Chapter 4 - The Ovidian Unmasking of the Elegiac Grotesque

Summary

This chapter is concerned with the idea that the elegiac grotesque is rooted in the character of the puella herself and may manifest itself as a consequence of her role in the genre. The repeated use of cosmetics in order to enhance her erotic appeal may cause her to lose her hair and hence her beauty, forcing her to studiously cover up her ugliness. Sex may also result in an unwanted pregnancy, forcing her to have an abortion in order to remain in the elegiac world. Pregnancy and loss of beauty are both anti-elegiac motifs, though they are always potentially present in the very conception of the puella. Elegiac love can cause the puella to cross the boundaries of elegy and to have recourse to anti-elegiac measures in order to re-enter her role in the genre. This is particularly evident in the abortion poems. There the grotesque enters deeply into the elegiac genre, since it is used to restore the condition that can make elegiac love possible again; though it does not become the main point of the elegy, it represents a destabilizing nucleus in its narrative core.