Ovid’s poem describes the struggles of a man who is attracted to married women. In particular, 2.19 focuses on his relationship with Corinna, a woman who’s aware of how attractive she is and uses this to her advantage. Corinna essentially plays the narrator by only returning his affections when she sees fit and by seeing other men behind his back. When reading this poem, the description of Corinna felt very familiar to me because she is very similar to the character Maureen from Rent. Maureen is similar to Corinna in that she is notorious for cheating on her partners. What also makes these two situations incredibly similar is that just like how the narrator is warning other men about holding onto their wives, in the song “The Tango Maureen” Mark, Maureen’s former lover, is warning Joanne, Maureen’s current lover, about the dangers of falling to Maureen. In both of these works, the narrators describe how their lovers dupe them. In Ovid’s poem, Corinna would “feign guilt” to get what she wanted and how even after being dismissed by her the narrator would “lingered, heavy footed”. This is similar to Maureen’s behavior in that she often “pouted her lips and called you ‘Pookie'” to get what she wanted and how despite harsh dismissal sometimes Joanne would still “you yearn and you churn and rebound”.
While these two works are extremely similar, one distinct difference is that in the case of Ovid’s work, Corinna may be wronging the narrator, but technically he is also at fault since Corinna is a married woman. So both Corinna and the narrator in Ovid’s work are problematic and slightly unreliable characters. In comparison, in “The Tango Maureen” and Rent as a whole, Maureen is the only problematic character in this couple. Neither Joanne nor Mark did anything wrong in their relationships with her and instead stood by her despite some of the horrible things she did to them. So in this regard, “The Tango Maureen” is more of a reliable work because it is narrated by two innocent and reliable characters who are singing about the same problematic woman.
Ovid 2.19
Bing and Cohen
Cunning Corinna saw this weakness of mine,
a tricky girl, she knew how I would be caught.
How often, when she was fine, she’d fake a headache
and tell me to leave, while I lingered, heavy footed.
How often she feigned guilt, and – as much as an innocent
girl can – offered me the semblance of a cheater.
That way, when she’d wrecked me and stroked the cooling fire,
again she’d be kind, responsive to my desires.
How many sweet nothings she told me, what sweet words she cooked up.