The Ovidian Tale Hermaphroditus and the Novel Mygale

Introduction

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There are various comparisons and contrasts between the Ovidian Tale Hermaphroditus and the Novel Mygale. This paper compares and contrasts the Ovidian tale Hermaphroditus and the novel Mygale. It also uses textual evidence as quotes from both stories to support the thesis.

There is one major similarity between the Ovidian Tale Hermaphroditus and the Novel Mygale. Both are set on the theme of love and sex.In Ovidian Hermaphroditus, Salmacis becomes very aggressive and attacks Hermaphroditus. She is in need of sex but unfortunately ends up becoming a permanent part of Hermaphroditus. (Melville &Kerney, 1986). Similarly in the Novel Mygale, The plastic surgeon Richard Lafargue, keeps Eve under lock in his house, takes her out on occasions as a companion but also pimps her out to men for them to make love with her. Lafargue also seems to take some sexual pleasure in her; though his thrill is in her basement as her suffering was his main comfort (Jonquet, 1995).

There are differences between the Ovidian Tale Hermaphroditus and the Novel Mygale. In Ovidian Tale Hermaphroditus, the primary theme is love. The sisters figuratively give accounts stories about unfulfilled love. Their love stories feature various kinds of people, and they all center on profound and frustrated longing. The two young lovers, Thisbe, and Pyramus are also separated in life through their families objections. The Suns love for Leucothoe, is also seen although he could not do anything to save her from being buried alive. The other case of love is between Salmacis and Narcissus, though its one-sided (Melville &Kerney, 1986).On the contrary, in the Novel Mygale, the primary theme is humiliation and torture. Richard Lafargue, an important plastic surgeon, gets haunted by obscene secrets. Richard uses an operating theater in his chateaus basement, keeps Eve, his partner in the bedroom imprisoned, from where through the three hundred-watt speakers and intercom equipment he gives orders to humiliate her. He only allows Eve to be seen out at every cocktail party and every months last Sundays, when they check to see a woman in a mental section. Moreover, during the outings, Lafargue further humiliates Eve by forcefully making her engage in sexual affairs with the strangers as he observes through a mirror that is one-way. Through the other scenes in other following chapters, Jonquet gives an account of a criminal who after killing a police officer, gets on the run and a young man who gets abducted and is chained in a dark chamber while naked. The young man is then forced to undergo all forms of torture by a stranger, 'Mygale'. All of the characters get caught in the deceitful web and are doomed in meeting their dreadful fate (Jonquet, 1995).

The other difference is the fact that Ovidian Tale Hermaphroditus is majorly based on human relationships with the gods. The act of the gods is felt when Ovid returns to Cadmuss households story after many intervening stories, which suggested that the wrath of the gods was unrelenting. The gods decide to destroy the family of Cadmus, and they ensure they do so. Inos unfair downfall is also closely related to her zeal for worshiping the general gods, particularly Bacchus. The worship of gods brings about great hatred between Juno and Ino.Juno hates Ino since she is a very enthusiastic worshipper of Bacchus, who is has become the fruit of one of the extramarital affairs of Jupiter. Ino gets a cruel, unfair, ironic and bloody punishment from the god Bacchus who inspires madness on her despite being his zealous follower. Ino then gets killed by her husbands who get maddened so as to carry out the killing. Cadmus also witnesses the last of his line fall, then turns into a serpent, the exact beast he had killed so as to establish Thebes. This is the impact of the wrath of the gods (Melville &Kerney, 1986). On the contrary, in the Novel Mygale, is mainly based on human- human relations. Vincent Moreaus story, explains how he gets captured and locked up by a madman in a cellar. This later reveals the inner ill intentions and plans that his captor had planned for him as the prisoner. Alex, who is a petty thug, also finally manages to carry out a bank robbery but gets desperately on the run, with the knowledge that the whole of France is after him. He then recalls on his intimate buddy, Vincent, whom he would have counted on especially at such tradegies.During this time, Vincent's fate is fully in the hands of the madman. The identity of Eve and the plans of Alex all get revealed all suggest the inner personal intentions towards fellow humans in the way that Mygale ultimately pulls the scenes (Jonquet, 1995).

Conclusion

There are various comparisons and contrasts between the Ovidian Tale Hermaphroditus and the Novel Mygale. The two books hold a similarity by both being set on the theme of love and sex. There are differences between the Ovidian Tale Hermaphroditus and the Novel Mygale as Ovidian Tale Hermaphroditus, primary theme of love in contrast to Novel Mygales humiliation and torture. There other difference is the fact that Ovidian Tale Hermaphroditus is majorly based on human relationships with the gods while Novel Mygale is based on human-human relationships.

References

Jonquet, T. (1995). Tarantula. Editions Gallmard,Paris

Melville,A.D.,Kerney,E.J.(1986).Ovid Metamorphoses,Oxford Worlds Classics,Oxford University press Inc.,New York.