On the island of Cyprus in an ancient Greek city there was a young sculptor by the name of Pygmalion. He was extremely talented, but spent most of his time working on his projects that he found himself often lonely. Pygmalion had been working on a full-scale ivory statue of a gorgeous woman for some time and began to slowly fall in love. From clothing to caressing the statue, Pygmalion began to go above and beyond for this inanimate shape that he became immersed in. Some nights, Pygmalion couldn't even sleep as his mind was so fixed on his ivory statue. This infatuation soon became an obsession, where Pygmalion needed time with the statue nearly all of his waking hours. People of the city began to view Pygmalion as an outsider and some even went as far as to call him a "madman." As the seasons changed, so came Venus' festival where Pygmalion eagerly attended as he had concocted a plan on how to get his ivory statue to love him. He gave an offering to the ceremonial fire and noticed a large puff of smoke instantly rise from the flames. Pygmalion rushed home to see if he could finally be with his statue girl, but Venus had other plans as she had been watching Pygmalion's obsession with some statue. Pygmalion entered his home only to feel a cold sensation go through his body as his skin and bones began to turn to ivory. Pygmalion's whole body hardened almost instantly leaving him a near identical ivory statue nearly a yard away from his beloved statue. Venus hoped this new statue would serve the people of Pygmalion's city a lesson that one should never succumb to their obsessions especially when they are as unorthodox and end up as desperate as Pygmalion.
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| Pygmalion and his Ivory Girl both as statues |
Author's Note: For this retelling of the Pygmalion legend, I altered the story by making Pygmalion become slightly more obsessed with his ivory statue as well as having Venus punish Pygmalion and make him a statue rather than making the statue human.
Bibliography: "Metamorphosis: Pygmalion" from Roman lore by Ovid (Kline, 2000)
Hey Brandon!
ReplyDeleteThis is an interesting spin on the Pygmalion myth! I think the bad the ending is also justified, which is important in writing. A character should not get a bad end unless they deserve it (and dressing and caressing your statue everyday counts as creepy). In the future, I would definitely break up your work into smaller paragraphs to create white space.
Good job!
Hi Brandon!
ReplyDeleteThis is a great twist ending! It seems deserved too in the way you painted Pygmalion. He was obsessed, creepy, greedy with his statue so why would the Goddess of love reward that behavior. I think dialogue or thoughts from Pygmalion in his turning to Ivory would have added a layer of emotion to this story. We could see if he came to regret his actions, if he was scared or sad in his realization of his demise, or if he cursed Venus for separating him from his love. Great job!