This is also accomplished by "sliding" from a story centered around one character to that of a friend or relative (Epaphus and Phaethon, end of Book 1). These different links, or disjointed continuations, reaffirm the superficiality with which Ovid demands the reader to operate.
Ovid uses the conformities of the epic throughout the Metamorphoses, but the height of this usage is achieved in the Ajax-Odyssey debate. Ovid's use of the epic begins with the general stylist selection he makes throughout the story, particularly by positing the tragic victim as a struggling object expressed through a series of present participles. As is common in epics, tales of particular meter and form, he then uses a verb to signal death and mutilation, represented by the use of enjambment (continuation of syntactic unit from one line or couplet of a poem to the next with no pause). (Met. 6.555-57, 636-41.) Sometimes, positioning his tragic characters into the epic came with consequence, as can be seen in the Hippolytus-Virbius sotry, where he ultimately contrasts the cultural ideals of Greece and Rome by examining the tragic characters in the pain of the body. Some critiques suggest that his repetition of this, particularly in the Ajax-Odyssey story, suggests Ovid's use of his style as a way to question society, asking if Romans are in fact capable of appreciating the emotionality and the tragic vision so essential to Greek plays. (Ingo Gildenhard and Andrew Zissos, "Somatic Economies: Tragic Bodies and Poetic Design.")
The use of epic style also reflects Ovidian, societal, and literary approaches to the female by contrasting them with the epic male. Generally the Richelin-fostered approach to Ovid incorporates an oblique patriarchal reading of the poet, which detracts from his nuanced use of the epic, typically a literary tool used to idolize male form, function, and strength, to instead encourage the reader to question these mores as they apply to his characters. This is particularly true though Metamorphoses 10, where attention to details might encourage the
Among them are Hermaphroditus, Salmacis, Perseus, Atalanta, the whole bevy of the Trojan War, the Lapthis, and even the Centaurs and Caeneus. It is, in fact, through Ovid's rejection of other male's as portraying the typical attributes of a Greek male that Ajax stands out, clearly defining him as a masculine being.
Ultimately, Ovid plays on the standard forms of literary device to demand the reader to disengage from the expected interpretations of the story. While using the great violence which characterized Hesiod to describe the origin of the cosmos, Ovid forces the reader to acknowledge the ephemeral nature of the universe. The story of Phaethon reminds the reader that not even a story needs to exist without variation, since nothing in life does, a lesson he reaffirms throughout the epic. Lastly, he uses the story of the epic to challenge the reader's acceptance of general stereotypes, including those attributed to both men and books.
Ovid sets himself apart from the other Latin greats by paralleling their functions but, from them, drawing a completely different ending, poem, and reader.
