Essay about Ovid and Actaeon

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Selfish Gods While the stories "Actaeon and Diana" and "Arachne" by Ovid both involve the suffering and transformation of innocent humans, Actaeon's story is an Aristotelian Tragedy and better illustrates the unforgiving wrath of the gods. The story "Actaeon and Diana" clearly is an Aristotelian Tragedy involving an innocent hunter's transformation into a stag by the huntress goddess Diana and emphasizes the gods cruelty and selfishness. In the middle of the woods, Diana is bathing and the hunter, Actaeon, accidentally walks up, sees her, and she yells,"Now you may tell of how you saw me naked, tell it if you can, you may" (Ovid III.242-243)! Diana turning Actaeon into a stag is quite ironic because the hunter becomes the hunted and because of what is going to happen next. After Actaeon realizes what happens, it does not take long for his own hunting dogs to find him, and when they do, Actaeon tries to yell saying,"It's me! Actaeon! Recognize your master" (Ovid III.291-292)! Of course, the dogs do not understand him and they attack him. This story is also very ironic in that his own dogs kill him and is another example of the gods twisted minds. In the story "Arachne" the gods are still unfair, but Arachne is a little more deserving of her punishment than Actaeon was. When Minerva disguises herself at Arachne's home, Arachne challenges her stating,"Let her compete with me, and if she wins I'll pay whatever penalty she sets" (Ovid VI.36-37)! Here, Arachne is at fault because she challenges the gods, and is willing
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