MONICA SHAFFER

Intellegere et Diligere Litteras:

“To understand and to love literature”

Introduction

Classical trainingGermination of the project

Reading mythology, notice two themes Tragic love story Manufacturing women

Present in the literature today

Themes

Universal truth in LiteratureLiterary heritage – tracing the path of themes

through time as they morph, impacted by culture around them

Consistency between Roman and modern: Amor Aeternus, Amor est vitae essentia

“Love forever”, “Love is the essence of life” Amor habendi

“Love of possessing”

Ovid

Publius Ovidius Naso, 43 BCE – 17 CERoman, studied rhetoric, natural poetLived a life of comfort

Married three times and enjoyed female companyMetamorphoses

15 books written in hexameter verse mythological and legendary stories in which

metamorphosis takes place• Ostracized in 8 CE by Augustus at the height of his

fame

“Pyramus and Thisbe”

Forbidden loveLove allows the impossible:

“Love made her bold”Tragic love story – ends in death

Amor aeternus Can’t be together in life, so together in death “’Keep in remembrance always, the sign of our death, the

dark and mournful color.’ She spoke, and fitting the sword-point at her breast, fell forward on the blade, still warm and reeking with her lover’s blood. Her prayers touched the gods, and touched her parents, for the mulberry fruit still reddens at its ripeness, and the ashes rest in a common urn.”

“Romeo and Juliet”

William ShakespeareSame themes:

Time and Fate Forbidden Love United only through death

“From forth the fatal loins of these two foes/      A pair of star-cross'd lovers take their life;/      While misadventured piteous overthrows/      Doth with their death bury their parents' strife.” (Prologue)

Modern Adaptations

William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet Baz Luhrman (1996)

Shakespeare in LoveWest Side StoryExtensions of an “Amor aeternus” theme

Great Gatsby Twilight

• And there’s always more!

“The Story of Pygmalion”

Amor habendi – “love of possessing”

“Pygmalion, who had seen these women leading their shameful lives, shocked at the vices nature has given the female disposition only too often, chose to live alone, to have no woman in his bed.”

Dissatisfaction with the female race beginning

“The Story of Pygmalion”

Sculpts his own woman Manufactured woman

“The image seemed that of a virgin, truly, almost living, and willing, save that modesty prevented, to take on movement.”Fragile being

On a pedestal Surreal Perfection

“Angel in the House”

1854-1862, Coventry PatmoreIdealized courtship of his wife, EmilyMeans:

Devoted mother Submissive wife Ideal Victorian woman

Completed after Emily’s death

“Angel in the House”

“You, Sweet, his mistress, wife, and Muse,/ Were you for mortal woman meant?/ Your praises give a hundred clues/ to mythological intent!” (Prologue, 4).

Clear references to mythology and the Metamorphoses, similarities to Homer

Deifies women Paradox

“Pygmalion”

George Bernard Shaw, 1916Eliza DoolittleHenry Higgins

No interest in woman, to create a “societal ideal”Colonel Pickering

“Pygmalion”

“Playing with a live doll” –Mrs. Higgins (Act 3)

“[Eliza’s beauty turns murderous]” Stage direction at the end of Act 4

Higgins falls in love with the defiant Eliza, disliking the submissive person he created

Men aren’t ideal

Modern Adaptations

My Fair LadyPygmalion Pretty WomanAdaptation of the theme:

The Stepford Wives Grease Frankenstein

and always more!

Conclusion

Two important themes prevalent in Literature: Tragic love

Amor aeternus, amor est vitae essentia Gender creation: manufactured and idolized

Amor habendiAlterations and cultural morphBasic truth in today’s societyA knowledge of classical literature leads to a

better understanding of these themes for their true nature – as timeless

Discussion

Any Questions?If we believe:

Universal truths may be revealed through our literature

Then:The distortions of these themes in today’s

society will reveal some universal truths about our own cultures:

Discussion

How can we see modernity manipulating these themes?

“Angel in the House” concept still exists – where can we see this? But how has it been altered to fit our modern life?

Literary history of “problematic” themes and language – primarily through love stories, should we still be reading these stories?

Do we as a culture believe that the notion of “true love” cannot happen?

Works Cited

"Coventry Patmore." Victorian Web. Victorian Web, 6 July 2004. Web. 29 Apr. 2013. Lewis, Naomi. "The Angel in the House: Overview." Reference Guide to English

Literature. Ed. D. L. Kirkpatrick. 2nd ed. Chicago: St. James Press, 1991. Literature Resource Center. Web. 29 Apr. 2013.

Maynard, John. "Coventry Patmore's Angel: A Study of Coventry Patmore, His Wife Emily and The Angel in the House." Victorian Studies 36.3 (1993): 401+. Literature Resource Center. Web. 29 Apr. 2013.

"Ovid (Roman Poet)." Encyclopedia Britannica Online. Encyclopedia Britannica, n.d. Web. 20 Apr. 2013.Ovid’s Metamorphoses

Ovid, and Rolfe Humphries. "The Story of Pyramus and Thisbe." Metamorphoses. Bloomington: Indiana UP, 1955. 83-86. Print.

Ovid, and Rolfe Humphries. "The Story of Pygmalion." Metamorphoses. Bloomington: Indiana UP, 1955. 241-43. Print.

Roy, Emil. "Pygmalion Revisited." Ball State University Forum 11.2 (Spring 1970): 38-46. Rpt. in Drama Criticism. Ed. Timothy J. Sisler. Vol. 23. Detroit: Gale, 2004. Literature Resource Center. Web. 29 Apr. 2013.

 Shakespeare, William, and Peter Holland. "Prologue." Introduction. Romeo and Juliet. New York: Penguin, 2000. Print.