Transformation In Ovid's Metamorphoses

Unquestionably, the major theme in Ovid’s Metamorphoses is transformations. Ovid was well known for his ability to tell phenomenal stories and this one was probably one of the greatest. Throughout the story, he takes beliefs that were significant at the time, and mocks them through the theme of transformation. Ovid was well known to poke and satirize other popular works of his time and he does so throughout this story. At the beginning of the story, Ovid asks the gods, who are the ones causing the transformations, to inspire his work. All of this seems to be a ploy to comically provide the intro for what can be best described as chaos.
Book I begins with the story of Daphne and Apollo. We see the first element of transformation with Cupid. Cupid is the naughty son of Venus, who possesses arrows that …show more content…
In a rather unusual contest of weaving, two woman contest each other. One is the goddess, Pallas, and the other is the talented mortal, Arachne. Pallas weaves an image that depicts the gods turning humans into animals while Arachne weaves an image that depicts the gods raping humans. Not only is Arachne’s portrait better looking, it contrasts Pallas’s portrait. Pallas’s portrait glorifies the gods while Arachne’s portrait shows the deceit and horror that the gods bring. Outraged, Pallas proceeds to beat Arachne, who hangs herself to escape the torture. “Nor could Arachne take such punishment: She’d rather hang herself than bow her head, And with a twist of rope around her neck she swung,” (pg. 145) At this, Pallas transforms Arachne into a spider. This particular scene is so irreverently ludicrous, it is hard to find a point to begin with. Ovid continues to mock the gods by creating a mortal who can out-weave a goddess, the image the goddess creates is dark and unsettling, the image the mortal makes is irreverent towards all the gods, and finally, the weaver, Arachne, is transformed into a weaving