreed. On the third night they spent together Cinyras took off the blind fold and gets so angry he tries to drown her. She was terrified and ran away. Like the endings to most of the stories in Metamorphosis it was said she turn into something else a tree or dissolved into tears. Once Vertumnus finishes his story Pomona tells him to take off his idiotic costume. When he did Pomona finally saw the god of springtime and she finally allowed herself to have a suitor. This story to me was very interesting. The story of Myrrha reminded me very much of Oedipus Rex. Both end badly when they find out who they really are. It is interesting to see how many versions of this story have been made. There is even one called “Edipo Alcalde” that takes place in Colombia in the suburbs. It is very interesting to see all the parallels based on one story. The Pomona and Vertumnus story made me laugh because it reminded me of The Big Bang Theory. Howard Wolowitz tries every disguise possibly just to get one girl. One time he puts fake tattoos on his arm to meet Goth girls. Another time he dressed up as Robin Hood at a costume party and everyone mistook him for Peter Pan. He has tried everything from Indian accents to cheesy complements. He reminded me of Vertumnus because Vertumnes also tries everything he can to get Pomona.

Love Cursed And Greed

Erysichthon I really enjoyed. The main message is to not be greedy and selfish. Erysichthon wants to cut down a tree that is protected by the goddess Ceres. When he cuts down the tree Ceres gets mad and orders Oread to get Hunger to live in Erysichthon stomach. This is a curse that will make him forever hungry. Erysichthon gets so hungry that he sells his own mother to buy himself food. Well in the end his mother becomes a child again playing on the shore to live happily ever after. Erysichthon  on the other hand has a different fate, “There can only be one end to such a man”[page 40 line 5], he ends up eating himself. I think this has such a good message because sometimes we don’t realize the harm we do cutting down trees or polluting and this shows how not thinking twice and not listening can lead to serious karma. I like how there are consequences for the actions and that the greedy man won’t ever be satisfied.

In Orpheus and Eurydice they are about to get married when a tragedy happens. Eurydice gets bit by a snake and dies. Orpheus goes down to the underworld to ask for her back. Hades says yes on one condition, he has to take Eurydice back to the light but he can’t look back at Eurydice following behind him until they reach the end of the tunnel or Hades will take her back forever. This part sort of reminded me of the TV series Pushing Daisies. The women in the show cannot touch her husband or she will die. This is sort of the same kind of curse. Being so near to your loved one but not being able to interact with them to the fullest. That must be almost impossible to break.  So of course Orpheus looks behind and sees Eurydice, he sees Hades grab her and take her away forever. He can’t get this sight of loosing her out of his mind. This should be turned into a modern love story with a sad ending. 

The Perfect Resemblence

I really enjoyed this scene of Alcyone and Ceyx mostly because it reminded me of one of my favorite movies, The Perfect Storm. Bobby (Mark Walhberg) is like Ceyx, and his wife Christina (Diane Lane). Bobby is a fisherman, and the business nearby for fishing hasn’t been good. His fishing mates decide to go on a dangerous fishing trip where there will be tons of good high priced fish. They are warned not to go for it is very dangerous and life threatening. Christina tells Bobby she doesn’t want the perfect storm and as Bobby dies he says “Christina? Christina, can you hear me? I don't know if you can, but I'm talking to ya, baby. Do you know how much I love you? I loved you the moment I saw you. I love you now, and I'll love you forever. No goodbye. There's only love, Christina. Only love. “. Before Ceyx dies he says “O gods, hear my modest prayer: that my body may wash ashore at her feet where she may with gentle hands prepare it to be buried.” [Page 25 line 1]. The last thought for both of them were of their wives. The story has so many parallels. It seems based on this story in Metamorphosis, only is is actually based on a true story. The only part the movie doesn’t have is the part after he dies. Anyway this is my point of view on pages 20-32 Alcyone and Ceyx from Metamorphosis. 

A Confusing Creation

I listened to the metamorphosis reading three times. What I got from it was that the gods were creating the earth. They were making everything equal. The gods made the earth then the rivers and lakes that would lead into the ocean. The most important details I got from this were that the earth had to be all equal. This is why you have the extremes in climate and land vs. water. They said a lot about who made who. The thing is that it was very hard to understand. There was a translation to another language in between. I had to listen to this about three times and still couldn’t make out most of what was being said.  The man’s tone of voice was also very hard to follow. He might want to consider reading about rhetoric and how he can make his voice a little more enthusiastic. Maybe they could also take out the translation in the middle. That would certainly help a lot.

http://www.archive.org/details/OvidMetamorphoses08-2008