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Ovid the Metamorphoses

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Ovid the Metamorphoses
Joey c.

The Metamorphoses: Why Jupiter’s feelings that humans are evil is misled and hypocritical.

“And I reckon them that are good must suffer for it the same as them that are bad.”― William Faulkner. Faulkner’s ideology is prevalent in the story The Metamorphoses, by Ovid, as the poet tells of the god Jupiter destroying all man kind (except for Deucalion and Pyrrha) because of the actions of one, Lycaon. Ovid describes Jupiter's destruction as an effort to protect all the gods who do not live in the heavens. However, Jupiter's actions are not justified in any way presented in the book. In the story there are multiple cases where Jupiter and other gods cause danger and torment on the lower class of gods. Examples of rape, intervention of true love, and god’s being killed, forever changed, and cast out, are all reoccurring events that occur throughout The Metamorphoses. This concludes that, with the destruction of humanity, Jupiter exemplifies characteristics of ignorance and hypocrisy by: not considering the good and well being of other humans, harming the very gods he set out to protect, and ignoring the other gods wrong doings, that were more detrimental than any human ever had the power to do. Jupiter believes that humans are all evil, however he took this generalization off of one situation and failed to consider any other possibilities. By this generalization, Jupiter has misled information and a bias heart going into his decision to flood the world. Jupiter, during an age of hardship and nothing sacred, went to see a human named Lycaon. During his visit Jupiter was treated with disrespect and was even attempted to be murdered by Lycaon. “... at first Lycaon mocked their piety... ‘He planned to take me, overcome with sleep, and murder me as I lay unawares.’” (The Metamorphoses: Book 1, 308-313). So outraged, Jupiter set out to destroy humanity with a flood. K Balsley, whose article about The Metamorphoses is published in the University Of California

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