Sympathy For Io In Ovid's Metamorphoses

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There were two major rape narratives in the Metamorphoses: one in Book I, when Jupiter rapes the nymph, Io; and one in Book II, when Jupiter rapes Diana’s follower, Callisto. After the first instance, Ovid sympathizes considerably with Io. First, he addresses her with the title “fleeing girl” (Ovid 9), which gives her the characterization of being innocent and unwilling towards Jupiter. In addition, after the rape, Io is turned into a heifer then taken away from her home to be kept in captivity by Argus, which makes the readers sympathize with her because she is being held against her will for being the victim of rape. Lastly, Ovid conveys sympathy for Io when she looks into a river and sees that she is a heifer and becomes “terrified of herself” …show more content…

Similar to the rape of Io, Ovid describes Callisto as a “girl” (Ovid 16) in order to provoke the characterization of innocence within the readers. Furthermore, much like Io tried to flee Jupiter, Callisto “fought him” (Ovid 16), which means that she was unwilling, and the victim of this crime. Additionally, after she is raped, when Diana gathers her and all the nymphs, Callisto feels severely isolated from her own friends and family caused by the “guilt” (Ovid 16) of no longer being a pure virgin, which makes the readers sympathize with her because being lonely is depressing and harmful. Ovid conveys disdain towards Jupiter that is very similar to Book I as well. Again, Jupiter knew acting upon his lust was wrong, but he still accomplished it by disguising himself with “the face and dress of Diana” in order to hide the crime from the rest of the Gods and Earth. In addition, Jupiter states that “my wife will not see my cunning” (Ovid 16), which further characterizes the God as manipulative and dishonest. Overall, Ovid conveys sympathy of the victims of rape by using common insecurities and social problems among humans in order to invoke empathy from the readers. On the same note, Ovid conveys disdain towards the rapists by obviously characterizing them as manipulative, dishonest, and immoral, which is very distasteful among the Roman

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