Thematic Differences Between Orpheus/eurydice Accounts

...

For sure, Duffy’s portrayal contrasts with Ovid’s and Virgil’s famed versions of the story. After all, their versions capitalize on Eurydice’s status as a bride-heroine, as one worthy of Orpheus’s affection and rescue, and this becomes the plot of their stories themselves. It was, for all intents and purposes, just another rendition of male-centered tales of adventures, possession, and glory, where men are portrayed as powerful in the expense of women being seen as weak. In her version, Duffy redeems the character of Eurydice and transforms her into someone whose existence existed beyond, and even antagonized, the institution of marriage. There, Eurydice’s stance towards marriage—i.e. marriage to oppressive men symbolized by Orpheus—is lined with due contempt, contradicting, and potentially invalidating, the traditional accounts where she revels it in.

Another clear contrast of Duffy’s version from Ovid and Virgil’s accounts, is the origin of Eurydice. Duffy portrays Eurydice, as originating from the Underworld: “Girls, I was dead and down/ in the underworld, a shade/ a shadow of my former self… So imagine me there/ unavailable,/ out of this world,/ then picture my face in that place/ of Eternal Repose” (Duffy). This differs immensely from Ovid and Virgil’s versions, where Eurydice only goes to the underworld after being bitten by a poisonous snake and dying. Not only are the themes of Duffy’s account original, its setting reorients the traditional setting and plot as well.

Of note, these three accounts have varying points of views regarding circumstances that led to the death of Eurydice (Virgil). In Duffy, Eurydice survives to tell her tale, while escaping the clutches of Orpheus. This was not the case in Virgil’s version, which involved the demigod Aristaeus, who was both a shepherd and a beekeeper. Deeply distraught over the loss of his hive of bees, he seeks the counsel of his mother, who advises him to seek the advice of Proteus, the seer of the time. The seer reveals that the loss is due to Orpheus deep grief. Aristaeus apparently had a hand in the demise of Eurydice, this is because she was trying to retreat his advances, which he constantly showed to her, and she met her fate when she was trying to avert the advances that he was making on her.

Duffy’s version breaks the traditionalized form of the myth and reconstructs Eurydice’s identity. Where Ovid and Virgil’s version showed her as nothing more than a character that advances the plot by setting Orpheus into his grand adventure, Duffy gives Eurydice more power than any classical author had ever accorded to her. While all three versions prominently touch on the themes of love and marriage, Duffy’s version does not handle it with the same perspective and intensity, the way other versions have.

---------------------------------------------------------------

Works cited

Duffy, Carol A. “Eurydice.” The Worlds Wife. United Kingdom: Longman, 2007. Print.

Ovid. Metamorphoses: Book X. Trans. Anthony S. Kline. 2000. Web. 30 September 2014.

Virgil. Georgics: Book IV. Trans. Anthony S. Kline. 2002. Web. 30 September 2014.