Power

Power represents the unleashed, nonconsensual lust represented through Ovid in Book 6 Procne Philomela and Tereus. After being happily married for five years Tereus sees Philomela and an old flame reignites. The inborn tribal urge Tereus exudes represents traditional thrusting desire, a desire that will lead to ultimate sick recurrence of rape. This tale that makes the reader wants to cringe. We as the reader are meant to read this and look away from the mirror. This story made me think of those crimes on the news that evoke immediate channel change; we just don’t want to see it, or believe that man can be so cruel.  The character of Tereus is motivated by cruel power. Not only does he rule over land and a country, he has to rule over women, specifically, power over Philomela, which is why he rapes her and then cuts her tongue out. It’s all about power. Even his own death, in one account, can be seen as power over choosing when and how he dies. Personally, my favorite character is Philomela. She is driven by a sense of justice. She knows her imprisonment is wrong (as does the reader) and so actively seeks emancipation. She also agrees to go along with Procne’s plan to kill her son because she feels that it is justice served to Tereus. Philomela’s transformation into a bird is the ultimate form of justice for her because she can finally escape tyranny.