Question

name: ____________________________ date: ________ pd: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
the myth of pygmalion by ovid
pygmalion had seen them, spending their lives in wickedness, and, offended by the failings
that nature gave the female heart, he lived as a bachelor, without a wife or partner for his bed.
but, with wonderful skill, he carved a figure, brilliantly, out of snow - white ivory, no mortal
woman, and fell in love with his own creation. the features are those of a real girl, who, you
might think, lived, and wished to move, if modesty did not forbid it. indeed, art hides his art. he
marvels: and passion, for this bodily image, consumes his heart. often, he runs his hands over
the work, tempted as to whether it is flesh or ivory, not admitting it to be ivory. he kisses it and
thinks his kisses are returned; and speaks to it; and holds it, and imagines that his fingers press
into the limbs, and is afraid lest bruises appear from the pressure. now he addresses it with
compliments, now brings it gifts that please girls, shells and polished pebbles, little birds, and
many - colored flowers, lilies and tinted beads, and the heliades’s (1) amber tears, that drip from
the trees. he dresses the body, also, in clothing; places rings on the fingers; places a long
necklace round its neck; pearls hang from the ears, and cinctures (2) round the breasts. all are
fitting: but it appears no less lovely, naked. he arranges the statue on a bed on which cloths
dyed with tyrian murex (3) are spread, and calls it his bedfellow, and rests its neck against soft
down, as if it could feel.

1. the daughters of helios and the oceanid clymene, the heliades were turned into poplar trees and their tears into

amber after the death of their brother.

1. a belt or a sash of cloth
2. a luxurious purple dye harvested from sea snails

guiding question 1: how does pygmalion act on his feelings about women? explain your
choice using text evidence.
a. he dislikes real women so he carves an ideal fake one.
b. he dislikes them and shuns all women from his life.
c. he likes them so much that he carves the perfect one to admire.
d. he loves one woman so much that he carves a statue of her.
text evidence to explain my answer:
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the day of venus’s (4) festival came, celebrated throughout cyprus, (5) and heifers, their curved
horns gilded, fell, to the blow on their snowy neck. the incense was smoking, when pygmalion,
having made his offering, stood by the altar, and said, shyly: “if you can grant all things, you
gods, i wish as a bride to have...” and not daring to say “the girl of ivory” he said “one like my

Explanation:

1. Option A is correct: The text opens by stating Pygmalion was offended by real women's wickedness, lived as a bachelor, then carved an ideal ivory woman he fell in love with.
2. Text evidence: "offended by the failings that nature gave the female heart, he lived as a bachelor... he carved a figure, brilliantly, out of snow-white ivory, no mortal woman, and fell in love with his own creation"

Answer:

A. He dislikes real women so he carves an ideal fake one.