Galatea from Madeline Miller

 Don't let it's small size fool you, the story may look like a quick read but it sure will make you think.

Women in greek mythology have a variety of adjectives associated to them, but one that is consistant is temptation. Women are seen as the most tempting prize in the world. Na achievement to keep hidden from the world and in this case even from themselves. Galatea tells the tale about a woman that is brought to life from stone to the request of a sculptor to the gods. He requests his creation to be brought to life and the goddess of love Aphrodite grants his desire, however this act has it's consequences. Galatea gains life but it wins desires, worries, and her own mind and personality.

The couple eventually gain a daughter with the mother's beauty and a curious mind however as the time passes, the sculptor gets jealous of every eye that sets on his beautiful wife, and one time that she tries to run away he locks her up in a hospital and from then on, he visits her constantly but with the only purpose to repeat their first encounter.

As she fools the people from the hospital to get away and run, she also fools her husband to believe that she is the weak thing that could never run away from her. She is know for a fragile thing like a statue that could be pushed into the ground and broken in a million pieces, however now that she is human and a live woman she is even more fragile like glass which could break over every cold or high temperatures. She is a woman who thinks and knows why some like her and why some hate her. The woman envy her beauty and yet they support her when the doctor gives her a "special" tea, they let her go outside when she shouldn't and who knows if they actually ran after her or not.

Now the men in this short story are the symbol of corrupted desire. They look upon Galatea for something, her husband for sexual desire and for the recognisition of his prayers being heard, her creation made him feel powerfull because if it wasn't for his envovlvement she wouldn't have been born. When he visits her at the hospital he simply takes this time to return to their first encounter and to take from her some sexual satisfaction. The other men involved are the doctor and he utilizes Galatea's condition (based on what the husband tells the hospital) to gain money. The more Galatea behaves like herself the longer she will stay in the hospital and as a result the doctor will earn more money.

However by the end of this story Galatea as reached a point of certain death if her prayers get heard, and they do. She wishes to feel like stone, to stop having what a living woman has and resume her existence as what she was previously. But she takes with her one last act of revenge over who hurt her since the beginning. She purposefuly goes back to her husband's house, she wakes him up with the phrase that he uses consistently and she hugs him the moment before she turns back. If she used to live by the rules of her husband he would now suffer a slow death through her rules and wishes.