The Transformation Of Arachne In Ovid's Metamorphoses
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Turning Arachne into a spider, Pallas wickedly cried, “Doom'd in suspence for ever to be ty'd; / That all your race, to utmost date of time, / May feel the vengeance, and detest the crime” (LINE NUMBERS). The preceding excerpt is from “The Transformation of Arachne into a Spider,” found in Ovid’s Metamorphoses. In the story of Arachne’s transformation into a spider, Arachne, a human, and Pallas, an Olympian goddess, compete to see who the best weaver is. Arachne is a very skilled and renowned weaver but denies that she owes her talent to the goddess, even though “Pallas her mistress shone in every line,” Arachne “Disowns her heav'nly mistress ev'ry hour, / Nor asks her aid, nor deprecates her pow'r” (LINE NUMBERS). Pallas disguises herself…show more content… The four corners of her design depict the gods turning mortals into animals or objects as punishment. “Haemus in one, and Rodope of Thrace / Transform'd to mountains” (LINE NUMBERS) by Jove, filled the first corner. In the second, a “Pigmaean dame, Profaning Juno's venerable name” (LINE NUMBERS) was “Turn'd to an airy crane” (LINE NUMBER). Next, “The rage of Heav'n's great queen, / Display'd on proud Antigone, was seen” (LINE NUMBERS), as Juno turned Antigone into a stork. In the remaining corner, Cinyras weeps over “His lovely daughters, now to marble turn'd” (LINE NUMBER). Though fitting, the next scene in this story is not found in Pallas’s tapestry. Pallas, envious and outraged by Arachne’s creation, beat Arachne until she hung herself from a beam. Perhaps inspired by the sight of the master weaver hanging down from a beam, the goddess transformed Arachne into a spider. Pallas punished a human by turning her into an animal, just like the gods in her tapestry. She became one of the vengeful gods she had woven in her piece.
Like Pallas, Arachne becomes one of the characters in her tapestry. In her tapestry, the gods deceived humans by taking on a different shape, such as a bull or stream. Likewise, Pallas disguised herself as an old woman to try and manipulate Arachne to ask the goddess for forgiveness. Completely fooled by Pallas’s disguise, she challenged the goddess. Pallas begrudged Arachne’s skill, and…show more content… The literal contest between Pallas and Arachne is metaphoric of their opposing perspectives. Each of these perspectives can be seen in the organization and stories found in their tapestries. Pallas believes there is a divine order in the world and that the gods, who sit at the top, have the right to treat humans however they please. Arachne, on the other hand, has an oppressed, victimized perspective. She believes that there is no code of conduct; the gods merely run amuck on Earth, taking advantage of mortals because they desire to. The scenes in each artist’s tapestry come to life. In Pallas’s piece, gods transformed humans into objects or animals as punishment; Pallas transformed Arachne into a spider out of anger. In Arachne’s piece, humans were deceived by the gods; Arachne was deceived by Pallas. Indeed, both Pallas and Arachne’s perspectives were realized in the story. Pallas believed she was exceedingly above all mortals, and that a supreme deity like herself had the right to defeat anyone who challenged her ascendency. Therefore, when a human threaten to outdo her at weaving, she hectored her until the human surrendered her life. Arachne viewed humans as endlessly oppressed and tormented by the gods. Consequently, human Arachne was beat until she attempted to escape the unyielding torture inflicted