What are the consequences of transformation in book 3 of Ovid's Metamorphoses?

In the third book of Ovid's Metamorphoses, we find transformations that lead to various consequences, such as the founding of a city, violent death, and blindness and prophecy. Let's look at these.

First we read about Cadmus and how he sows the teeth of a serpent. Those teeth spring up into men who fight each other until only five are left. These men work with Cadmus to build Thebes. So their strange transformation results in the foundation of a city.

Actaeon, however, doesn't have such a good end. He sees the goddess Diana naked, and she turns him into a stag. His own dogs rip him apart. Semele, too, dies violently, consumed in flames because of her challenge to Jove. Pentheus, who mocks Bacchus, is torn apart by his own mother and aunt as they participate in the frenzied worship of the god.

We also read about Tiresias, who angers Juno by siding with her against Jove in an argument. She strikes him blind, but Jove, in compensation, gives him the gift of prophecy. The apparently negative transformation actually leads to a higher form of life for Tiresias (although he might not always think so when he must deliver bad news).

Finally, in this book, we meet Narcissus, who is so focused on his own good looks that he pines away in front of his own image and becomes a mere flower. His self-absorption has led to his demise.

What are the tragic consequences of transformations in The Metamorphoses?

The consequences of change of form in the Metamorphoses are often very tragic indeed.

In the story of Daphne and Apollo, for example, we are presented with a transformation that ends in tragedy. A love-sick Apollo desperately wants Daphne; but as Daphne has sworn to remain a virgin, she rebuffs his increasingly assertive advances.

Unwilling to take no for an answer, Apollo chases Daphne until, eventually, he catches up with her and grabs her. On the brink of being violated by the god, Daphne calls out to her father, Peneus, to use his streams' divine powers to change her and destroy the beauty that pleases Apollo only too well.

Peneus duly obliges, and before long Daphne has turned into a laurel tree. (Daphne is the Greek word for laurel.) Although this prevents Apollo from assaulting Daphne, it also deprives Daphne of a full life. It is this deprivation of what was rightfully hers that makes the story of Daphne and Apollo truly tragic.