The Final Transformation

Metamorphoses (Mary Zimmerman's adaptation) ends with the story of Baucis and Philemon. I found this story to be full of surprises since it was a bit different form the ones before it. In the previous stories all the characters were after something that would personally benefit them in some way, emotionally or in a material way. For example, Midas was searching for his own material wealth while Vertumnus was just looking for someone he could be with. In this case, Baucis and Philemon are the complete opposite in the sense that they are only worried about making their guests feel at home even tough they had no idea of the true identity of those visiting them.

I've heard similar stories in the past, and if I'm not wrong I think there's one by Leo Tolstoy that has to do with a man who makes shoes and is in a constant lookout for God. All the man wants is for God to come into his house. God says he will be there sometime soon, instead the man receives different people and later asks God why he didn't stop by. God replies that he was there, he was all those people who had stopped at his house. Anyways, my point is that these stories are almost as if Gods wanted to check-up on their mortal followers every once in a while and do so taking human-like forms just like Hermes and Zeus when they visited Baucis and Philemon.

If Metamorphoses was a holy text like the Bible or the Torah, I think that if I were a follower to which ever religion it belonged to, this is the story that would have the most impact on me. I suppose that many times we get too caught up in our own welfare and become very selfish people without realizing it. Now, I'm not saying that you have to go ope your doors so that anyone can stay under your roof, but in a more realistic sense, what I'm saying is that you can always be a little more generous and a little less rude. One of the reasons why I find this story so influential is because of the very humble and honest ways in which Baucis and Philemon received the guests. Another reason why I really liked this story was the final wish that Baucis and Philemon ask of the Gods. This part reminded me of a movie, The Notebook because in the end, the two protagonists of the story, happen to be lovers and die at the same moment. Although Baucis and Philemon don't actually die (they transform) I thought it was very romantic that they both wanted that.