Book 6 of the Met. is one of noticeably more violence and anger. There are vivid descriptions of a mother losing their children right in front of their eyes (6. 323-336) and a satyr being punished by having his blood and guts spill out (6. 440-457), and a description of a rape far more aggressive than we have seen in previous books. That is the rape of Philomela by Tereus.
This is a rather longer story within Book 6, which allows a lot of development in the aggression that plays out. Tereus was a war hero, and he desired to marry Procne. The marriage was doomed from the start though because, “neither Juno, the bridal goddess/Nor Hymen attended. The Furies lit the way/With torches stolen from a funeral,” (6. 490-494). Immediately, Tereus, the perpetrator of the story, is introduced as an aggressive character. He is a war hero, and has become very wealthy because of it.
His violent nature becomes more apparent when his wife asks to see her sister. When he goes to get Philomela for Procne, he describes how he imagined that he would, “carry her off and rape her/And then defend his rape with a bloody war./Mad with passion, he would dare anything,” when he laid eyes on Philomela for the first time(6. 531-533).
It was true that he would dare anything to have her. In lines 598-615, there is a violent rape scene, and then Tereus cuts out Philomela’s tongue to prevent her from telling anyone what happened to her. Sexual assault is about power, and Tereus took away any power that Philomela had. In Lombardo’s translation, he uses the words “prey” (597) and “quivering lamb” (607) when describing Philomela while she was Tereus’ possession.
Arguably though, the biggest power that Philomela had after being raped was also taken away from her. With her tongue cut out by Tereus, he stopped her from ever telling anyone that she had been attacked. The only power that she would have held over Tereus–being able to tell someone–was literally cut out of her. Tereus takes her power away from her because he is violent and aggressive by nature, and Philomela is completely powerless by the end of her assault.
She is, however, able to take back a little power by the end of the story. She finds a way to tell Procne about the rape and “weaves purple signs/On a white background, revealing the crime.” (6. 666-667).
Furthermore, her transformation gave her power back. In the end, Philomela flew “off to the woods/As a nightingale,” (6. 772-773). Nightingales are best known for their beautiful songs. In her human form, Philomela is stripped of her voice, and thus stripped of her power, but when she is transformed to a bird known for its song, she is given the power back that was robbed from her.
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What I find so horrifically interesting is that these depictions can be things I’ve heard before in real life. Taking the graphic rape scene, this idea of being hunted and predator vs prey and unquenchable lust is the story I’m told about rape all the time. I don’t think I’ve met a girl that doesn’t have backup plans and contingencies for the time in which they become the prey. I know that’s how I was raised, and every girl I’ve ever met has either been sexually assaulted or knows someone who has. It’s an awful secret language that we’ve learned because people with intentions such as Tereus exist and That’s what makes it all the more graphic and violent too.
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