Extent to Which Rape Is Central to Heroic Mythical Narratives of the Greeks - Research Paper Example

details Discuss the extent to which rape is central to heroic mythical narratives of the Greeks and Romans. What is the effect of associating gods and heroes with this type of violence? Mythology formed an integral part of the life of the Ancient Greeks. Greek and Roman mythology was rife with heroic connotations and narratives, illustrating tales depicting natural phenomena, chivalrous characters, love and enmity. One of the elements that were used liberally in stories of love in Greek and Roman mythology was that of rape. Narratives based on the theme of love often depicted rapes of mortal women by male gods. Such interactions led to the conception and subsequent birth of heroic offspring. When analyzing rape in heroic narratives from its references in art, it is seen that rape was used to develop and project social normality or otherwise. Moorti observes that rape is a central theme in Greek mythology (203). The degree of importance given to rape shows the elements of patriarchy and male supremacy as well as the normality of violent acts with women. The narratives that have been written after 5 BC show that rape was increasingly used as a means of blurring and comfortably transgressing the boundaries between the divine and the mortals. It was also used as a way of expressing identity and personal limits. It served a heuristic purpose, trying to provide solutions for questions relating to existence, religion and politics. Moorti contends that the metaphorical use of rape for taking into consideration major issues should not be regarded as an atavistic practice or linked to a recurrence due to genetics (203). On the contrary, its use shows how legal and illegal issues related to sexuality are addressed. The liberal use of rape in Greek and Roman mythology raises questions regarding the intention behind it. It is observed that one of the reasons why rape was used commonly was that it depicted power and rank. The tales of narratives were in fact representations of the lifestyle and ways of living of the Greeks and the Romans. The social and cultural norms of the civilizations were such that men had the authority to rape women to punish them or simply to assert their control and authority over them. Rape was also carried out by gods for the same reasons. Gods used rape as a tool for asserting the connections and importance of familial relations between them. Despite the fact that the Romans and the Greeks were cultured people, rape was inflicted by men on women on a common scale and the same element was portrayed in heroic narratives. When studying Greek mythology, one can conclude that most of them are largely patriarchal and served to facilitate the image and position of the males in the society (Harris and Platzner 850). By showing that gods also raped, the males were able to justify their actions and prove that they cannot be wrong if they were carried out by gods too (Xanders). Rape in heroic narratives did not have any stigma or negative consequences associated with it. A similar claim is asserted by Smith (12). Smith is of the point of view that drinking and sexual abuse were rampant in the ancient times. Men used to carry out such acts without any remorse or fear because they were characteristic of religious elements and did not embody the disgrace of any misconduct. One such behavioral analogy representing alcohol-induced rape in Greek mythology can be found in the conduct and character of Satyr. Satyr was a forest being which was related to the god of wine, Dionysus. Satyr indulged itself in excessive wine consumption and rapes of women (Smith 12). Other instances of rape in Greek mythology are seen in Helen’s kidnapping from Sparta, the rape of Alcippe and the rape of Protogeneia by Zeus to name a few (Simon 4). Woodard is of the perspective that when looking at the study of causes, there is an apparent pattern of seeing the human status as that of a victim (366). This is manifested in the supremacy of the gods over the mortals. The early narratives of Greek mythology have extensively indulged in the powers of gods, their rage, bias and rape. This is manifested in Jupiter’s annihilation of the entire existence as a penance for the sin of a single person, Apollo’s attempt to rape Daphne and the rapes of Io, Callisto, Europa and Semele by Jupiter, the murder of Diana by Actaeon and the rape of Proserpina by Plato (Woodard 367). In Greek mythology, there are instances in the stories where mortals have resisted against forced sexual interactions. However such resistances have not been effective in either stopping the rape or the punishment that follows. The verses may suggest a certain degree of moral indictment of the gods as is seen in Jupiter’s condemnation when the god raped the modesty of the mortal. However the phrase is “tonally unambiguous” (Woodard 367). This is because it is not the god but the mortal who became the victim of the erotic desires of the god against whom criticism is leveled by Juno. Buttressing the argument that is presented above, St. Joan and McElhiney argue that the depiction of rape in stories coming from patriarchal societies is a metaphorical construct (217). The intent behind it is to assert and contribute towards the extension and domination of phallocratic rule. Where feminist writers have used rape as a literary motif to express the experience of the victim and the sheer violence associated with the act, Greek and Roman mythology have not followed the same trend. The use of rape as a literary motif in Greek and Roman heroic narratives served to highlight the power of the gods to routinely and capriciously rape mortals. Some of the depictions of rape in mythology have been painted as well. Some scholars are of the perspective that the use of rape as a literary motif is a metaphorical link and shows the political takeover and suppression of matriarchal communities by patriarchal ones (St. Joan and McElhiney 217). Roman mythology is also characteristic of the liberal use of rape in tales of love, passion and violence. A famous story regarding the founding of Rome is the rape of the Sabine women. It was the second part of a series of tales on forced sexual predilections. The story is based after Romulus had founded the city of Rome. It was