Metoo By Virgil And Ovid Analysis

#MeToo: Women as Portrayed by Virgil and Ovid To many students in the 21st Century, classic literature can be seen as dry, required readings that have no impact on their lives whatsoever. Current events seem to be much more interesting and immediate, but the issues being brought up today aren’t as new as one might think. The feminist movement has gained an enormous following in the last few years, fighting for equality and respect for all genders. Social media has united that movement and allows people to share their stories, especially with the recently trending hashtag #MeToo. #Metoo was used for women to share their sexual harassment stories with the public so that others would realize that they were not the only ones who were treated disrespectfully. Unfortunately, the female characters in Virgil’s and Ovid’s stories also fell victim to their own #MeToo experiences. This is partially due to the time period, as Virgil and Ovid were writing solely for free white men

Ovid implies that Daphne has an apparent habit of running away from her issues, especially when her issue is Apollo: “He had so much more to say to her, but Daphne/ pursued her fearful course and left him speechless” (Metamorphoses Book I 726). He cannot understand why Daphne would not want to be with him, especially after listing his accomplishments: “Hatred of female freedom to oppose- that Ovid in his turn assigns to his lusty gods and human males” (Anderson 267). She cries out for her father, the river god Peneus, to destroy her beauty that she may escape; Peneus turns her into a laurel tree. Unable to love her in the way he wished, Apollo claims that “Although [she] cannot be [his] bride/…[she] will assuredly be [his] own tree” and goes on to list all the ways he will use her in his hair, his lyre, and his weaponry, effectively tying her to him forever (Metamorphoses Book I