Pygmalion And Galatea Analysis

The story told by Orpheus, in book ten, tells a tale of the sculptor Pygmalion falling in love with a statue but with a unique twist. With that, the tale has some details of a traditional love story and goes into a theme that shows love, and a mental and physical change in Pygmalion. Pygmalion goes through this change as he is first skeptical of women. He believed that a lot of women were flawed and judged quickly around others on their attributes. Furthermore, he has persuaded himself to only think about the best woman with perfect attributes. However, in part with his beliefs, Pygmalion has never found a woman representing his perfect image and has decided to spend the rest of his life without marrying. Pygmalion disliked women to a point …show more content…
In the painting, one can see that Pygmalion has already tried to create the perfect woman. There are there sculptures shown in the background, one admiring herself, one standing (possibly showing something off) and one last sculpture showing just a head of a woman. Along with that, in the background there is a painting showing a man showing respect to a woman who seems to be of high order; this is all assumed as it is tough to determine if the individual on the ground is a man and the other way around for the person sitting on a throne. The painting and the sculptures in the background show that Pygmalion has extremely high standards when coming to choosing the right woman. Despite having high standards, Pygmalion is also shown to have a deep hatred for women who have not met his …show more content…
He has become obsessed with his creation to point to where he then devotes all his time into making sure that Galatea is pampered, and will not have to worry about taking care of herself as he will do it for her. This can also be seen in Jean-Léon Gérôme’s painting, as there is another painting showing a man showing respect towards a woman who is of a high standard. The painting can also show the same relationship with Pygmalion and Galatea. Hence Pygmalion is giving Galatea many gifts to show his respect and love towards Galatea. In conclusion, the two major themes represented in the story, told by Orpheus and the painted by Jean-Léon Gérôme, show Pygmalion going through a mental and physical change when finally meeting a woman that fits his image and high standards. With that, love, as a theme, is also shown as Pygmalion will do anything to make sure Galatea is comfortable and