Pygmalion did not love women and blamed them for everything. So instead of finding a real wife, he decided to get one. Pygmalion carved a woman from ivory that he thought was even more beautiful than any living woman could ever be. He dressed this woman in ivory and gave her gifts, taking her as his wife. Once the festival of Venus began, Pygmalion prayed to the goddess to bring him a wife who would be like his ivory statue, even though the goddess knew that he meant that he wanted his ivory statue as his only wife. Venus answered his prayer and granted life to the statue, and once he returned home, Pygmalion kissed his wife, finding her warm and alive, and could not have been happier. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay The conflict in Pygmalion and Galatea is Pygmalion's denial and obsession. Pygmalion distances himself from women and decides that he has had enough of them, but he clearly wants a love so much that he makes one just for himself instead of trying to find a real woman. After Pygmalion denies all women, he becomes obsessed with the "perfect" ivory statue he made to be his wife. It is not revealed what the women did that upset Pygmalion so much that he abandoned them all together, but it does reveal how he deals with the conflict. This story immediately reminds me of Narcissus. He, like Pygmalion, is obsessed with something or someone; however, instead of an inanimate object, he falls in love with his own reflection. Narcissus rejects all of his suitors, thinking that no one is good enough for him, and Pygmalion turns away from all women completely, thinking that the only thing good enough for him is a wife who he can make with the help of a goddess. These stories seem to parallel each other in more ways than one, showing how even allusions to Greek mythology can be related to each other.