Male perpetrators of violence against women in Achilles Tatius' Leucippe and Clitophon

Abstract

No study of violence against women in Achilles Tatius’ Leucippe and Clitophon has yet focussed on the male perpetrators of that violence. I contend that the novel depicts male perpetrators as failing to live up to the masculine ideal, ‘othering’ them from traditional masculinity, and accompanying positions of power, within the novel. This allows the perpetrators to represent a male whose masculinity is conflicted due to shifting notions of masculinity, resulting in a sense of insecurity and powerlessness that is sometimes compensated for with violence against women. The novel invites male readers to identify with these perpetrators temporarily, thus allowing them a brief respite from their own concerns about masculinity and power by enjoying the effects of this violence.