Max Gould
Humanities: Ovid
03/29/08
Metamophoses, Passion, and the Fates
In his Metamorphoses, Ovid emphasizes certain themes in his stories by
repetition. Similarities between multiple stories reveal interesting parallels. For instance,
throughout Ovid’s Metamorphoses, the Gods are portrayed as highly passionate, acting
on their emotions, often with little or no restraint. It’s interesting therefore to note that the
Gods are often the arbiters of fate. Furthermore, in every case where a mortal suffers at
the hands of fate it is a direct result of some God’s passionate action. Even in the case of
Phaethon and Apollo, events did not fall into the hands of fate until Apollo granted
Phaethon an unnamed boon. Zeus did the same thing with Semele, in both cases, blinded
by love, the Gods became nothing more than the puppets of fate. Through the parallels
between many of his stories, Ovid emphasizes the relationship between passion and fate.
In many of his stories, mortals suffer horrible fates due to the passions of the Gods, and
often their own passions as well. This suggests that passion is the means by which the
Fates influence events on earth. Regardless of how reasonable someone is, one is always
subject to the Fates because the Gods always act passionately. Metamorphoses then are
the physical manifestation of this transformation of the mind. Just as how one loses
control of their fortune when one succumbs to their passions, when one is turned into a
tree or a stag, one looses control of certain physical abilities. These transformations then,
play an equal part in the dispensation of fate as divine passion. The transformations in
Ovid’s Metamorphoses represent the destructive nature of unrestrained passion and its
role in the propogation of fate.
In the story of Phaethon and Apollo, Apollo, blinded by love for his son, swears
to grant him his heart’s desire. “Ask what you will that I may satisfy your heart’s desire;
And that dark marsh by which the gods make oath, though to my eyes unknown, shall
seal my troth.” (Ovid, II. 48-50) Though Apollo unwittingly decides his son’s fate, his
son is also driven by a passion and refuses to listen to reason when Apollo warns him of
the danger he faces. “Rash have your word proved mine!Would that I might retract my
promise, Phaethon!.. Yet at least I may dissuade you.” (Ovid, II. 56-59) The passions of
both Apollo and Phaethon give their destinies over into the hands of the Fates. “Ahead he
Max Gould
Humanities: Ovid
03/29/08
sees the west that fate ordains he shall not reach.” (Ovid, II. 192-93) This story relates to
another story by Ovid concerning Zeus and Semele. In both stories, the mortals suffer
horrible fates because of unnamed boons granted by the Gods. “The girl, unwitting, asked
of Jove a boon unnamed. ‘Choose what you will’, the god replied, ‘There’s nothing I’ll
refuse; and should you doubt, the power of rushing Styx shall be my witness.” (Ovid, III.
285-88) However, unlike Phaethon, Semele is not warned of the danger of her request
and is simply struck down when Zeus obliges her. Because Hera prompted Semele to ask
the boon of Zeus out of spite in the first place, the primary passions that determine fate in
this story are those of Zeus and Hera. Unlike Apollo, Zeus doesn’t try to dissuade Semele
from her course, preventing her from having any control over her fate. Through the
parallels in these two stories, Ovid emphasizes the idea that fate is a result of others’
influence over one’s life. When Phaethon becomes passionate and refuses to listen to his
father’s warnings, he sacrifices any control of his situation to fate. In this case, fate is
determined by the passionate love Apollo bears toward Phaethon. However, Semele’s
experience emphasizes the arbitrary nature of fate, and how sometimes it is completely
out of one’s hands.
