Ovid's metamorphosis clearly picturizes different themes of life. Revenge is one of the recurring themes that is seen in Book III.
This can be observed for the first time with Actaeon. Actaeon was walking amidst the woods after a day of hunting. The grandson of Cadmus was wandering through the woods which he had never seen before. Acteon suddenly reached the spot where Goddess Diana was bathing along with several other nymphs. When Actaeon accidentally caught a glance of their naked bodies, the nymphs cried in shame and tried to hide Diana's body with their own. But, since Diana was much taller than them, her body was clearly visible to Actaeon. Even though it was an accident, Diana cursed Actaeon and turned him into a deer seeking her revenge. as Actaeon was running away, his hunting dogs ripped him into pieces.
The theme of revenge can be observed numerous times in book III. similarly, when Juno learnt that Semele was pregnant with her husband's child, she orchestrated an entire plan to seek revenge from Semele, which took away her life.
Once again when Jupiter and Juno had an argument on a certain topic, they asked the opinion of the wise Tiresias. When he agreed with Jupiter, Juno being furious punished Tiresias of eternal blindness. Although God later granted Tiresias the power to know the future, Juno's act of revenge could never be undone.
Echo was a beautiful river nymph, who had the habit of talking continuously. Once, when Jupiter was lying with the nymphs by the river side, Juno reached the spot to catch him red-handed. Echo tried to engage Juno with her endless flow of talks, so that the nymphs could flee from the spot. Enraged with her tactic, Juno incurred a curse against Echo, according to which the nymph lost her ability to talk freely. Due to the curse, Echo could only repeat the last words of the sentence spoken by the other person, as she completely lost her ability to speak first. Juno's act of revenge proved to be a curse to Echo.
The next phase of revenge could be observed in the story of Echo and Narcissu. Narcissus was a very beautiful and attractive youth, who had a lot of admirers. Once, when Narcissus was wandering through the woods, Echo saw him and was attracted to him at the first glance. When she sprang out of the woods to embrace Narcissus out of her burning passion, he rejected her appeal of love. He did the same to many other nymphs who had fallen in love with him. One of the nymphs, whose heart was shattered, cursed him that he would never be able to get back the love of the person he will love. Hence, when Narcissus saw his image in the clear water of a pool, he fell in love with his own reflection. But every time he tried to embrace the image, he failed to do so. After repeated trials, Narcissus failed to meet his loved one and lost his life. Here we can see, how the various people that Narcissus rejected sought revenge from him.
Pantheus, the son of Echion despised the Gods, especially Bacchus. He had sent a team of his soldiers to find the so called God Bacchus to capture him in the dungeons. However, all of his soldiers, except one were killed by Bacchus. Later, Pantheus was also killed by his own sister and mother during a ritual of Bacchus. And in such a way, Bacchus sought revenge from Pantheus.
Therefore, we can say that the theme of revenge is well explained in the story.
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