Metamorphoses (play) - Character Analysis

Character Analysis

Because of the mythic quality of the script, sometimes the players in the performance often resemble "archetypes instead of characters." Further stated, "enacting myth does not require creating a plausible character, but rather an emblematic figure who demonstrates a particular, identifiable human trait."

The story of Orpheus and Eurydice is told twice, each to emphasize both of their individual stories and act like mirrors with reflecting stories of love and loss; the first being from Orpheus' point of view from Ovid's tale from 8 A.D., then Eurydice's tale in 1908 inspired by German poet Rainer Maria Rilke. It can be argued that Orpheus is an archetype for strong human emotion and expressing it through poetry and music. Specifically with regards to music, it compliments Orpheus' ability to only move forward in time, along with his feelings and mortal love. Although they can repeat, as they do in the scene several times, they cannot turn back completely and be the same. Zimmerman includes the line "Is this a story about how time can only move in one direction?" to bring light to Orpheus' struggle.

The Phaeton story offers the audience a look into his own consciousness as he narrates his own story (not the case with most of the other stories). With the Therapist bringing a modern glimpse of Freudian psychoanalysis, Phaeton's relationship with his father can be seen in new ways: "the father is being asked to perform an initiation rite, to introduce his son to society, to inscribe him in a symbolic order."

Because Midas frames the story at the beginning and later shows up at the end as a redeemed man, the play ends with a sense of optimism due to his transformation into a more selfless man.

The character Eros, although attains many of the traits of the more popularized Cupid, is meant to symbolize more than what's typically thought of. In the play, "A", Psyche, interprets why "Q", Eros, is dressed is naked, winged, and blindfolded: he is naked to make our feelings transparent, he is winged so he might fly from person to person, and he blindfolded to encourage us to see into each others hearts. The notion of Cupid being blindfolded as making random and foolhardy choices is dismissed as Psyche states the line, "He is blind to show how he takes away our ordinary vision, our mistaken vision, that depends on the appearance of things."