Speech, Words, and Writing Symbol Analysis

Throughout the Metamorphoses, words represent a character’s identity. In the early stages of the universe’s development, speech is all a character has with which to identify themselves. This becomes clear whenever a character is unable to speak, as often happens when they are transformed. When Callisto is transformed into a bear, she can’t speak to her son to let him know who she really is. As a result, her son tries to kill her with his hunting spear.

This loss of speech leads many characters to use the act of writing in order to identify themselves. The first instance of this is when Io—transformed into a cow and unable to tell her father who she is—writes her name in the dust with her hoof to inform him. This primitive form of writing evolves over the course of the Metamorphoses into more elaborate methods. Philomela—her tongue having been cut out—weaves a story into a tapestry to inform her sister Procne that Tereus raped her. In the story of Byblis and Caunus, Byblis—too ashamed of her incestuous feelings for her brother to tell him in person—inscribes her confession on a tablet instead. In this way, the loss of speech leads to the adoption of written language.

By the end of the Metamorphoses, written words are the only thing that endures through time. After a speech in which Pythagoras explains that everything decays over time and that nothing remains the same, Ovid asserts in his epilogue that his poetry will remain even after he dies. In other words, Ovid suggests that written words preserve a person’s identity. Therefore, writing throughout the Metamorphoses represents a person’s ability to not just express themselves, but even immortalize themselves.