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Ovid Art of Love

In: English and Literature

Submitted By tjdgus1993
Words 345
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Ovid's "Art of Love" Rings True in the Twentieth Century

It is a physical truth that the male and female sexes were made to fit together as counterparts. Animal corresponding parts come together to perform intercourse in order to regenerate a species. In nature there are hundreds of mating rituals and courting practices used when a male or female seeks a mate. Each pursuer looks for certain aspects of a potential mate. People analyze personal traits when looking for a mate, but the mating ritual is no longer simply based on instinct. Society's materialism and commercialism have complicated the search for love and companionship, which are spurred by a social need for love and marriage. Ovid's didactic work on "The Art of Love" is a comical and universal instruction guide on how to attract the opposite sex. In his instruction he stereotypes men and women in opposite ways and he makes generalizations that show how men and women are counterparts to each other. Ovid uses stereotypes to further the mocking tone of his criticism of the society that Augustus banished him from. The stereotypes seem to be ridiculous, but Ovid uses them because they are in actuality true. Ovid's advice to men and women is essentially to be manipulative and to please the other with lies and false intentions. He mocks the society that he lives in, and he even mocks some potential readers of his book. The people who he mocks most often are women as a sex. The entire point of The Art of Love is to instruct men on how to catch women, and to instruct women on how to let men catch them. His stereotypes obviously benefit the men, because he is trying to help men with their love lives.

The first few lines of Book One are designed to manipulate the reader and gain credibility for Ovid. He calls himself "loves preceptor" (I.17) or love's teacher to ensure the reader that he is the best source to go

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