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Krista Dukes
Katherine Shaeffer
LIT2110, Section 3735
11 February 2011
Upon reading Ovid’s Metamorphoses in its entirety, I found one idea interesting
throughout all 15 books: the idea of the mortal wish for death vs. divine pity. Although I have
been reading deeply into the stories within Metamorphoses which deal with the idea of divine
pity acting as a punishment for mortal will, I must admit that I currently have no central
argument and as so I plan to use this response paper as a means of investigation. First I will
introduce the story of Orpheus’s death because the story will be the basis for the reasons, that I
believe, mortals wish for death. Then, by focusing on the stories of Aesacus and Myrrha, as well
as briefly introducing the story of Arachne to further view divine pity as punishment, I hope to
find my argument.
Ovid’s interpretation of Orpheus’s death and return to the Underworld in Book 11 offers
readers the reason why many of the mortals in Metamorphoses, specifically Aesacus, wish to die.
Previously in Book 10, Ovid sings of how Orpheus, influenced by his love for his wife Eurydice,
who as recently died, treks down to the Underworld in order to win her back (10.1-28). Losing
his wife for the second time Orpheus “held himself/ aloof from the love of women” (10.82-83)
until he was reunited with Eurydice in the Underworld when he was killed. In the Underworld he
“took her in his arms with a leaping heart” and there “hand in hand” they strolled (11.64-65).
The reunion of Orpheus and his wife represents the escape from previous sorrow which can only
be managed through death. Therefore, the reason why mortals in Metamorphoses wish to die is
because death offers them an escape from emotional suffering.
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Using Orpheus’s death as the basis for the reason behind mortals’ wish for death, a reader
can easily discern why Aesacus wishes for death. Hesperia, the one whom Aesacus is pursuing,
is bitten by a snake and dies while Aesacus is chasing after her. Struck by grief for the loss of the
one he loves, Aesacus throws himself off a cliff in an attempt to commit suicide and escape his
emotional suffering. However, Tethys pities him and turns him into a diving bird (11.772-785).
By turning him into a diving bird, Tethys is actually punishing Aesacus, because although his
form has changed, the guilt he feels inside his soul remains and he tries “endlessly to take the
road to death” (11.791) in order to be relieved of his feelings.
Unlike Aesacus, who wishes for death, Myrrha wishes to “neither die nor live” (10.485)
and is turned into a myrrh tree. Whereas story of Orpheus’s death maintains the idea that a
mortal can only escape the turmoil of their life through death, Myrrha, by doing the opposite and
asking to be held in a realm between the life and death, further supports the idea represented by
Orpheus’s death. Myrrha, who having just escaped being killed by her father, is scared of death
and believes that the only way to be relieved of her emotional turmoil is to be held in this realm
in between life and death. Thus, she is transformed into a tree, yet she still has the same feelings.
Similar to Aesacus, Myrrah’s form has changed, but the feelings of her soul are the same and
“still she weeps” (10.500) because of those feelings.
Instead of displaying the idea that a mortal can only escape the turmoil of their life
through death, Arachne’s transformation portrays exactly what the pity of gods becomes: a
punishment, similar to Aesacus’s. Arachne, unable to endure the torture of Pallas attempted to
kill herself and Pallas, pitying Arachne, turns her into a spider. Therefore, a reader would be able
to conclude that Arachne’s transformation is a form of punishment because she is forced to
continue weaving and is never able to escape Pallas’s torment.
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In conclusion, through my investigation of the mortal wish for death vs. divine pity, as
seen through the story of Orpheus’s death and the transformations of Aesacus, Myrrha and
Arachne, I have found that the only way a mortal is able to escape their emotional sufferings,
throughout Metamorphoses, is through death. I have also found that when a mortal’s wish for
death is interrupted by the pity of a god, as seen in Arachne’s story, pity becomes an everlasting
form of punishment.