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Book 10: Venus’ Story: Atalanta and Hippomenes
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Metamorphoses, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Metamorphosis
Humanity vs. Nature
Love and Destruction
Gods and Humans
Time, Fate, and Poetry
Summary
Analysis
After warning Adonis, Venus returns to the heavens. As Adonis leaves the woods, he disturbs a boar. Adonis tries to spear the boar, but it deflects the blow. Then the boar charges Adonis and kills him. Venus, flying in her chariot, sees his dead body and goes to him. She grieves over his body and decides to transform him into a deep red flower. Adonis becomes the anemone—a fragile flower with a short life.
With the flower that Venus transforms him into, Venus preserves the distinguishing features—fragility and short life—of Adonis. He was fragile, unable to defend himself for long against a vicious boar, and had a short life. In this way, Venus creates a new flower that represents Adonis.
Themes
