 At other times, transformations are developed into humour or absurdity, such that, slowly, “the reader realizes he is being had”, or the very nature of transformation is questioned or subverted.This phenomenon is merely one aspect of Ovid's extensive use of illusion and disguise.The "Metamorphoses" has exerted a considerable influence on literature and the arts, particularly of the West; scholar A. D. Melville says that "It may be doubted whether any poem has had so great an influence on the literature and art of Western civilization as the "Metamorphoses"."