Ovid's Metamorphoses Role Of Women

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It is widely known that in ancient Rome, women had very limited expectations of what they could contribute to society. They were mostly purposed for being faithful wives at a very young age, and for in turn bearing sons at a very young age. There was little to no respect for women who did not come from a rich or royal family, and it was very hard to gain respect if one did not start out with it. However, as shown in Ovid’s Metamorphoses, it was not impossible for them to rise above their circumstances and achieve true love and respect from the men of that time. Several women from Ovid’s stories seem to possess a sense of dignity and equality with men that other women did not share.
As previously mentioned, women’s primary and often only purpose in Roman society was to provide pleasure for her husband and to bear a son. There is story after story in the Metamorphoses that reflects this idea, the clearest of which is the story of “Iphis and Isis”. In this story, Iphis is a young girl who has had to hide her true gender from her father since birth. Before she was born, Iphis’ father believed that he could never …show more content…

Their fates constantly depend on men’s decisions to save them or to take advantage of them; the women do not seem to have any power or will of their own. This pattern of helplessness is illustrated throughout several stories in the Metamorphoses, one of which is the story of “Perseus and Andromeda.” In this story, Andromeda is a young girl who is first seen on a mountain top, tied to a cliff, awaiting death by sea monster. The reader is not given any other description of her besides that her “beauty quite astounded [Perseus]”. After Perseus sees her beauty, he decides to intervene. He flies over to her riding the wings strapped to his feet and asks her why she is there. Her reaction to his coming, however, is not one of hopefulness, but of

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