Monday, September 16, 2013

What is Diana's temple telling us?

The temples that Palamon, Arcite, and Emily visit are obviously very significant points in the tale. The decorations in each of the temples are described in deep detail. In Venus' temple, we see love and all the consequences, good and bad, that come from it. In Mars' temple, we also see the consequences that can come from war.
The trouble comes when we look at Diana's temple in lines 2051-2074. Her temple is decorated with depictions of change. We see many transformations that are spoken of throughout Greek mythology.
I'm not sure what Diana's temple is supposed to tell us. Venus' and Mars' temples seemed to be warnings. If Diana is the goddess of virginity, could she be warning against the transformation from virgin to a sexually knowledgeable being? The transformations depicted were of humans being transformed into animals or plant: . One could argue that these would be a step down from humans and if we follow the metaphor, a loss of virginity would be a bad thing. Why then does Diana tell Emily that she must go through with the marriage?
I'm really unsure of this passage and would love to hear some other possibilities, if anyone has any ideas?

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