I will be analyzing the stories of Callisto, Actaeon, and Pentheus in regards to Dionysus and Artemis. All three of the first characters go through serious transformations that are very significant for my essay. These transformations in Ovid’s Metamorphoses are really determined by the naive nature of each of these three characters and this really is the fuel for Dionysus and Artemis to keep their godly roles in the stories.
Callisto and Actaeon from Ovid and Pentheus from the Bacchae both really have naive natures that lead to their their transformation and overall demise. This is really highlighted in the Ovid Stories. We saw how Callisto was tricked by Zeus. “He smiled to hear it, amused to be preferred to himself, and kissed her, no modest kiss, nor one a virgin would give...He stopped her with an embrace, betraying himself with a less than innocent act” …show more content…
These three transformations were caused by the wrath of Dionysus and Artemis and ultimately these transformations can be seen as means of control or assertion of power. We see this assertion of power when Artemis, “gave his dripping head the horns of a stag, stretched out his neck, covered his body with spotted hyde, and instilled fear within him,” (Ovid 3.203-208) or when Artemis made Callisto’s “hands curve into paws with sharp claws, and her face, once praised by Jove, became a broad, ugly, grin” (Ovid 2.531-536). Pentheus falls under the same category, except he dies from Dionysus’s worshippers. The reason I think that they went through such extreme measures, transforming them so cruelly, is because they are seen as lesser gods and goddesses compared to Zeus, Poseidon, Hera and other more powerful gods and they want to improve in a way. They wanted to take advantage of naive targets in order to improve their godly status or show that they are indeed as powerful as some of the other gods I
Callisto and Actaeon from Ovid and Pentheus from the Bacchae both really have naive natures that lead to their their transformation and overall demise. This is really highlighted in the Ovid Stories. We saw how Callisto was tricked by Zeus. “He smiled to hear it, amused to be preferred to himself, and kissed her, no modest kiss, nor one a virgin would give...He stopped her with an embrace, betraying himself with a less than innocent act” …show more content…
These three transformations were caused by the wrath of Dionysus and Artemis and ultimately these transformations can be seen as means of control or assertion of power. We see this assertion of power when Artemis, “gave his dripping head the horns of a stag, stretched out his neck, covered his body with spotted hyde, and instilled fear within him,” (Ovid 3.203-208) or when Artemis made Callisto’s “hands curve into paws with sharp claws, and her face, once praised by Jove, became a broad, ugly, grin” (Ovid 2.531-536). Pentheus falls under the same category, except he dies from Dionysus’s worshippers. The reason I think that they went through such extreme measures, transforming them so cruelly, is because they are seen as lesser gods and goddesses compared to Zeus, Poseidon, Hera and other more powerful gods and they want to improve in a way. They wanted to take advantage of naive targets in order to improve their godly status or show that they are indeed as powerful as some of the other gods I