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Perhaps the biggest difference between these two discussions of Creation is the differing accounts of the creation of man. Ovid will not acknowledge man is created in God's own image. He writes, "So Man was born, it may be, in God's image, / or Earth, perhaps, so newly separated / From the old fire of Heaven, still retained / Some seed of the celestial force which fashioned / Gods out of living clay and running water" (Ovid 1068). Ovid seems afraid of acknowledging one God, one force, and one creator for some reason, while the Bible has no qualms about giving God the credit for all Creation and for man as well. The Bible says, "And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth" (Genesis I: 26). While the Bible gives direct credit to God, it is almost as if Ovid is afraid to give credit to just one being, and so, his work lacks the power and depth of the Bible. It tells the Creation story in detail, but because he cannot make a definitive choice, his words lack the impact of the Bible's words.
Finally, the story of the Flood differs greatly in both these works, and again, Ovid's takes a much different turn than that of the Bible. In the Bible, God sees the evil in the world that came after Adam and Eve left the Garden of Eden, and...
In Ovid's account, the world takes eons to turn evil, and when it does, the gods instead decide to create a new race of humans because of evil in the world. In fact, Jove commands the gods of the elements to cause a flood, saving no one but Deucalion and his wife, who worship a variety of Gods. This is far different from the violent story of Noah, who saved all the creatures on the Earth, along with his family, who then repopulated the land. This is perhaps the biggest deviation, as Ovid's couple worship and pray to a variety of gods, which goes against all the Bible says and stands for. The Bible instructs readers to worship one, all-powerful God, while Ovid cannot make up his mind or give his allegiance to only one God, and this weakens his work and his storytelling. Ovid seems incapable of making a choice, while the Bible has not problem, there is only one choice, and that is God.
In conclusion, both of these texts recognize the magnificent accomplishment of the Creation. However, Ovid cannot give credit to one individual; he wavers in his credit and his belief in one God. The Bible places credit directly on God's shoulders, never leaving the reader to wonder if others were involved in the work behind the scenes. The Bible does not waver, and so, it is the stronger of the two works, because it takes a direct stand and maintains it throughout the…
References
Author Unknown. "Genesis." The Bible.
Ovid. "Metamorphoses." pp. 1066-1076.
In literature, for example, we find this myth in the tragedy of Dr. Faustus, where the protagonist's fall is compared to the ambition of Icarus. In the visual arts this theme and myth is evident in famous paintings, such as, "Landscape with the Fall of Icarus" (1558), by Peter Brueghel. Critics have noted that Breughel used many of the detail from Ovid's story in his painting -- thus proving
Though he achieves great comic effect with this, Ovid could also be underlining the importance of the following poem by his inclusion of such a large portion of the Roman pantheon. There is also explicit evidence that Ovid is not merely -- or at least not solely -- talking about lust in the poem, at one point addressing the reader as, "You...who search for the essence of lasting love"
Mercury tells the story of Pan (whose flutes represent water) and Syrinx, another river daughter. In the second book, Ovid focuses on fire and air. He writes about the Palace of the Sun, where both air and fire are represented. The story of Phaethon is also associated with fire and air, and the sisters of Phaethon turn into trees which weep amber which is solid fire. Cygnus, Phaethon's cousin, becomes
If one doubts this, consider Ovid's most overly scathing prose is served for Caesar and contemporary politics. Even better than at plays, one can pick up women witnessing spectacles and triumphs: "When, lately, Caesar, in mock naval battle, / exhibited the Greek and Persian fleets, / surely young men and girls came from either coast, / and all the peoples of the world were in the City? / Who did
This is also accomplished by "sliding" from a story centered around one character to that of a friend or relative (Epaphus and Phaethon, end of Book 1). These different links, or disjointed continuations, reaffirm the superficiality with which Ovid demands the reader to operate. Ovid uses the conformities of the epic throughout the Metamorphoses, but the height of this usage is achieved in the Ajax-Odyssey debate. Ovid's use of the
We actually feel that we are there, one of the spectators, experiencing the story along with Procne and Philomela. Titus lacks these specificities and cultural details. Similarities, however, may be found in other elements. The imagery in both narratives is rich. Both Ovid and Shakespeare have a penchant for enlivening the passages with verbal imagery, particularly in the forms of simile and metaphor. Tamora's praise of the forest alludes to