The Devaluation of Ovid's Sympathy in the MetamorphosesOvid reveals two similar accounts of incest in the Metamorphoses. First, it describes the unbrotherly love that Byblis acquires for her twin brother Caunus. Later, he revisits the theme of incestuous love with the story of Myrrha who develops an unfilial love for her father, Cinyras. The two stories have many similarities and provoke varying reactions. Ovid constantly tugs at our emotions and arouses alternating feelings of pity and disgust for the matters in question. “Repetition with a difference” in these two stories shows how fickle we can be in granting and withholding sympathy, making it seem less valuable. Both narratives begin by eliciting a sense of disgust for the situation in general while also eliciting pity for each girl's predicament. Ovid clearly characterizes the love that Byblis and Myrrha pursue as illegitimate when he summarizes the moral of Byblis' tale by stating, "when daughters love, they should love legally" (Mandelbaum 307) and reveals that "hating a father is /a crime, but to love like [Myrrha's] is worse than hatred" (338) before describing Myrrha's story. By presenting the girls as criminals, Ovid leads us to despise them. He then expresses his sympathy for Byblis and Myrrha in describing their failed attempts to overcome these desires Byblis dreams intimately of Caunus, but "when awake she dares not let her obscene hopes invade her soul" (308). 'strives; she tries; she would like to master / her obscene love', but she cannot (339) From the outset, Ovid makes us wonder whether these situations deserve our sympathy. comes out by orally confessing their incestuous passions. They use selective language...... middle of paper ...... and leaves us feeling sorry for Myrrha. Ovid tells this story of forbidden sin twice to show how inconsistent we are in attributing mercy. He begins both tales by eliciting our contempt for the issues at stake, and then ends both tales with images that elicit our pity. Throughout each story, our emotions oscillate between pity and disgust. Even though incest disgusts us, we sympathize with Byblis and Myrrha as they pursue incestuous love affairs. Byblis's broken heart arouses our sympathy, but Myrrha's “fulfilled heart” disgusts us. Ovid devalues ​​our sympathy by showing how unstable we are with our emotions. Works Cited Mandelbaum, Allen, trans. Ovid's Metamorphoses. By Ovid. San Diego: Harcourt Brace & Company, 1993. Crane, Gregory, ed. Perseus Project. 1995. Tufts University. October 6 1999>