The Story Of Deucalion And Pyrrha Interpretation

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Interpretive essay I’m sure that many of you have heard the story of Noah and Arc, the great flood which cleansed the world of its great sins. The story of Deucalion and Pyrrha is the Greek version of this biblical story. Zeus initiated the flood to punish mortals and destroying the race. It’s important to understand the family that both Deucalion and Pyrrha come from. They are not just ordinary humans; Deucalion is the son of Prometheus, Pyrrah the daughter of Epimetheus. The reason for Zeus to have done this was because of human kind’s immoral attitude towards the gods, to start the race again through moral Deucalion and Pyrrah, but man is a reflection of the gods which leads to these immoral acts. In the metamorphoses, Ovid’s ideas are that nothing is constant in the world. Everything is in a state of flux and will always lead to change. This myth is written after the Lycaon myth, when Lycaon tries to go against the gods and attempts to kill Zeus himself. Zeus comes to terms that after this experience, every human on the world is the same and deserves this punishment. This leads to Zeus decision to create the great flood. In order for something to be great it has to change, it has to transform to be something better. Destroying humanity to create a more moral and respectful humanity is what Zeus was trying to accomplish. Deucalion and Pyrrah are choosen to start humanity again because of what they represent. In lines 324-325 they are described as, “You’d never find a better or more right-minded man than Deucalion, neither a more god-fearing woman than Pyrrah” The gods are after respect and loyalty, moral men who can live in peace and harmony. So they are spared and start the human race again. The gods want moral men, but they themselves represent the total opposite, immoral. For instance, in the myth about Io, Zeus is after her, he wants her. He is so

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