The Nightingale: Voice, Loss, and Crushed Wings in Costanza Casati’s Clytemnestra

What Is the Nightingale in the Novel?

In Clytemnestra by Costanza Casati, the nightingale appears as both a chapter title and a spoken image. In Chapter 12, titled “Nightingale,” Clytemnestra holds her infant son on a terrace. A tiny brown nightingale flies to them and begins to sing. Clytemnestra whispers to her baby:

“That is a nightingale. He sings for all those who do not have a voice.”

The bird is small and unremarkable in colour, but its song is powerful. This is the sole direct mention of the bird in the narrative. The next chapter is called “The Bird with Crushed Wings,” which echoes and transforms the nightingale motif.

Where the Symbol Recurs

The nightingale recurs not as a repeated object or animal but as an evolving image across two consecutive chapters:

Additionally, in Chapter 13, after the killings, Helen imagines Menelaus hitting her sister and Helen covering herself “like a bird hides under its wings.” This earlier bird imagery (Chapter 12) connects to the same protective but fragile movement. The “crushed wings” thus apply to both Clytemnestra’s unborn voice and Helen’s hidden suffering.

How the Meaning Changes

Initially, the nightingale represents voice and hope for the voiceless. Clytemnestra tells her son that the bird sings for those who cannot speak. She is showing him the beauty of giving voice to the silent—a role she herself has played for Helen, for her family, and for her own desires.

After the murder of her husband and infant son, the image of the nightingale is replaced by the “Bird with Crushed Wings.” The song is violently stopped. The wings that once allowed flight and freedom are now broken. This shift mirrors Clytemnestra’s own trajectory: from a princess and future queen who speaks her mind, to a woman stripped of her family and her voice, forced into oppressive silence within Mycenae. The symbol moves from life-affirming agency to traumatic silence.

Character Connections

• Clytemnestra: She is the speaker of the nightingale lesson. As a mother, she wants her son to know that even the smallest being can have a powerful song. Later, after his death, her own voice is crushed: she tries to kill herself, bites, and tears her clothes. The nightingale of her earlier hope is silenced.
• Her baby son: He is the audience for the nightingale story. He giggles and reaches for the bird. His murder makes the “bird with crushed wings” literal: his life is extinguished before he can find his own voice.
• Tantalus: He is present when Clytemnestra tells the baby about the nightingale. He supports her and loves their child. His death alongside the baby deepens the loss.
• Helen: In the same chapter, Helen arrives at Clytemnestra’s room, fearful of Menelaus. Later, in Chapter 13, Helen imagines herself covering like a bird under wings. The nightingale’s voice for the voiceless could extend to Helen, who is also silenced in her marriage.

Theme Connections

• Grief and Trauma: The crushed wings are the physical embodiment of Clytemnestra’s grief. She cannot sing, speak, or act after the murders. The symbol anchors her psychological wound.
• Female Agency and Power: Clytemnestra’s voice is powerful when she uses it to protect Helen and to teach her son. After the murders, her agency is crushed. The nightingale becomes a reminder of what she has lost—and later, what she will reclaim through vengeance.
• Vengeance and Justice: The silencing of the nightingale directly motivates Clytemnestra’s need for revenge. The bird’s crushed wings prefigure the violent justice she will later exact on Agamemnon.
• Sisterhood and Loyalty: The nightingale sings for all who lack a voice, which includes Helen. Clytemnestra’s loyalty to her sister is part of her role as a voice for the voiceless.
• Fate Versus Free Will: The nightingale’s song is an act of free will—it chooses to sing. But the crushing of the bird (the murder of the baby) suggests that fate or human cruelty can destroy that will. The symbol leaves open whether Clytemnestra can ever sing again.

4 Study Questions with Answers

1. In what chapter does the nightingale first appear, and who speaks about it?
The nightingale first appears in Chapter 12, titled “Nightingale.” Clytemnestra speaks to her infant son, telling him that the nightingale “sings for all those who do not have a voice.”

2. How does the title of Chapter 12 relate to the title of Chapter 13?
Chapter 12 is “Nightingale,” representing a living bird that gives voice. Chapter 13 is “The Bird with Crushed Wings,” which inverts that image. The crushed wings symbolize the death of Clytemnestra’s son and husband, and the silencing of her own voice.

3. What does Clytemnestra mean when she says the nightingale “sings for all those who do not have a voice”?
She means that the nightingale’s song serves as a voice for the voiceless—those who cannot speak for themselves. In context, it echoes her protective role for her sister Helen and her own desire to speak truth in a patriarchal world. Later, it foreshadows her own voiceless grief.

4. How does the nightingale symbol connect to the theme of grief and trauma in the novel?
The nightingale’s crushed wings become a metaphor for the violence that ends Clytemnestra’s family and her own ability to express her pain. After the murders, she is described as mad and silent, tearing at her clothes. The symbol ties her emotional and physical trauma to the loss of her voice.