Ovid Book 11: Orpheus' Salvation

Thracian women attack Orpheus with stones. Orpheus protects himself by charming the rocks with his songs. But the women drown out his music and tear his body apart. Orpheus’s shade descends to the underworld, where he joins Eurydice. Bacchus punishes the Thracian women for their crime against Orpheus by transforming them into trees.

Some might see this as a tragic end to Orpheus, however I would like to extend the idea that Orpheus truly wanted to be killed so that he may join his beloved Eurydice. He wanted nothing more than to be with her again, and although he had to suffer through the pain of his death, it was not so bad in the end for him. 


Often we see Ovid tell very morbid tales of the demise or rape of someone, and in this case, it actually doesn't end too bad for Orpheus.