The Competing Female Archetypes In Ovid's Metamorphoses

The Competing Female Archetypes Archetypes are extremely common and important in myths, and female archetypes are definitely indispensable in myths. In Book Three of Metamorphoses, Ovid depicts various female characters, such as Minerva, Diana, Semele, Juno, Echo, etc. These different women, including the divine goddesses, normal humans, and water nymphs, all represent distinct archetypes. These archetypes also carry throughout modern times. Juno, Jove’s wife, stands for the good housewife. Although she always appears to give cruel punishments to those that her husband sleeps with and torture their children, she actually has several characteristics that fit the name of a “good housewife”. It is normal for somebody’s wife to be jealous and angry if her husband has a lot of extramarital affairs with many women and nymphs. This explanation provides the reason why Ovid writes “Folks were divided: these were those who found the goddess’s actions cruel and unjust, while others considered them appropriate to the defense of her austere
The seductresses are usually those that appear sexually attractive to men, scheming, and a minor character. Jove says Semele is “proud of her good looks” (Ovid, 73). Jove’s description perfectly explains why Jove has great lust when he sees Semele, even though she is an ordinary human. She is rather manipulative because after having sex with Jove, she even demands for another one that is more powerful. Ironically, she dies because of sexual intercourse at last.
Ancient people think of flirtatious women as guilty and immoral for seducing other men rather than their husbands. That is why this archetype has a relatively negative connotation and Semele acts as a minor character in the book. This type of archetype still exists now, but very few of them are found. They do this partly because they are sexually attractive to most men. Women that fit into this archetype appears in Japan a