By what authorial persona are Metamorphoses narrated?

Most of the Metamorphoses is narrated by a masculine authorial persona who it is assumed to be Ovid, but it has several internal narrators (about forty) including fourteen female characters. Some of them can be encountered in the first six books – the subject of analysis in this essay-, for example, the daughters of Minyas. These women -despite remaining at home weaving instead join the Bacchic revel- tell stories, reclaiming according to Salzman-Mitchell their freedom of speech, their tales are ‘not only a concrete act of seeing but also a way of knowing, understanding and comprehending the world’. To some extent, the stories narrated by female character appears to hide ‘something more.’

However, for this analysis, it can not be concluded that the role assumed by female characters change in regards to who is the narrator.

The analysis carried in this essay proved that in Ovid’s Metamorphoses female stories of transformation have common themes and follow patterns to the extent that it can be concluded they were portrayed in a fixed and formulaic way. They share characteristics as suffering, guilt, shame, impotence, and silence that make her victims. Despite the goddesses being portrayed as powerful forces of revenge, even them, like Juno keep repeating a pattern -in her case diverting her frustration towards the victims of her husband-. Their silent is always present: even when female act as narrators, the feeling of them expressing themselves hidden and just in the presence of other women is implied Setting aside the judgment of why Ovid chose to victimize his feminine characters, it is clear, that women in Metamorphoses are mostly victims, with little opportunity to speak or control over their destinies.