Rape

[mass noun]

1. The crime, typically committed by a man, of forcing another person to have sexual intercourse with the offender against their will

[archaic]

2. The abduction of a woman, especially for the purpose of having sexual intercourse with her

[with object]

3. The wanton destruction or spoiling of something

 

Rape has existed in the human world since the beginning of civilisation and has been idealised and sanitised in art and literature since the ancient world. The desire to portray this destructive act has been a deep human impulse back to the archaic, yet still thriving in our modern age. Imagery of animals and hunting in ancient Greek myths illustrate the barbaric pursuit of men for a female, abducting and raping her leaving the women with a shattered psyche. Renaissance epithalamic paintings revived this model of love as a hunt, depicting perfect ideal of men and women’s behaviour.

Each animal symbolises the victory of the pursuer and the conquest of the prey. What seems like the reward of a habitual hunt is in fact the allegory of man’s ‘longing’ for a gentle maiden. The hunter is in absentia, hanging the victim, or captured woman like a prize.