Orpheus: The Metamorphoses of a Myth edited by John Warden
This book examines the cultural context of various adaptations of the Orpheus and Eurydice myth, both discussing the presiding interpretation(s) of each historical period and delving into the specific details of period-appropriate works focusing on the character. While this book has a heavy focus on Orpheus, examining Eurydice mainly as a side note, it does provide a comprehensive and relatively compact history of representations of the myth from our earliest knowledge to the Renaissance, as well as the historical context that influences each interpretation.
- The original Greek myth is unavailable
- Orpheus was likely based on a real person
- There was most likely an early version of the descent myth where Orpheus was successful at bringing back Eurydice
- Virgil and Ovid expected their readers to know the tale well and presented what were probably unique twists at the time.
- Virgil is believed to be the one who introduced failure into the myth.
- Virgil’s story is intended to criticize the poet’s wallowing in grief rather than accepting events as they are.
- Ovid deliberately subverts the idea of Orpheus as the ideal poet, making him something akin to Romeo pre-masquerade. In this way he mocks the figure of the tortured artist.
- Early Christian traditions used Orpheus as a Christ figure, venturing into Hades/Hell to rescue the lost soul of Eurydice/Humanity
- The figures of Christ, David, and Orpheus were closely connected and somewhat interchangeable as musicians bringing God’s Word to the people
- Medieval writers interpreted myths in three ways: Historic, Metaphor for Christian figures, Rhetorical morality teaching device
- Orpheus became a prototype of the medieval courtly lover
- In religious metaphor, Eurydice ironically represented both spiritual enlightenment (Orpheus’ search for her) and materialistic vice (looking back)
- The inevitable Eurydice as Eve comparison (the snake is the devil)
- Orpheus as a magician
- Celtic adaptations drew heavily from Celtic tradition, with Orpheus in several adaptations having to rescue Eurydice from the fairy realm rather than the underworld
- *Early renaissance artists took the myth less seriously, while also beginning the task of bringing it back to its roots.
- Orpheus became part of a chain of theologic poets representing an unbroken lineage back to the early days of Greece.
- Orpheus at time became associated as a symbol of “divine music”, which referred not to actual music, but to the idea of a supreme perfect order to the universe.
- Orpheus as the self-conscious artist
- Two phases – Euphemeristic (Orpheus as prophet-philosopher) and Platonic (Orpheus as historical character)
- Orpheus started to be seen as a champion of unhappy love
- Association with Apollo
- Late renaissance painted him as a hero figure and focused more heavily on the Eurydice story
- Eurydice represents the emotions and suffering of the story, Orpheus is the divine idealization.
- Eurydice as an “intangible reality which cannot be grasped”
- Several of the earliest operas were centered around the Orphic descent myth
- The ending was commonly changed to be happier, as operas were commonly performed at weddings.
o The condition for Eurydice’s return was left out, allowing Orpheus to easily bring her back.
o Apollo intervenes, bringing Orpheus to heaven to be with her.
- Views shifted to focus more on the importance of Love.
- Immortality through art
- Orpheus and Eurydice as part of the “courtly love” tradition
Orpheus and Eurydice from Metamorphoses: Book X by Ovid (translator: A. S. Kline)
Another early version of the myth, Ovid’s version is similar in many ways to Virgil’s. It objectifies Eurydice even further. Eurydice’s role in this story is only her role in relation to Orpheus. She’s given no thoughts or actions of her own, and only speaks one word.
- Bad omens pre-wedding
- Eurydice stepped on a poisonous snake and was bitten
- Orpheus tries and fails to accept her death before journeying to the underworld
- He argues that since both of them will die eventually, Hades isn’t losing anything by returning her
- Eurydice is referred to multiple times as a “gift”
- She walks with a limp due to the wound on her foot
- “Dying a second time, now, there was no complaint to her husband (what, then, could she complain of, except that she had been loved?). She spoke a last ‘farewell’ that, now, scarcely reached his ears, and turned again towards that same place.”
- Orpheus tried again but was turned away at the Styx
- Orpheus turned to male lovers after the loss of Eurydice (an interesting tidbit that to my knowledge shows up in no other adaptations)
Orpheus and Eurydice from The Georgics: Book IV by Virgil (Translator: A. S. Kline)
The earliest version of the myth we have access to, Virgil’s telling of the story provides the bare bones of nearly every adaptation that follows. This version is framed as a tale told by the oracle Proteus to the shepherd Aristaeus, the catalyst of this tale.
- In this version, Eurydice is fleeing Aristaeus, who seeks to rape her, when she is bitten by a poisonous snake.
- Orpheus’ music stuns the inhabitants of the underworld
- Persephone is named as the one to give Orpheus the order to not look back
- “a sudden madness seized the incautious lover, one to be forgiven, if the spirits knew how to forgive”
- Eurydice berates him for his weakness as she is pulled back to the underworld
- Orpheus is unable to move on and is torn apart by jealous women
