#ovids metamorphoses

[egrisian-medea]

Hating Ovid was defo just a phase many.

[fromedennn]

Galatea and Pygmalion—

Gérôme, Jean-Léon "Pygmalion and Galatea" // Normand, Ernest "Pygmalion and Galatea" // Ovid Metamorphoses // Regnault, Jean-Baptiste "Pygmalion" // Raoux, Jean "Pygmalion Adoring His Statue" // Falconet, Etienne-Maurice "Pygmalion and Galatea" // Shaw, George Bernard Pygmalion

[notahorseindisguise]

sometimes im fine. and sometimes i remember Eurydice, dying now a second time, uttered no complaint against her husband. What was there to complain of, but that she had been loved? and then im less fine.

[i-spilled-my-soup]

comic moment

[la-di-doodles]

Circe vs Diana who would win?

[rainbowsandsilverlinings]

On Andromeda Tonks née Black’s name

We know JK wend a little crazy in name meanings in the Harry Potter series so I thought I’d think a bit more about Andy’s name.

Andromeda in Greek mythology (I’m taking all of my information from Ovid’s “Metamorphoses” and my knowledge that I just somehow happen to have) was chained to a rock awaiting death by the sea monster Cetus.

Rowling’s Andromeda was similarly (metaphorically) chained by the Black family’s obligations to a dark lord who would destroy her as the sea monster would Ovid’s.

Does that then make Ted tonks the Grecian Hero Perseus, come to free the awaiting damsel? It fits even beyond this because the Andromeda of mythology weds Perseus rather than her uncle, to whom she was betrothed (recall that Andy’s betrothed in HP could very well have been her own kin if not for her marriage to Ted. Inbreeding Blacks).

Of course this is frustrating because taking this at face value leads to a depiction of the Tonks matriarch as lacking in agency in her own rescue.

I’m going to go on but this got real long, so I’m putting it below the cut

Now. Following this we have to carefully (or not so carefully. I wrote this at 2am) note differences between Ovid’s and Rowling’s Andromedas, because these differences highlight details that Rowling specifically made different from Ovid’s Andromeda.

(Note: A lot of this is extrapolation from what we know of N. Tonks- Andy’s daughter- and my own interpretation of Rowling’s character. Reminder that we only get one scene with Andy in DH. Also, I will refer to ‘Tonks’ as ‘Nymphadora’ to avoid confusion with the rest of the Tonks family)

Andy and Ted Tonks appear to have pretty typical gender roles in their household based on interactions we see. (I could go into gender roles in the Black family for so long, dont get me started).

I’m basing this off of both their ages and “And that’s my wife you’re shouting at” said by Ted (DH 65).

Andromeda, being raised in the Black family (and not rejecting it completely as Sirius did) would retain the refinement, posture, and mannerisms of her family roots

So far I don’t see any contradiction from the Andromeda without agency from Ovid.

HOWEVER it is in Nymphadora’s demeanor, and its implications for Andromeda, that I see a shift from ‘damsel in distress’ to powerful matriarch with agency. Nymphadora has more agency than practically any character in the series, and as a female character that is sort of a big deal. (I feel like this is a big claim to make, but I don’t feel like proving it now. Fight me.)

I get the impression from chapter 15 that Ted Tonks is more an intellectual than a physical being. He banters wittily with Griphook, and manages to conversationally get a lot of information out of Dirk Cresswell, but his actions are mainly passive.

Therefore I feel like the action taking, go into battle as a new mother, do anything for love bits of Tonks are all from Andromeda.

Do I have a point? Maybe? I guess. If I were to tie it up into a bow...

Andromeda’s character storyline follows that of Ovid’s Andromeda in structure, but not in the distribution of agency. Ovid’s Perseus is given all of the agency in “The Metamorphosis”, but there is at least a balance of agency between Ted and Andromeda Tonks in Rowling’s universe

[i-spilled-my-soup]

ORPHEUS INVENTED HOMOSEXUALITY