[This week’s essay topic is going to be less serious than
last week’s—a vengeful wife rather than incest.
And not just a vengeful wife, but a vengeful goddess. Let’s get to it!]
I have often found it interesting that the Greek Hera and
the Roman Juno can be different versions of the same entity and yet at the same
time have completely different reputations.
Whereas Hera is seen as the goddess of the hearth, the mother of all, and
a kindly matron, Juno comes across as more vengeful and vindictive. While she has many of the same
characteristics of Hera, she transforms into a crueler mistress because of the
different emphases found in Roman culture.
The stories in Ovid’s Metamorphoses,books 1-4, show this change in personality in many stories.
Take, for instance, the story of Io; here Jupiter rapes Io,
but in trying to conceal his actions from Juno he actually attracts her
attention. Juno, being rightfully
suspicious, comes down and asks Jupiter for a gift—Io—who Jupiter had turned
into a white heifer. Knowing the
identity of the cow, Juno keeps Io imprisoned for a long period of time,
treating her cruelly because of Jupiter’s dalliance. It is only upon Jupiter’s urging and begging
that Io be set free that Juno finally relents and ends her vengeful tirade.
Not too much later, Ovid tells the story of Semele, another
girl who ends up in a relationship with Jupiter. Here Juno turns Semele’s curiosity against
her, urging Semele to ask Jupiter for one gift—to see his true form. Juno does this while in the guise of an
elderly woman, seemingly advising Semele to be wary of her lover’s
deception. But, in fact, Juno knows that
if Semele is to see Jupiter’s true form, the mortal Semele will be destroyed. Thus her play is simply another vindictive
act to get back at Jupiter for his various affairs.
No longer is Juno a warm, comforting, matron of the
house. No longer is she simply someone
to ask for advice in times of domestic troubles. Instead, she is this figure with an
additional side, a vengeful, harsh, and cruel side; and above all she is a
faithful wife who works tirelessly to ensure her husband’s fidelity, punishing
him and others whenever Jupiter may stray.
Image Info. Jupiter and Juno, painting by Annibale Carracci. Wikipedia.
