The Isolating Effect of Sola in Heroides 10

Datos Bibliográficos

ID3938386
AutoresM Catherine Bolton, Mitzi Bolton (0000-0002-9669-3205, autor de correspondencia)
Año1994
Volumen48
Número1
Páginas42
Fecha de publicación1994-01-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessNo
TipoARTICLE
RevistaPhoenix (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0031-8299 • E-ISSN: 1929-4883
EditorialJSTOR (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.2307/1192505
OpenAlexW2326253520
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas10

OVID'S INTEREST IN THE PSYCHOLOGY of his female characters has been noticed as much in the Heroides as it has in the Metamorphoses. This is perhaps more immediately visible in the Heroides, where the reader's attention is focused on a solitary female, without any other distracting characters.1 Given the nature of the Heroides, it is reasonable to assume that the heroines would frequently refer to their abandoned and therefore solitary state, and such is the case. Charges of abandonment are legion, and are often joined with laments about being alone, regardless of veracity.2 Some heroines, like Briseis and Medea, suffer a double separation: from their lovers and from their parental homes. In the character of Ariadne, Ovid is able to exercise his skill in an unique triple estrangement, as Ariadne is cut off from Theseus (her lover), from her family on Crete and, perhaps most importantly, from all visible signs of human civilization. This threefold alienation is underscored by Ovid's use of the adjective sola, which he applies twice to Ariadne herself and once to the island upon which she has been abandoned.3 The theme of loneliness assumes a distinctive significance in Heroides 10, as no other letter is marked by the triple repetition of a theme

Art · Classical Antiquity Studies