What happens to Philomela?
Mythology. While the myth has several variations, the general depiction is that Philomela, after being raped and mutilated by her sister’s husband, Tereus, obtains her revenge and is transformed into a nightingale (Luscinia megarhynchos), a bird renowned for its song.
Who is Tereus Philomela?
Philomela and Procne were sisters, daughters of Pandion, King of Athens. A Thracian man, Tereus, married Procne. However, Tereus desired his sister-in-law, Philomela, and he took her by force. Afterwards, he cut out her tongue so she couldn’t tell anyone what he had done.
What happened to Procne and Philomela?
The gods answered their prayers and turned all three of them into birds; Procne into a swallow, Philomela into a nightingale, and Tereus into a hoopoe.
What is Tereus’s relationship to Philomela?
Tereus, in Greek legend, king of Thrace, or of Phocis, who married Procne, daughter of Pandion, king of Athens. Pretending that Procne was dead, Tereus later seduced his wife’s sister Philomela and tricked her into a sham marriage. Other versions describe the encounter as a brutal rape.
How had Philomela come to the accursed House ‘?
Philomela, on the other hand, could not bear to look up and see herself as her sister’s betrayer. She made gestures with her hands in place of speech, with her face turned to the ground, seeking to swear by the gods and call them to witness that her disgrace had been forced upon her.
What is the meaning of Philomela?
Definition of Philomela : an Athenian princess in Greek mythology raped and deprived of her tongue by her brother-in-law Tereus, avenged by the killing of his son, and changed into a nightingale while fleeing from him.
Why is Philomela a threat?
She is “actively rebelling from male domination, and she herself became a threat to the male power structure.”IIIBy vowing to tell her story to all, Philomela rejects the oppression that many women find hard to overcome in rape cases.
How was Philomela silenced?
(Metamorphoses 6.438-674). In addition to being raped, Philomela is also violated by the mutilation of her tongue and attendant loss of speech. In a way, Tereus rapes Philomela’s speech by taking her ability to speak out against him.
Why did Philomela gaze at the ground?
In the Metamorphoses of Ovid, when she sees her sister, Philomela keeps her eyes steadfastly gazing at the ground because she is ashamed that she has, against her will, committed adultery with her sister’s husband, who brutally raped her.
How did Philomela convey her misfortune to her sister?
Since she is unable to speak, Philomela weaves the story into a tapestry. She sends the tapestry to her sister, revealing the crime through the woven word.