In Book X of the Metamorphoses, Ovid tells the Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice. It is the well-known story of a Thracian poet, Orpheus, who travels to the underworld seeking the return of his new bride, Eurydice, who had been bitten by a snake and died on their wedding day. Moved to tears by the song of Orpheus who emotionally asks for his return, the king and queen of the underworld agree to free Eurydice. However, her reprieve depends on the condition that Orpheus does not look at her until they are completely out of the underworld. Orpheus does not fulfill this condition and, turning away, Eurydice falls back "to the same place from which she came". Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay In his version, Ovid doesn't offer much in the way of description of Eurydice's character. She is simply what Orpheus desires; she is his unattainable desire. In fact, her second chance at life is referred to as "the gift that was given" to Orpheus, not as a gift to herself. Ovid apparently expects the reader to ignore every possible longing and desire that Eurydice has for herself and instead focus on how her loss affects Orpheus alone. The reader of Ovid's version is given a rare insight into Eurydice's thoughts as she dies the second time. At this point Ovid states that she "did not complain against her husband. What was there to complain about except that she had been loved." This glimpse into Eurydice's thoughts is not meant to provide many revelations about her character, but rather to provide justification for Orpheus' descent into the underworld. Her thoughts serve both to verify Orpheus' strong love for her and to eliminate any potential guilt on her part for causing his second death. His strong love for her brought him to the underworld in the first place; as Ovid seems to maintain, it is not possible to find him guilty of this. And how can he be held accountable, when the victim himself doesn't even feel victimized? Eurydic's thoughts allow Ovid's audience to infer that she had accepted his death and was therefore not angry at the loss of the chance to live again. Yet this deduction only begs the question: If she had truly accepted her death, what feelings did she have about Orpheus bringing her back to life? Was she against it? Or perhaps her death was so complete that she was already forever numb to the events around her and, if her husband had not turned around, she would have existed in a "zombie-like" state even in her second life. The reader might infer that Ovid's failure, or perhaps refusal, to develop the character of Eurydice to the same extent as he does that of Orpheus indicates that he believes that the female perspective does not matter. The reader might also further infer that this hypothetical belief of Ovid reflects the time in which Ovid wrote. Greek culture was most likely male-dominated; women's thoughts and feelings were not essential. While this conclusion would be easy to draw, it is more likely that Ovid omits Eurydice's voice, not because she is a woman, but because she is simply a symbol of loss. The central theme in Ovid's tale is the obsession with what is unattainable. or lost. Eurydice is simply this for Orpheus; exposing one's thoughts is not necessary for Ovid to demonstrate that the eventual murder of Orpheus by the Maenads is directly caused by his excessive obsession. (Orpheus' great love for his wife made him lament incessantly for her loss. He never slept with another woman and this causedanger the Maenad women, who strongly desired to sleep with him. The offense enraged her to the point that they subsequently tore off his body limb from limb and threw his head on the island of Lesbos, where he continued to sing.) Although Orpheus' attempt to win back his wife was justified, his inability to overcome the loss, after this failed search, the dangers of excessive obsession were not excused. In her poems "Orpheus (1)", "Eurydice", and "Orpheus (2)", Margaret Atwood tells a version of this myth that includes perceptions of Eurydice. In his translation, Atwood comments on the conditions of life and death and the notion of love in each of these realms. He grants Eurydice a voice to achieve this goal. He does not directly voice Orpheus, but uses the voices of Eurydice and Hermes (who in this version recovers Eurydice for Orpheus and accompanies her on her journey out of the underworld) to convey Orpheus' thoughts. In Atwood's version, Eurydice does not choose to return to life, but does so out of loyalty to her husband. He tells Orpheus: "I was obedient, but numb, like a sleeping arm; the return to time was not my choice." He continues: "before your eyes you held the image of what you wanted me to become: to live again. It was this hope of yours that pushed me to follow you." The words "what you wanted" imply that this was not the wish Eurydice wanted; he had no desire to live again. The reader is again confronted with Eurydice's state of contentment in death when Hermes speaks to her. Her confirmation of her desire to remain dead suggests that this is not only caused by her numbness, but also by her desire to avoid the negative aspects of life: "You would have preferred to continue to feel nothing, emptiness and silence; the stagnant peace of deeper sea, which is easier than the noise and flesh of the surface." In Atwood's version, the world of the living is presented in negative terms. Eurydice describes this world as "the green light that had once grown fangs and killed me." During his journey back to this world, his body begins to transform back into a physical form. This physical state is not described as pleasant: "My hands were already dirty and I was thirsty." In announcing to Eurydice that Orpheus has come to take her back, Hermes suggests that her previous life was unpleasant. He tells her that Orpheus is offering her "a promise: that things up there will be different than they were last time." However, it is not just the idea of ​​living that keeps Eurydice from wanting to return. Atwood suggests that Orpheus' love for Eurydice is not true: Eurydice speaks of his love for her as constraining: "You had your old leash with you, love, you might call it." Orpheus' love is not true because he does not actually love her, but rather the person he wishes her to be. Orpheus cannot conceive that Eurydice is anything more than her physical body. He identifies his personality with his past, physical self and without the presence of that body, he does not know it; How could he truly love someone he doesn't even know? Hermes provides an even clearer description of the conditions of Orpheus' love. “He says he's singing to you because he loves you, not as you are now [...] He wants you to be what he calls real [...] This love of his is not something he can do if you're not there. " Hermes clearly emphasizes that Orpheus' love depends on the physique. Remember that Eurydice also tells Orpheus: "you have held firm the image of what you wanted me to become." Orpheus is not only incapable of loving her without being able to look at her, but he also needs her to look exactly as she did when she was alive. Only in her previous body can she represent the person Orpheus believes her to be. Atwood uses Eurydice's experience in death to.