Apollo comes off to me as brave and hero-like at first because he kills the serpent with his arrow. He seems to get a little too big-headed for himself and gloats about how he did this. Next, he gets into a situation with Cupid and brags to him about his arrow skill. Cupid really had enough of it and shot two arrows out, one that had super passionate love and the other that completely rejected it. Of course, Apollo was love-struck and Daphne ran from it. Daphne, a nymph, wanted no part of love when she was shot with the arrow, but Apollo craved her. He went to a point of telling her how much he loves her while chasing her. Daphne ran with fear and then finally ran out of energy to run away. She called out to her father to help her not be raped by Apollo. She then turns into a tree and Apollo catches up. He still feels the love with her and claims the tree as his. Apollo got the short end of the stick here just because he was arrogant and cocky. If he just stayed in his lane, the whole thing with Cupid may have not happened.
Apollo
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The way that Helen Morales describes the reasoning on why Gods would rape girl is the same ideas people have today. How Gods think that women beauty is enchanting and they need to have them. Also i the story of Procne and Tereus how tereus raped philomela, Procne sister. He then cut her tong out so she wouldn't go around telling people what happen. So then Philomela weaved her her story and sent it to Procne who then rescue her. They then killed Itys ( Procne and tereus son) as revenge. I found this very mortifying because she killed her own son just to avenge her sister.
So Apollo to me is someone who I like but also dislike. To begin with I love the story of him and the serpent. It is very brave of him to basically train his entire life to take on the dangerous serpent and actually end up killing it with his powerful skills of his bow. However, his cockiness kind of screwed things over for him. After taunting Aros and saying he was better, as any one should get, karma got the best of him. Aros decided to teach him a lesson by striking him with a golden arrow and Daphne with a lead arrow. This is where my disliking of Apollo comes in. Like some guys who aren't doing so well with women, he kind of forces himself onto Daphne causing her to be just absolutely disgusted. Now sure it's because they were both cursed, but it is still disturbing to hear. On the lighter sides of things, because of Apollo's actions, I found the ending of that story a little comical. After running away from Apollo, Daphne turns into a tree in order to avoid Apollo. Now that's just tough. And or course heartbroken Apollo who never got to love her promises that the tree will be his beloved plant.
I defended Hippolytus from vicious attacks last week because he was a child and because of his traumatic history with women. Now, here I am defending Apollo in his episode with Daphne. Cupid is the one responsible for Daphne's undoing. Apollo did insult him, but Cupid is the one that involved Daphne. Apollo was under the influence of a magical arrow; Ovid wrote that he "went up in flames, and all his heart burned and fed his impossible passion with hope." Daphne was minding her own business, and Cupid pulled her into something she did not want to be a part of. If Apollo had known what Cupid was going to do, he probably would not have insulted him. I think that if any of us were hit with one of Cupid's arrows, we would probably be surprised by the things we would do.
After reading Helen Morales's chapter called #MeTu, I was so shocked to find out just how many rape myths there are in ancient mythology. Before this class, I was familiar with the big name gods and basically what I learned in Percy Jackson, but I didn't have an extensive knowledge. I was so angered by the story about Apollo and Daphne. Even after she begs not to be raped and is saved, he still uses her. It's disgusting. Morales said it teaches us that "it is the woman's appearance that is to blame for inciting male sexual aggression: she was asking for it." It's sad to me that it has been more than 2,000 years and we still tell the same story. We say that her skirt was too short, or she was too drunk, that she was asking to get raped. This chapter just really made me mad, because all of these stories still happen to girls now, and if we've been writing about it for that long you think we'd have found some way of stopping rape culture by now, but no. There were also some parts of the chapter that showed women supporting other women, like Philomela and Procne coming together and the woman who made Demeter laugh when she was searching the earth for Persephone. Still, I can't get past the fact that rape culture existed back then and still exists to this day, and there are so many parallels between there stories and the stories that victims share today about being silenced and not believed.
Reading the Homeric Hymn to Apollo and his story in Metamorphoses, I was surprised to discover just how much I dislike Apollo. Sure, at first he definitely seems like all that- he is the literal “Golden Boy” praised from the moment of his birth and allows Delos to have a pretty bitchin’ temple, as we find out in his Homeric Hymn. But reading further, it was disturbing to find that Apollo is really the Frat Boy of the gods, and not like a math fraternity, but rather a, you know, frat frat. First of all, like any stereotypical frat boy, Apollo is a total Daddy’s Boy. Upon taking up the lyre he declares “My wish is...to reveal to men the unerring will of Zeus” (Homeric Hymn to Apollo, lines 131-132). And then the main event- Apollo’s pretty disgusting behavior regarding Daphne. We find out in Metamorphoses that Daphne has been struck by Cupid (who was pretty terribly taunted by Apollo might I add. I mean come on, “little imp?”) and wishes never to have to marry, and to follow the Virgin goddess Artemis, Apollo’s own sister. But Apollo, also struck by Cupid’s golden, hornier arrow, just has to have her. And so what does he do? He chases her relentlessly. Even as he’s chasing poor Daphne, he’s thinking how good she looks RUNNING AWAY FROM HIM, thinking things like “What is hidden from him he imagines is better” (Metamorphoses 1.524). Apollo is literally described as a dog with his “muzzle [grazing] her heels” (Meta. 1.564). Of course, we have many times seen the effects of Cupid’s or Aphrodite's powers, but in this situation it feels less excusable. Essentially, Apollo is refusing to take no for an answer, citing just how badly he needs it, to the degree that even when Daphne has literally prayed to be anything but attractive to Apollo, he still grinds up on her tree-body, claiming her to be HIS tree. Eye-roll. This version of Apollo causes one to imagine the god as an ancient Greek Brock Turner- it’s upsetting to think these types have been around forever.
(Disclosure: I talk about the stereotype of the "Frat Boy" in my post- I think everyone is somewhat familiar with this stereotype/characterization but I just want to make clear, obviously not all or even most boys in fraternities are like this or by any means inherently bad, no hate meant to anyone unless of course, you are as rapey as Apollo or his pal Brock.)First off, Helen Morales seems like such a great author, and we would probably get along. Reading her work after reading Ovid's Metamorphosis was an interesting switch in perspective. Apollo is so captivated by Daphne's beauty, he just HAS to have her. She runs away because she has no desire to be with anyone, and seems to want to be alone forever. Apollo lusts so heavily because of Cupid's arrow that struck him, while Daphne got an opposite kind of arrow. The imagery of her turning into a tree just to escape his rape was very strong and emotion provoking. It was further disturbing because even after she transformed, Apollo was still listing ways he could have her like taking her leaves for a crown. Laurel leaves later became a staple symbol in Greek culture, and the average citizen probably didn't know the dark history behind them.
Ever since Percy Jackson at the age of 10, I have always LOVED Apollo. That's why it really through me off to learn that in the stories, he was a rapist. Of course, I knew about Zeus and possibly Hades, but I had no idea about Apollo was creepy. It made me kind of uncomfortable that my favorite god was not what I thought he was. Granted, the stories aren't factual, they are just an explanation of natural occurrences. Their godly spirits aren't defined by stories. It just made me unhappy and uncomfortable.