“Everyone looked at me, because I was the most beautiful woman in the town. I don’t say this to boast, because there is nothing in it to boast of. It was nothing I did myself.”

I have been fascinated by mythology and folklore since I was a child–particularly Egyptian, Roman and Greek mythology. I was ecstatic when I learned of the Percy Jackson series in Primary school. As an adult my love for mythology has only grown, as have the modern novelisations I read, which of course begin with the works of Madeline Miller–author of Circe and The Song of Achilles. 

Original Material

Galatea is a short story that reimagines the myth of Galatea and Pygmalion, prominently told in book 10 of Ovid’s narrative poem Metamorphoses. 

In ancient Greece, Pygmalion was a renowned artist. However when he saw the sex workers of Cyprus, he was disgusted. His misogynism grew, he became celibate and dedicated himself to sculpting. He soon made a sculpture of a woman so beautiful that he fell in love with it to the point he was stroking the statue’s body; kissing and caressing it. 

On Aphrodite’s festival day, Pygmalion made offerings to the goddess and admitted his desire of a bride who would be a living likeness of his ivory alabaster woman. On returning home, he kissed his statue and felt its lips warm. The ivory lost its hardness and the sculpture came to life. Pygmalion and the woman marry, have a daughter named Paphos, and supposedly live happily ever after. 

Synopsis

Only in post-classical sources was the woman named Galatea, yet no one ever asked if she wanted to marry Pygmalion. 

In Madeline Miller’s short story, Galatea is the most beautiful woman that Cyprus had ever seen. Now his wife, Pygmalion expects his wife to be an obedient and “compliant object of desire and nothing more”. But she has her own desires and aches for independence. 

Desperate to control her, the obsessive husband locks Galatea away under the constant supervision of doctors and nurses. Left barely living, Galatea dares to escape and rescue her daughter from her uncaring father, determined to break Paphos and herself free no matter what. 

“After I was born, he tried to keep me inside as much as he could.”

Feminist Reimaginging

Madeline Miller is the name on everyone’s lips when it comes to contemporary retellings of Greek mythology. Not only are they relevant today, but they are eerily similar to the online threads that appear online of men expressing their distaste for women, unless they’re sexually pure, obedient and solely dedicated to their husband’s satisfaction. 

Miller explores Galatea’s mental state and reactions to the exploits of her controlling husband, who uses their daughter to make Galatea compliant. He coerces her into sex, physically abuses her, and practically commits her to an ancient Greek psychiatric hospital where she is also mistreated. While Galatea faces immense challenges, she never loses her courage, her cleverness and most importantly–her hope. 

“For millennia there have been men who react with horror and disgust to women’s independence, men who desire women yet hate them”

Myths Retold

In the afterword of the story, Miller explains her inspiration for her previous novels drew from multiple sources, while Galatea was solely inspired by Ovid’s Metamorphosis. Thus Miller was able to draw more loose interpretations of the myth and its potential ending. 

In Ovid’s tale, Galatea does not speak nor does she have a name, but Miller was able to give her that and more. She gave her goals, desires and an active role in her own story. Though the protagonist is a sculpture brought to life, she represents real struggles that many modern women continue to endure. 

“But that is the mark of a good source myth; it is water so wide it can reach across centuries.”

Modern Metamorphosis

This myth has also inspired the likes of George Bernard Shaw–an Irish playwright famous for his 1913 retelling of Pygmalion, in which a phonetics professor symbolically and socially transforms Eliza Doolittle, a Cockney flower-girl, into the “perfect English lady”. This was later adapted into the film My Fair Lady and has inspired countless reproductions – particularly films that focus on changing a character into the perfect woman, such as the 1999 film She’s All That; a modern adaptation set in an American high school. 

Throughout the centuries, Ovid’s tale has inspired many creators, but no one has retold it quite like Miller. She takes into account Galatea’s likely objection to being rendered the perfect woman, with no say in her future, and reclaims her into the heroine she was meant to be. 

Final Thoughts

It’s an infuriating and intense read that feels akin to a punch to the gut. My insides were raging as I read it. I wanted to scream for Galatea, like I want to scream at the world. 

It is a short (but not sweet) piece that serves as the perfect introduction to Miller’s work, showcasing her impressive and evocative writing. To say that this short story is still haunting me, despite being only 64 pages long–would be an understatement. I will be haunted by the repugnant nature of Pygmalion and the quiet suffering of Galatea for a long time. 

“He had no chance, really. He was only flesh.”