94: Ovid: Metamorphoses - 4. Love and Passion

The theme today is Love and Passion.

The color is Pantone 18-2328 Fuchsia Red and the fragrance Tom Ford Rose Prick (2019). Tree is Myrtle. Art work is John William Waterhouse’s Echo and Narcissus (1903). Novel is Gustave Flaubert’s Madame Bovary (1857).

This session examines how love and passion are presented in Metamorphoses, focusing on the intensity, transformative power, and tragic consequences that often accompany these emotions. Ovid portrays love as a force that transcends societal and physical boundaries, yet often leads to conflict, misunderstanding, and irreversible change. By studying tales of romantic passion, forbidden love, and unrequited desire, we will explore the dual nature of love as both creative and destructive, as well as its ability to evoke profound emotional experiences and transformative outcomes.

Read these key passages related to the theme

• Metamorphoses 1.487-609 (Apollo and Daphne).
• 3.362-552 (Narcissus and Echo).
• 4.59-174 (Pyramus and Thisbe).
• 10.1-92 (Orpheus and Eurydice).
• 9.720-973 (Iphis and Ianthe).
• 4.295-422 (Salmacis Rapes Hermaphroditus)
• 7.1-167 (Jason and Medea).

Pantone Color

• Pantone 18-2328 Fuchsia Red
• Fuchsia Red evokes a powerful emotional response, blending feelings of confidence and assertiveness with a sense of excitement and energy. This vibrant hue inspires creativity and self-expression, encouraging individuals to embrace their unique personality and stand out from the crowd. While it can be invigorating and uplifting, fuchsia should be used judiciously in design and decor, as its intensity can potentially lead to overstimulation if overused.

Fragrance

• Tom Ford Rose Prick (2019)
• A pristine scent, Rose Prick's beauty stems from a wild bouquet of rare blooms inspired by the ones found in a private rose garden. A patchouli note exhales the woody breath of chypre to the floral heart, while the warmth of roasted tonka smolders with notes of caramel and vanilla.

Tree

• Myrtle
• Known for its sweet fragrance and sacred status, the myrtle tree represents love and purity, reflecting the role of scent in Ovid’s stories as a mark of divine favor and emotional resonance.

Artwork

• John William Waterhouse’s Echo and Narcissus (1903)
• The painting is set in an idyllic wooded landscape beside a stream with rocky edges. The young Narcissus is lying prone, with his head over the water, fascinated by his own reflection. He is half-clad in a red robe, symbolising his flaming self-desire. The nymph Echo sits nearby across the stream, clasping a tree with her right hand, gazing at Narcissus in despair. She is symbolically separated from Narcissus, who does not look back towards her. Her cramped posture reflects her unrequited love. She is wearing a pink robe that has fallen off the left shoulder to reveal one breast; the milder pink of her robe reflects less passionate, smouldering love for Narcissus. Near her grow some yellow flag irises, Iris pseudacorus, and she wears a red poppy in her auburn hair. Some white narcissi have emerged from the grass beside the youth's foot, and a yellow water lily, Nuphar lutea, is in the water.

Literature

• Gustave Flaubert’s Madame Bovary
• The story revolves around Emma Bovary, a young woman with romantic ideals who becomes disillusioned with her mundane provincial life after marrying Charles Bovary, a kind but unremarkable doctor. Seeking excitement and passion, Emma engages in two extramarital affairs, first with Rodolphe Boulanger and later with Léon Dupuis, while simultaneously indulging in luxurious purchases that lead her into significant debt. As her financial situation deteriorates and her romantic fantasies crumble, Emma becomes increasingly desperate, ultimately consuming arsenic in a tragic suicide.

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We're using a new translation of this wide ranging masterpiece that covers the history of the world, from its creation to the deification of Julius Caesar in 42 BC in a mythico-historical framework comprising over 250 myths, 15 books, and 11,995 lines. The translation is by Stephanie McCarter, a Classics professor at the University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee: Metamorphoses (A Penguin Classics) – Published November 8, 2022.

This will take us well into 2025. BCE read the Metamorphoses before in 2020/2021.

A Latin text is online at https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3atext%3a1999.02.0029 (Hugo Magnus. Gotha (Germany). Friedr. Andr. Perthes. 1892).