強暴一直以來被認為是塑造了希臘羅馬神話世界的核心力量。古典神話中強暴故事的頻繁出現定義了陰性化及陽性化的對立現象。在所有的古典作品中，奧維德的名作《變形記》提供了讀者一個機會來瞭解文學作品被賦予的政治意義。本篇論文旨在檢視《變形記》中形形色色的強暴故事來暴露出如此性別對立的社會中對於女性的性剝奪及壓迫。其中，變形的概念是為達成某些特定目的而存在。首先，本文先探討在如此猖獗的性暴力文化背後所揭露出的古文化是如何地建立了一個失衡的兩性關係。接下來的章節則各針對《變形記》一書中強暴故事所展現的三大變形種類來說明變形是如何地被用來惡化各故事女主人翁所面臨的性掠奪。此三種變形種類性質分別是欺騙、對策及懲罰。首先，在第一章中，當變形被誤用為欺騙受害者上當的工具時，性衝動的自然性卻成為強暴除罪化的藉口。接著，當第二章中女主角被迫接受逃離強暴威脅的對策性變形時，實質上，她們不僅在去人化的狀態中被迫噤聲，並從此放逐到人類文明的邊界之外，她們也因此順勢被物化成為男性的擁有物。最後，在第三章中，當女神們主導對強暴受害者的懲罰性變形時，這也透漏出當邊緣化的受害者身心靈上被迫經歷痛徹心扉的強暴創傷時，性暴力犯的行為卻反而被正當化。本文結論點出從歷史觀點來看，強暴現象做為政治操作的工具，強化了女性在古典社會中的劣勢地位。然而，隨著人類文明的進步，如此的意識形態早已不合時宜，應該一再地受到檢驗，而改革之路則勢在必行。

Rape has become the element sustaining the entire construction of Greek/Roman mythological cosmos. The frequency of rape stories found in antiquity basically creates hostility that serves to define femininity and masculinity. Among the great number of works in antiquity, Ovid’s Metamorphoses offers its readers an opportunity to see how literature can be utilized politically. This thesis is designed to examine rapes in Metamorphoses, in which transformations function for particular ends with the intention to expose the sexual deprivation in the genderly-sexed society. The study first explores the ancient culture behind the rampage of rape stories that helps establish the imbalanced gender relation. The subsequent chapters follow the three distinct categories of transformations in Metamorphoses: deception, solution, and punishment, to elaborate how transformations work to aggravate the dilemma confronted by the virgins discussed. To begin with, when transformations are abused to deceive the victims, the emphasis on naturalness of primal sex desires normally exonerates the sexual offenders. Second, as the nymphs are forced to accept unpleasant transformations so as to escape the threat of rape, they are not only silenced and isolated in their dehumanized form but also objectified as possessions to their pursuers. Finally, transformations conducted by goddesses on the rape victims reveal that the sexual violators are either justifiable or excusable while the marginalized victims undergo exceptional traumatic experience both physically and psychologically. In conclusion, historically speaking, as a political tool, rapes reinforce the inferiority of females to males in classical culture; however, as human civilization progresses, such ideology is considered no longer justifiable and urgently requires re-examination and revolution which the thesis aims to achieve.

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