Have you ever been in a situation where you had something horrible happen in
your life that you needed to do something about, but in order to do something
about it, you had to confront the problem and that caused you pain and more
troubles? I believe that to be the underlying conflict in Adrienne Rich’s
“Rape”. The main character who the speaker is talking to first is a woman
who has been sexually violated. She is a victim of a heinous and very private,
embarrassing crime. The officer that she has reported her situation to is a
policeman who patrols her area and who her family knows and trust. Her family is
very close to this officer, for “he comes from your block, grew up with your
brothers.(2)” She doesn’t know him that well though, which makes her telling
him about the incident that much more painful and uncomfortable. She gives him
all the details of the crime and about her assailant. She has the idea that the
cop may have been her rapist. The woman has a certain bit of suspicion about the
officer, but she is not sure. “Rape” is a poem about a woman who is
reporting a case of rape to a policeman who may just be the criminal responsible
for the offense himself. The violated woman isn’t convinced that the policeman
is the rapist, but the speaker defiantly suspects him. The rape victim knows
very little about the criminal in question, so the speaker tells the reader
about the incident, the evidence, and about enough facts to let them come up
with there own suspect. The first statement made by the speaker is “There is a
cop who is both prowler and father.(1)” When he says “prowler” the reader
automatically considers the officer to be a suspect, even before any background
is given on him. This is a very important line in the poem. It expresses that
the policeman is both a prowler and a father figure. He is suppose to be an ally
against crime and problems on his beat. The role of a policeman is to protect
the innocent from criminals and evils. But who protects you when officers of the
law are corrupt and are involved in unlawful actions? There is also another line
in this paragraph that the reader could interpret to be incriminating. The
speaker says the “You hardly know him in his boots and silver badge, on
horseback, one hand touching his gun.(4-5)” Since she doesn’t know him that
well anyway, maybe instead of seeing him as an officer of the law, she sees him
as her assailant. The middle few stanza get a little more confusing. The second
stanza tells of how intimidating and powerful the policeman is. The third stanza
is where the woman takes her problems and concerns to the officer. The forth
stanza is quite intriguing. It starts off with a description the cop’s eyes, a
very soothing image. Its the last verse of this stanza that takes a turn of
suspicion against the officer. The thought of the “the hysteria in your voice
pleases him best(20)” makes the reader believe that he is the rapist, a person
who would enjoy such a thing. The last stanza contains some good closing
thoughts. It is also interesting because it sounds like the speaker changes who
he is addressing. This is obvious in the first line of this stanza when the
speaker says “He has access to the machinery that could get you put
away.(26)” The woman wouldn’t get put away, for she hasn’t done anything
wrong. The speaker is now talking to the rapist. The speaker later talks about
what the rapist says as being “like a portrait of your confessor.(29)” In
these latter moments of this poem, maybe the woman is unsure of who violated
her. “Rape”, by Adrienne Rich, is a poem about a woman who was violated. At
first the reader suspects the policeman as her rapist, then it seems like she
suspects someone else. After writing this paper, I come up with another possible
theory. I believe that no one she knows is her rapist, she just sees all males
as possible rapist and feels scared and threatened by them.