Week 2 Story: Pygmalion and Galatea
As it is well known, the goddess Aphrodite was married to Hephaestus, but carried on an affair with Ares. When Hephaestus found out about her disloyalty, there were many consequences. One of these consequences involved a human couple named Pygmalion and Galatea. He knew that Aphrodite had a special place for them in her immortal heart. He could not kill her lover, so he tore down her greatest accomplishment instead.
Pygmalion came across an incredible statue as he was returning home one day. It was a statue of the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen. There was an uncanny resemblance to his wife. He stood and admired it for a few moments before continuing home and vowing to tell Galatea of this discovery. When he reached their home, his wife was nowhere to be found. He searched each room to no avail. He asked neighbors if they had seen her, but no one had. For days he worried for Galatea, and slowly a terrible thought began to rise up in the back of his mind. Could the statue really be his wife? It seemed ridiculous, but also not. He prayed to Aphrodite for an answer. That night, she came to him in a dream. She was remorseful as she explained what her husband had done. He had made Galatea into stone.
Pygmalion immediately went to the statue he had seen before and embraced it. His mind’s reason had clouded his thoughts before, but now he was sure that this was his lover. He cried with her, and then took her back to their home. He never remarried or loved another. For the rest of his life, he treated her as he had before. He brought her wonderful expensive gifts. He spoke to her when something burdened his mind. And even though her skin was now hard and cold, he tucked her into bed next to him every night. Pygmalion grew old and turned to dust, but Galatea's beauty lived on forever.
(Image Information: Hephaestus, Aphrodite, and Ares
Source: Wikimedia Commons)
Though it is not known by many, the goddess Aphrodite had a favorite pair of lovers. She had been the one to push them together and watch their love bloom. Anyone could see that Pygmalion and Galatea adored one another. Galatea was particularly beautiful. All the men watched her when she passed. However, other women could not hate her for this because her beauty was matched only by her kindness. She cared for both the young and the elderly. No unkind word ever left her mouth.
Pygmalion came across an incredible statue as he was returning home one day. It was a statue of the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen. There was an uncanny resemblance to his wife. He stood and admired it for a few moments before continuing home and vowing to tell Galatea of this discovery. When he reached their home, his wife was nowhere to be found. He searched each room to no avail. He asked neighbors if they had seen her, but no one had. For days he worried for Galatea, and slowly a terrible thought began to rise up in the back of his mind. Could the statue really be his wife? It seemed ridiculous, but also not. He prayed to Aphrodite for an answer. That night, she came to him in a dream. She was remorseful as she explained what her husband had done. He had made Galatea into stone.
Pygmalion immediately went to the statue he had seen before and embraced it. His mind’s reason had clouded his thoughts before, but now he was sure that this was his lover. He cried with her, and then took her back to their home. He never remarried or loved another. For the rest of his life, he treated her as he had before. He brought her wonderful expensive gifts. He spoke to her when something burdened his mind. And even though her skin was now hard and cold, he tucked her into bed next to him every night. Pygmalion grew old and turned to dust, but Galatea's beauty lived on forever.
Author's Note: In the original story of Pygmalion and Galatea, Pygmalion creates a statue of the perfect woman. He falls in love with the statue and Venus (Aphrodite) changes the statue into a real woman. I thought it was a little disturbing that Pygmalion fell in love with a 3-dimensional image of a woman, an object. I thought it would be much more romantic, though also tragic, to reverse the sequence of events of the story.
Bibliography: "Pygmalion" from Metamorphoses by Ovid, translated by Tony Kline. Web Source
Wow, you honestly did so well on this! I absolutely love greek mythologies, and it was a big part of the reason why I chose this class. I think tracing back modern day elements to the greek gods and goddesses is a really cool thing. You surprised me with your writing style, as it sounds set back in the appropriate time. One thing I have struggled with is rewriting stories like this with the appropriate grammar and style of that time. Super cool and super good job!
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that the original story of Pygmalion is kind of creepy. Reversing the story was a simple idea, but it was actually really smart! It completely changed the whole dynamic of the tale, and made it more romantic and tragic. The original story is not one of regret, but the simple action of changing stone-to-woman to woman-to-stone changed the vibe and Pygmalion's character completely. I think that it is easier to relate to your version of the story. We all have regrets, but we do not all create statues and fall in love with them. Lol
ReplyDeleteThis version of the story is much better and less weird. You even added the twist that Hephaestus turned Galatea to stone due to an anger with Aphrodite. I definitely did not think of the story in this way after reading it. If you would be so kind as to write all your stories with this much thought, I would love to comment on them as well.
ReplyDeleteWow, I must say this story was very well written. There was a feeling of suspense that I felt whenever Pygmalion could not find Galatea, and I would have never imagined her being the statue. I read the original story and also didn’t like the way Galatea was portrayed as more of an object than a person. In your story, you give Pygmalion some time to be with the women that he’s always wished for and then granted Hephaestus’s punishment which I thought was pretty brilliant. Your story made a little more sense in the way that you turned Galatea into stone instead of having a statue come to real life. I enjoyed the writing style, it went along well with the Greek Mythology them. Great job, it looks like you put a lot of thought into this story and I’ll be checking back to read some more of your stories.
ReplyDeleteI would like to start out by saying I truly enjoyed reading this story and I liked all the ideas you incorporated into it. I really liked the inclusion of Hephaestus in this story, especially since he was the one to create the first human woman and he also had the motive to undo Aphrodite’s actions out of spite. It definitely felt like that would belong, since most of the times humans are affected by the actions of the gods. Was there any other reason as to why you added him in the story?
ReplyDeleteThe way you chose to approach this and reverse the the sequence was great and it added a more romantic tone to it. It allowed Pygmalion to be seen as someone who is attached to a loved one he lost as opposed to being in love with an object. It was truly an exceptional interpretation, it was well-written and creatively thought out.