This aspect of fate can also be seen in certain parallels between the stories of
Diana and Actaeon, and Pentheus and Bacchus. It is very clearly stated in the story of
Diana and Actaeon that the Fates guided him to the cave wear Diana was bathing. “Idly
wandering through unknown clearings of the forest, [Actaeon] found the sacred grove –
so the fates guided him – and came upon the cool damp cave.” (Ovid, III. 177-81) This
reveals another aspect of fate in Ovid’s Metamorphoses, an aspect of chance. Like
passion, random fortune too plays a part in the plans of fate. “The fault was fortune’s and
no guilt that day, for what guilt can it be to lose one’s way?” (Ovid, III. 146-47)
However, once in the grove, it is the goddess’s passionate fury that drives Actaeon to his
death. “Not until so many countless wounds had drained away his lifeblood, was the
wrath, it’s said, of chaste Diana satisfied.” (Ovid, III. 255-57) In some ways this story
relates to the tale of Semele, in that they are both the victims of ill fortune in addition to
the passions of the gods. Ovid’s story of Pentheus and Bacchus however, once again
emphasize the power of one’s own passions to lead one to an unfortunate fate. Like the
Max Gould
Humanities: Ovid
03/29/08
stories of Phaethon and Semele, Ovid clearly intends the two stories of Actaeon and
Pentheus to be related as they are both torn limb from limb in the execution of their
respective fates. Pentheus even refers to Actaeon as he calls out to his aunt. “Help, Aunt
Autonoe! Mercy! Actaeon’s ghost should move your mercy!” (Ovid, III. 716-18) But like
Phaethon, Pentheus is partially responsible for his own fate. For Pentheus is warned of
his fate by the blind prophet, but is too blinded by his own passions to heed the warning.
“Unless you honour [Bacchus] with holy shrines, you shall be torn to pieces; far and wide
you shall be strewn, and with your blood defile the forests and your mother and her
sisters.” (Ovid, III. 523-526) In both these stories, fate is the result of the passionate
wrath of gods rather than the blinding love portrayed in the stories of Actaeon and
Semele. The parallels Ovid draws between these two stories once again shows fate to be
the power of others over one’s life as a result of the consuming fires of passion.
Ovid’s portrayal of fate is mirrored in his use of metamorphosis throughout his
stories. Just as unrestrained passion removes one’s ability to direct one’s fate,
metamorphosis serves in a similar capacity. In the story of Diana and Actaeon, Diana
turns Actaeon into a stag to prevent him from telling anyone what he has seen. “’Now tell
you saw me here naked without my clothes, if you can tell at all!’ With that one threat
antlers she raised upon his dripping head.” (Ovid, III. 190-93) Actaeon then suffers his
horrible fate partially because he cannot speak or call out to his friends. “He tried to say
‘Alas!’ – but no words came; he groaned – that was his voice.” (Ovid, III. 202-03) Ovid
uses the transformation as a way of reflecting the way in which passion leads to the
adjudication of fate. When Zeus grants Semele an unnamed boon, he sacrifices part of his
ability to act to change the course of events. Actaeon’s inability to speak similarly
inhibits his ability to influence the course of events by preventing him from speech. In the
story of Daphne and Apollo, their combined passions, one to love, and one not to be,
deliver circumstances into the hands of the Fates. “So love’s fire consumed the god, his
whole heart was aflame, and high the hopes that stoked his fruitless passion.” (Ovid, I.
495-97) In this case, the conflict is resolved when Daphne is turned into a tree and is then
unnable to be Apollo’s bride. “’My bride’, he said, ‘since you can never be, at least,
sweet laurel, you shall be my tree.” (Ovid, I. 555-56) Once again, like their passions, the
Max Gould
Humanities: Ovid
03/29/08
transformation commits them to a course of events determined by fate. Throughout the
Metamorphoses, Ovid uses physical transformation to reflect one’s inability to direct fate
when overrun with passions.
Fate plays a huge role in the stories of relationships between mortals and the gods
in Ovid’s Metamorphoses. Blinding passion, or just ill-fortune lead mortals to restrict
themselves to the paths of fate. However, Ovid portrays fate as being the influence of
others over one’s life, and thus mortals are often doomed to certain fates by the passions
of the gods. In Metamorphoses, Passion induces fate by making one incabable of
changing the course of events, such as with Zeus’s unnamed boon to Semele, granted out
of love. Ovid mirrors this transformation in his metamorphoses, revealing one’s loss of
control in a different form than one’s own. Fate is created when mortals or gods alike
loose control of a situation. In Ovid’s Metamorphoses, characters are transformed
physically and mentally by unrestrained passions, consigning them to the harsh
judgement of fate.