Week 2 Story: Galatea

Galatea was a lonely soul, having no luck with men in her life thus far. She had a bad experience with one of her ex-boyfriends and stopped trying to date since. She did have a wonderful talent of sculpting though so she took a large block of ivory from her garage and started chiseling out the feature of a man. The sculpture had curly hair with abs that were as hard as a rock. She started to fall in love with her sculpture that she named Pygmalion, she was no longer lonely with Pygmalion at her side. She treated him just like a normal human being by holding his hand and telling him about her day when coming home every day. She made him her priority and adorned him with endless watches, cologne, wallets, and the most expensive gifts that a man could ever want. One day, the Venus festival came to the town of Cyprus and she saw an opportunity. Galatea went to the festival and prayed earnestly at the altar to have a man as wonderful as her ivory soul mate at home. Venus knew exactly what she meant by her prayers and how to grant her prayers. As Galatea headed home, she felt excitement when thinking about coming home to her lovely Pygmalion. When she arrived home, she gave Pygmalion a welcome home kiss and noticed something different. She kissed him again and mysteriously felt warmth coming from his lips. She then curiously held his hands which started to feel like real, human skin. Galatea gave him a full body hug as he transformed into a human and was no longer made of ivory. She was happy and shocked at the same time with tears of joy in her eyes as he looked back at her with a warm smile. Galatea and Pygmalion eventually got married and had a son that the town was named after.

Pygmalion and his ivory lover painted by Pecheux in 1784 on an oil canvas: State of Hermitage Museum

Author's note: I took the original story of Pygmalion who sculpted a wife named Galatea out of ivory and was granted his wish to turn his ivory wife into a human being by Venus by changing the roles. I made Galatea the main character instead and Pygmalion the man made of ivory. 

Bibliography. "Pygmalion" from Ovid's Metamorphoses, translated by Tony Kline. Web Source.

Comments

  1. I'm going to try sculpting my perfect man, Fingers-crossed he'll come alive. GREAT STORY!!

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  2. I have to admit, this story, including the original, strikes me as rather creepy. This is partly because to actually fall in love with a statue seems like a sign of being divorced from reality. Plus what if the former sculpture would not have wanted to fall in love with the sculptor? This isn't a criticism of your story, but of the original. Actually it's probably a sign that you retold it well that I had the same reaction to it as to the original. Have you read "The Unknown Masterpiece" by Balzac? It retells this story but uses a painter instead of a sculptor, and delves more into his madness.

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  3. Great story, I liked how you switched up the roles and I like how you kept a lot of the story the same.

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  4. I'll start with the positives of your story. Firstly, the idea of a gender swap idea is great and offers a reflection on society and how gender effect our perception of certain situations. Many people love to harp on how the original story is creepy and Pygmalion is a weirdo, but I wonder how they would react to your rendition. I also giggled at the anachronisms you threw in there, specifically the watches and cologne as gifts.

    That being said, ways I think you could improve your story is to branch out from the source a bit. Like I said, I liked the anachronisms, but they didn't jive well with the setting being in ancient Greece during the Venus festival. More consistency in setting would rid some of those confusing elements like how she carved him in her garage yet lived in the classical period where garage wasn't even a word. So don't be afraid to mix up the setting a bit! It's nit-picky, but that's only because I had few qualms with your story.

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  5. I really enjoyed the switch of gender roles here! Like some of the other commenters have said, when I read the original, I found it pretty creepy, since Pygmalion is super obsessive. I think your version made it a little more lighthearted though, and less creepy than the original.

    One thing I wondered about as I read was your setting. It seemed like you were going for a more modern setting with language like "garage" and "boyfriend," but I think you could have taken that farther by modernizing the rest of the piece (since scenarios like praying at a festival altar or carving a marble statue don't seem like something that'd happen today). Other than the setting (don't be afraid to change it up!), I really liked the changes you made to this story.

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  6. I really enjoyed your story! I read Pygmalion too and also did my story as a gender reversal. I agree with some of the other commenters - this story just never gets less creepy no matter how you tell it! Your version was a lot more light hearted and relatable which was good because I'd basically dismissed the original as weird and obsessive but your story helped me sympathize with Pygmalion a tiny bit more! Great Job!

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