John Doe
Professor Martin
World Literature I
 20 April 2005
Infinite Wisdom
	From what we have read in Ovid’s Metamorphoses one can certainly see the mockery of cultural myths and ideas and in turn mockery of societal concepts.  Ovid seems to pay particular attention to the idea that the gods are not so much greater than their human counter parts.  If anything they almost appear to be weaker because the emotions they deal with seem to be ten-fold if what humans experience.  The greatest differences between the gods and humans are their immortality and powers, which in turn bring about more problems.  In Venus and Adonis we see how hard a god can fall for a mortal, and also through numerous other trials and tribulations that we have seen occur between the gods and mortals we now that things almost always end in disaster; Venus and Adonis are no exception.  One would think that with immortality comes infinite wisdom, however in watching the actions of the gods one does not often see this infinite wisdom come into practice.  The gods often wear their hearts on their selves, yet at the same time they are unwilling to be hurt and seem to be surprised by the hurt they experience.
	Venus knows how Adonis thinks; she knows how stubborn he can be.  Despite all of this she still goes out on a limb and advices him against certain actions.  One might think ‘What harm could come from giving advice,’ well the advice is not important, it is the act of giving the advice that provides the most insight.  It is well known that the gods did not intervene in the lives of most mortals, but instead only came in contact with those they were intrigued by or had feelings for.  So it is with this notion that one can see, a god’s advice should never be taken at face value; so much more is behind the intention.  By taking the time to give Adonis advice, Venus is allowing herself to give into her feelings for him; thus, involving herself in the life of this mortal, and ultimately setting herself up for the pain of lost.
	The gods might have thought of mortal men and women as mere play things meant to provide entertainment for their eons of existence.  Yet it is their involvement with these mortals that cause them the most problems.  Their actions often do not have the same effect on Mt. Olympus and they do on earth, this is all vaguely reminiscent of the butterfly effect.  One would hope to assume that after living for as long as a god you would learn some things about how your actions have repercussions.  Regardless of how many people effect whether it be one or an entire nation.  Venus and Adonis’ relationship cross the boundaries that usually define interactions between gods and mortals, and as a result Venus ends up getting hurt.  Once again proving that the gods really are no more powerful than the rest of us, they experience the same joys and sorrows that we do.  But for some reason they fail to apply the knowledge gained from their actions to future endeavors.