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Delahoyde & Hughes
Orpheus
OVID
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Cadmus:
Actaeon:
If we apply Greek tragic vision to this story, the tale may fit
into an ancient formula of art. Aristotle's Poetics defines the
three characteristics of successful Greek tragedy as recognition,
reversal, and tragic flaw. Does the story of Actaeon has all three
of these elements? The hunter becomes the hunted, a classic version
of reversal. Actaeon also surely must finally recognize what it feels
like to be a deer, the one pursued by hounds. His consciousness has
become entrapped in the animal world....
Actaeon sees Diana (and her nymphs), twin sister of Apollo, an eternally
virgin huntress who haunts wild places. She is sometimes referred to as
Potnia Theron (Mistress of the Beasts) indicating her concern for and
power over wild animals. She is also concerned with women's transition
from girlhood to adulthood (via marriage) and with childbirth, a concern
she shares with Hera and Eileithyia. Women who die are said to be struck
down by her arrows. From a woman's point of view, Artemis represents an
experience of her nascent feminine nature. But, from a man's point of
view, an image of a young girl suggestive of Diana/Artemis represents the
anima -- the name Jung gave to a female figure, in a man's dream or
fantasy, which belongs not to the personal, but to the collective
unconscious. The anima is an image of the feminine indicative of the male
subject's unconscious attitudes towards women, and his notions about
them. Diana/Artemis thus reflects a particular stage in his relation with
his unconscious image of the feminine.
Semele:
It doesn't pay to be the mistress of a powerful male. Juno convinces
herself that Semele's arrogance is the result of her being impregnated
by Jove (Zeus). Disguised, Juno urges Semele to demand that Jove reveal
himself in all his godlike glory. Jove visits Semele and makes "The Rash
Promise." Of course, the mortal Semele can't handle the phenomenon and
is singed. Jove assumes the role of the mother by sewing up in his thigh
the fetus that will become Bacchus (Dionysus).
Tiresias:
Narcissus and Echo:
For medieval symbologists, the pool of Narcissus is located at the center
of the Garden of Love. In the most famous and influential tale, the Lover
first catches a glimpse of his beloved (Rose) reflected in this pool.
What does this indicate about love? (Think Jungian, if possible.)
Pentheus and Bacchus:
There's always a sullen, scornful resistence when a dynamic, charismatic
god of dionysian celebration comes to town. The conservative, repressed,
disapproving authorities and Pharisees are particularly nasty when women
(Bacchus' groupies are called Maenads) are attracted by the droves to
the visiting male god: Jesus, John Lennon, Michael Jackson.
Cadmus, about whose ending will be described later in Book 4, is sent
by their father to find Europa. Apollo provides a cow as guide, but
Cadmus slays a serpent sacred to Mars (52). He is cursed to end up
as a snake, but first, by sowing the serpent's teeth he creates a new
people and founds the city of Thebes. This section ends with an echo
of the last lines of Oedipus Rex, appropriately enough: Cadmus
seems blessed, "But yet in truth one must ever await / A man's last day,
nor count him fortunate / Before he dies and the last rites are paid"
(55).
Ovid challenges us to find any fault in Actaeon deserving of the
ferocious "punishment": "if you ponder wisely, you will find /
The fault was fortune's and no guilt that day, / For what guilt
can it be to lose one's way?" (55). Actaeon, out hunting, stumbles
upon the goddess Diana bathing naked with her nymphs. Diana without
her clothes blushes, which explains the crimson colors of
the dusk and dawn. Actaeon's transformation into a deer at Diana's
hand means that he becomes the hunted; the hunter becomes the prey.
A fuller version of the story has Tiresias, who has lived as both a
man and a woman because of the magical snake incidents, answer the
question about who enjoys sex more, men or women: women, nine times
as much. Bizarre quantitative declaration. But the annoyed Juno blinds
him while Jove gives him the gift of prophesy or inner vision.
Here's another case of the hunter (as Narcissus starts out in this story)
becoming the hunted. Spurning Echo and others, he ends his life pining
for himself -- or the image of himself....
Pentheus listens to the report of Bacchus having his vengeance against
some seafaring betrayers, but intolerantly locks up the boy recounting
the story. Still, the boy is miraculously freed, his chains falling away.
In the end here, the Maenads in their characteristic frenzy kill Pentheus,
ripping his hands off and tearing him apart, limb from limb.
Ovid Index
Orpheus: Roman Mythology