Ovid's Modern Scholarship. Flashcards
“There is no doubt that at this time in Rome, there was a significant readership of educated upper class women.”
Philip Hardie, 2000 (Literature in the Roman World).
“At every point we must ask how far Ovid caters to male voyeurism, whether he is more interested in women as subject or object.”
Philip Hardie, 2000 (Literature in the Roman World).
“Ovid…places the woman in the passive role.”
Philip Hardie, 2000 (Literature in the Roman World).
To what extent do you think Ovid could be considered a ‘proto-feminist’? Do you agree with Hardie that this could be an oversimplification?
Is he satirising beauty standards? This could be feminist, but a lot of his work isn’t convincing as satire - he just seems misogynistic. Therefore, it’s doubtful this is from a feminist point of view. He seems to desire women, while finding them repulsive.
Do you agree that Ovid’s women are presented as passive objects of male desire?
I agree that they’re objects of male desire, but Ovid seems to encourage them to be active. They should be actively seeking affairs, breaking the Julian laws.
“Even Book 3 of the Art of Love, on the face of it designed to accomodate women, ends up by advising them in ways that will please and flatter men.”
Peter Green, 1982 (Introduction to Penguin Classics: Ovid - The Erotic Poems).
Do you agree with Green’s assessment of gender roles within Ovid’s poetry? How do his views compare to Hardie’s?
Yes! Take Care with How you Look, Try Younger and Older Lovers, Conceal Your Defects etc…
All focused on trying to make women look better/act in a certain way to please men. Sex/love is all transactional in Ovid’s poems.
“This is not a universal Roman attitude…” What evidence is there to support Green’s claim that Roman Society did not view women in the same way as Ovid? Do you agree?
Empress Livia - very influential and popular.
Agrippina - incredibly powerful.
Women owned businesses. They had a lot more freedom than they did Athens - women could inherit and own property.
Do you think that Ovid really didn’t understand the danger he was in when writing the Art of Love, as Green claims: “it is unlikely that he ever understood, till the blow feell, just how vulnerable a stance he had taken up.”
Ovid gives Apollo credit for the Battle of Actium (Augustus’ big victory).
Explicitly stating that Augustus can’t stop him.
Ovid’s all about provocation. He suggests that women hang around the Palatine hill to pick up men - mocks and refrences Augustus’ wife, daughter and sister.
