“Leda and the Swan” by William Butler Yeats is one of the most famous version of the myth of Zeus and Leda. Yeats’s poem of Zeus and Leda changed the perception of Leda’s rape being a seduction to an actual rape9.  As previous perceptions of the rape of Leda was viewed as a seduction whether or not Leda consented.6 However, even despite Yeats’s poem changing and clearing the perception of this myth, Leda was still not portrayed as a victim of sexual assault.

 

 

Glorification of the rapist and belittlement of the victim

 

Yeats’s describes Leda’s feelings of helplessness and terror as the swan assaults her as seen in lines 4-5, “He holds her helpless breast upon his breast/How can those terrified vague fingers push” (line 4-5)10. Yet even despite describing her terror and helplessness during the assault, her rape is portrayed in artistic and aesthetic fashion.6,9 Yeats’s choice of diction mutes the violence of the rape and of her distress9. This creates a disconnection and indifference in narrative and glorifies the rape.

 

The problem with the glorification in “Leda and the Swan” is not only that it glorifies rape, but rather this glorification is not isolated to the narrator. Leda, who is the victim, is portrayed glorifying her rapist.9

 

Leda, who is described feeling fear, is also described feeling awe of the swan that rapes her.9 “How can those terrified vague fingers push/The feathered glory from her loosening thighs” (line 5-6).10  There is indeed fear, but her fear is described to be entangled with her fascination, a awe of her rapist. A victim feeling awe for her rapist is, at the most unnatural. In fact by feeling awe for her rapist it normalizes sexual assault. This awe Leda felt Yeats’s incorporated in his poem forcefully distorts and belittles the brutality of her rape, as well as reducing the severity of the violence. This indifferent narrative blurs her status as a victim as it implies that the rape was consensual when it was not.

 

Distorting rape to consent and the role of power

 

Rape culture blames the victim and often distorts the rape into consent. There is no doubt in the fact that Leda did not know who her rapist or knew she was going to be sexually assaulted when the swan approached her. As seen in lines 1-2, “A sudden blow: the great wings beating still/Above the staggering girl, her thighs caressed”(Line 1-2).10 This clearly depicts the swan being aggressive and forceful towards the unsuspecting Leda.

 

However others argue that her “loosening thighs” was a sign of consent (line 6).10 However if the previous stanza is taken into account it constructs her helplessness and powerlessness from the beginning:

 

“A sudden blow: the great wings beating still

Above the staggering girl, her thighs caressed

By the dark webs, her nape caught in his bill,

He holds her helpless breast upon his breast.

How can those terrified vague fingers push”10

 

This would mean it is more plausible that her “loosening thighs” was due to her realization that she had no power in her situation or even perhaps it was a physical response of her body she could not control.1,10 Even then, it does not condone rape, as Zeus immediately takes advantage of his power over her and rapes Leda.

 

Ultimately Leda in "Leda and the Swan" is not presented to be a victim of sexual assault, even when in truth she is one. Instead she is portrayed to be a sexual deviant who initially resisted, but succumbed to pleasure. "The broken wall, the burning roof and tower/And Agamemnon dead"(line 10-11). These lines indicate that because of her sexual deviancy, she would eventually bring death and destruction to her country and those around her. Leda becomes the epitome of victim blaming in rape culture.