Week 2 Story: Pygmalion's fall
Pygmalion's fall
Pygmalion sat alone in his bed. The sun had long since fallen and the night was getting cold. As Pygmalion sat up, unable to rest he felt the conflict raging within him. On one hand, he was disgusted with most every woman in his land. Oh, how they infuriated him. Parading around in their vile sin whoring around as if they had no morals at all! They were nothing like his Ivory woman…
No, this woman stood tall, her posture astute, her breasts fully covered, her mouth, ever silent. This was a woman worth loving. This was a woman of value. Carved by Pygmalion’s hands himself she was perfect in every way.
Pygmalion had never felt something akin to this burning before. He sat disgusted with himself for wanting her. How could he be so weak? How could he fall for something as vile as a woman? But this was no ordinary woman… this was his Ivory beauty.
The next morning, he resigned himself to attend the festival in honor of Venus. He had never stooped so low before as to honor a woman, yet he was desperate. For today Pygmalion was upon a quest. He slowly meandered his way to the alter and presented his sacrifice, a beautifully fat calf. It was his favorite.
Yet it had to be done if his quest was to be complete. Pygmalion quickly handed the calf to the priest and nary a flinch escaped him as he listened to the cries of his companion’s throat being cut, its blood filling the sacrificial bowl.
It was in this moment that Pygmalion bowed his head and pled to the god Venus. “Please, in your infinite mercy and grandeur grant me this one desire. For my heart aches for my ivory beauty. She is all I have ever needed, and all I will ever need. Please god Venus if you would turn her flesh to stone, I would be eternally grateful”
A moment of silence fell upon the temple. Slowly the ground began to shake. Pygmalion turned to run but his path was blocked. There in the doorway, could it be? His ivory beauty! Her skin no longer bound by stone but freed to roam the land. Pygmalion fell to his knees and wept. He kissed at her feet and cried praise to the god Venus.
It was at that moment that he was knocked back. He stood befuddled at what had happened. His own creation had struck him and looked upon him with such disgust as he had never seen. “remove yourself from my sight, you loathsome hypocrite.” She exclaimed. “for I detest your kind and all like you. Men always caught up in your prideful ambition. It’s a wonder you would notice such a creature as me at all.”
With this, Pygmalion felt his heart break. His ivory beauty turned and left the temple. Her animosity for him rivaling even that of his animosity for himself.
Pygmalion had never felt something akin to this burning before. He sat disgusted with himself for wanting her. How could he be so weak? How could he fall for something as vile as a woman? But this was no ordinary woman… this was his Ivory beauty.
The next morning, he resigned himself to attend the festival in honor of Venus. He had never stooped so low before as to honor a woman, yet he was desperate. For today Pygmalion was upon a quest. He slowly meandered his way to the alter and presented his sacrifice, a beautifully fat calf. It was his favorite.
Yet it had to be done if his quest was to be complete. Pygmalion quickly handed the calf to the priest and nary a flinch escaped him as he listened to the cries of his companion’s throat being cut, its blood filling the sacrificial bowl.
It was in this moment that Pygmalion bowed his head and pled to the god Venus. “Please, in your infinite mercy and grandeur grant me this one desire. For my heart aches for my ivory beauty. She is all I have ever needed, and all I will ever need. Please god Venus if you would turn her flesh to stone, I would be eternally grateful”
A moment of silence fell upon the temple. Slowly the ground began to shake. Pygmalion turned to run but his path was blocked. There in the doorway, could it be? His ivory beauty! Her skin no longer bound by stone but freed to roam the land. Pygmalion fell to his knees and wept. He kissed at her feet and cried praise to the god Venus.
It was at that moment that he was knocked back. He stood befuddled at what had happened. His own creation had struck him and looked upon him with such disgust as he had never seen. “remove yourself from my sight, you loathsome hypocrite.” She exclaimed. “for I detest your kind and all like you. Men always caught up in your prideful ambition. It’s a wonder you would notice such a creature as me at all.”
With this, Pygmalion felt his heart break. His ivory beauty turned and left the temple. Her animosity for him rivaling even that of his animosity for himself.
Authors Note:
In writing this story I decided that the hatred the main character had for women needed to come back and bite him. He didn't learn a lesson in the first narrative but in mine he did. The main character learned that he should not have had such hatred for women because when that same hatred was pointed back at him, he did not like that at all. He learned to treat others well.
Bibliography:
Story source: Ovid's Metamorphoses, translated by Tony Kline (2000).
Oh wow, this is GREAT, Kev: I love all the details you added to really put us into Pygmalion's point of view: what he sees, thinks, feels, actions step by step, especially with his take on the sacrifice (Ovid was a keen observer of Roman religious ritual; he wrote a whole book called The Fasti which I bet you would really enjoy, focused on Roman religious holidays and rituals). Your emphasis on the blood of the sacrifice makes such a powerful contrast to the white/lifeless/bloodless statue! And since you had us totally locked into Pygmalion's perspective and what he wanted, the ending comes as a total WHAM-BAM moment. Fantastic! Although I suspect that this rebuff is going to make Pygmalion only more filled with loathing for women than before... it makes me scared to think what the sequel to your Pygmalion might be!
ReplyDeleteAnd this was also such a cool example of the totally different ways a story can go: I tried to make Pygmalion's story into a love story, despite his misogyny. Here's the story I wrote this week: Pygmalion and the Woman of Wax (I love to write, so I participate in the class as a student too, writing stories, doing a class project, etc.) ... it is so perfect that people coming to the story assignment next will get to see two totally different Pygmalions side by side; here's the story stream so far: Anthology Stories ... and THANK YOU for starting early like this: I never thought I would get to be reading a story for class this early on, and it makes me happy for the semester to come! Well done!!!!!!!!
Hi Kev,
ReplyDeleteI loved your story! I really liked how you started off describing the real women of his town, then started to describe the statue of Venus as if she were an actual woman. Then, you started to say "ivory beauty" to depict a statue before revealing that he was there at the statue of Venus! Genius!
I also loved how you took the man's hatred and turned it into fear before Venus, the goddess. Your creativity is beautiful!
-Libby
Hi Kev!
ReplyDeleteI love how you highlighted everything that was fundamentally wrong with the original story in your version. You also did an impressive job of portraying Pygmalion's rage with the voice you gave his character. It was definitely very satisfying when the statue came to life and shoved him to the ground because, like you, I found it very disturbing that Pygmalion idolized the one woman that he could control completely. One thing that could have implemented this story is if you let your story and the reader linger in Pygmalion's misery a little while longer so that the turn of events could be even more satisfying.