His very medium of stone seems to disappear under his hands. There is a certain concern that the flesh might be cut or even bruised. The delicateness masking the sheer masculine power carves a perfect divide between man vs. woman in his Apollo and Daphne.
The comfort found in Daphne's pending escape is absent in his Rape of Proserpina. Bernini seems to have captured the moment a respectable film maker would cut the scene (even if only to preserve an R rating).
Through complex staging of the characters, unlike Michelangelo, Bernini implies the presence of the evil serpent. The draping of fabric, almost gleams like the reptilian scales of the monster. He is there to witness the heinous crime of rape. Pluto's wisps of hair, the tongue tasting the rancid air finding sweat, fear, and desperation.
The effective absence of the serpent only strengthens the realism that has been breathed into the mythology. It depicts the moment of capture, with Pluto's hands dug deep into her side. Proserpina seems fearful, yet her face also holds a bracing acceptance of the inevitable -
she will be raped; she will be taken away; her freedom has already been lost.
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