Understanding Trauma and Catharsis in Ovid's Metamorphoses 10 : A Fantacy Reading

Abstract

Notwithstanding the extensive research done on Ovid’s Metamorphoses, only a few scholars have attempted to discuss the frequent presence of trauma and catharsis in the episodes of the Metamorphoses. The hypothesis in this thesis is that the reader can participate in the cathartic responses of the characters to traumatic experiences in the episodes of Ovid’s Metamorphoses 10, through entering the sub-created world in the narrative. The hypothesis is tested by reading Ovid’s Metamorphoses, and especially Book 10, through a fantasy perspective based on Tolkien’s concept of sub-creation. The method to be used in the investigation of the Latin text is a combination of an intratextual and a narratological analysis. Episodes with a traumatic theme from Book 10 are used to identify three traumatic themes: the trauma caused by the loss of love or a lover, the trauma caused by the loss of someone or something other than a lover and the trauma caused by forbidden or unnatural love. Episodes which share the same traumatic themes from other books of the Metamorphoses are also selected and discussed. Each episode is discussed by means of Tolkien’s elements of sub-creation, namely recovery, escape and consolation, as focal points. The research concluded that it is possible for the reader to identify with the characters in their experiences of trauma and catharsis by means of participation in the sub-created world. The participation of the reader is made possible by the narrator’s use of defamiliarisation, the use of Tolkien’s aspects of sub-creation and narratological elements.