Orpheus and Eurydice

How does Virgil’s version present women, or other female figures like Persephone, and how does it contrast them with men?

Ovid’s version appears in a book of mythical stories about constant change and transformation. What are the changes that take place during the course of this myth? Are the changes for good or ill? Does anything remain the same at the end as it was at the beginning?

Why does Ovid devote nine lines (Book 10, Lines 76-84) to an obscure myth about three different people who were transformed into stone? What is stone implicitly contrasted with and why is it invoked here?

Does Ovid’s happy ending grow organically out of the story or is it just tacked on as an afterthought? Does it make the myth more or less satisfying?

Does Orpheus make a mistake when he decides to enter the underworld? Does he have the skills, maturity, and strength to succeed or is he carried away by an arrogant belief in his own power as a musician and his special destiny? Discuss both versions’ perspectives on Orpheus.

Why is Eurydice presented as such a passive figure? How might the story have been different had it been told from Eurydice’s point of view?

Discuss the predominant imagery associated with Hades in both versions. Are they essentially the same or do they differ? How does Hades resemble or differ from the Christian concept of hell? What do the presentations of Hades by Virgil and Ovid say about how the ancient Greeks conceived death and the afterlife?

Why has the myth held such a grip on the Western imagination for so many centuries? Why are people drawn to adapting it and presenting it in so many different ways? Would it have the same appeal if Orpheus had successfully taken Eurydice back to the upper world? Do tragic stories hold more appeal than happy ones, particularly in the realm of love? Why should this be?

How does Orpheus change during the course of the myth? Does he grow as a result of his experience or is he diminished by it? How do Virgil and Ovid differ on this topic?

Does Orpheus represent an ideal or does he violate an ideal? Is he a hero like Hercules, who also went to Hades to retrieve a woman, or is he a tragically flawed figure? Is he at fault for failing to accept Eurydice’s death?