seen that the city had a serious dearth of women and so the Romans asked their neighbors to grant them the right for intermarriage. For several reasons, the neighbors declined the offer and sent back the envoys who had taken the requests to the kings. Romulus retaliated by devising a plan to kidnap and rape the women from neighboring areas. They called their neighbors to a festival and assaulted the women, raping them. The men fled and the women were help captives. The story ended with the women having developed a soft corner for the Romans and being made to decide between their country of birth and their marriage with the Romans. April Bullock asserts that the story has myriad interpretations. It is argued that rape was used for a political purpose in the story. However, Ovid depicted the violence and fear associated with such acts and is “evidence of a protofeminist interest in the consequences of rape for its victims and in the role of rape in perpetuating patriarchy” (Smith 197). The particular example of the rape of Europa also serves to highlight different reasons for using rape as a literary motif. When looking at the narrative, Kuhn observes that the rape depicted in it is an iconic example of the common use of rape and abduction in the Roman and Greek civilizations (72). In the story, Zeus assumes the figure of a bull and approaches Europa, the Phoenician princess (Hagen and Hagen 294). He takes her away from the other girls and kidnaps her forever. She is taken to the cave on the island of Crete, which was the place of birth of Zeus. It thereby also becomes the cave where Europa is raped by Zeus. The rape of Europa has several elements that constitute the founding myth of Europe. The story features the interaction between gods and mortals, exogamous kidnapping, the definition of Europe originating from its Other, the first Greek conquest over Asia etc (Kuhn 72). The forced sexual interaction between the divine and a nymph with goddess-like attributes leads to the birth of European civilization. The rape and abduction of Europa is a motif that represents expansionist wars. The rape and the birth of a whole new civilization also shows that the mixing and hybridization of cultures as well as ethnic domination (Kuhn 72). It is also regarded as one of the contributing factors to the Persian Wars (Edmunds 413). The forced sexual unions of gods and almost divine maidens are often seen in art since they provided artists with fleshly objects, depicting the perilous opulence of life spilling from them, bringing together the weird and the natural, the feared and the wanted, and the isolating and the uniting. Looking at the bigger picture, there heroic narratives seem to portray a dramatized and exuberant version of male power and supremacy upon emotional natural delicateness. Therefore Zeus couples with a number of virgins including Callisto, Danae, Io and Antiope. assuming the form of a bull, swan or a shower of gold to attract the girl (Burkert 7). Birenbaum asserts that these mythical expressions are representative of a nonlinear nature of coupling, where the strangeness of principle shows itself (123). When considering the rapes in nonlinear terms, they do not seem to appear as isolated events but rather are reoccurrences of essentially the same “non-event” (Birenbaum 123). They occur at a time which appears to be absolute and immobile. Therefore the rapes are all the same events, just as the heroes are, if seen from the ultimate sense, all one; as Campbell says “hero with a thousand faces” (Birenbaum 123). Another striking example of rape in Greek mythology is the rape of Persephone. Persephone was the daughter of Zeus and was abducted by Hades. It is narrated that Zeus himself gave permission to Hades to carry off Persephone since her mother would be against it. Thus, without asking for her will, Persephone was abducted and raped; showing another example of male dominance through and through. In Greek and Roman mythology, rape has been used as an instrument for transformation as well as a “motor of change”; this is exemplified in the narratives of the rape of the Sabine women and the rape of Lucretia (Smith 117). The story of Lucretia is also embodied by the same narrative element as cited in other rape stories. Sextus Tarquinius was passionately attracted to Lucretia and tried to seduce her. Lucretia resisted so he threatened her, after which she resentfully agreed to go with him (Hyland 97). Thus, here again the power of the mortal is supplanted by that of the deity. A final word to the essay, the narratives suggest that rapes and unions between gods and mortals are to be avoided. Such relationships are hardly successful even if they have been initiated with consent. In the Illiad, Apollo makes a similar assertion. He observes that gods and mortals can never become identical or assume each other’s characteristics (Trobe 155). This substantiates the view that these unions are not successful. Works Cited Birenbaum, Harvey. Myth and mind. Lanham: University Press of America, 1988. Print. Burkert, Walter. Structure and history in Greek mythology and ritual. California: University of California Press, 1982. Print. Edmunds, Lowell. Approaches to Greek myth. JHU Press, 1990. Print. Hagen, Rose-Marie and Rainer Hagen. What great paintings say, Volume 2. Taschen, 2002. Print. Harris, Stephen L. and Gloria Platzner. Classical mythology: images and insights. Mayfield Pub. Co., 2001. Print. Hyland, Peter. An introduction to Shakespeare's poems. Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan, 2003. Print. Kuhn, Michael. Who is the European?: a new global player? New York: Peter Lang, 2007. Print. Moorti, Sujata. Color of rape: gender and race in television's public spheres. Albany: SUNY Press, 2002. Print. Simon, Rita James. A comparative perspective on major social problems. Maryland: Lexington Books, 2001. Print. Smith, Merril D. Ed. Encyclopedia of rape. Connecticut: Greenwood Publishing Group, 2004. Print. St. Joan, Jacqueline and Annette Bennington McElhiney. Beyond Portia: women, law, and literature in the United States. UPNE, 1997. Print. Trobe, Kala. Invoke the Gods: Exploring the Power of Male Archetypes. St. Paul: Llewellyn Worldwide, 2001. Print. Xanders, Gryffin. Why does Greek mythology mostly have rape involved? Yahoo Answers, 2011. Web. 30 May 2011. Read More