Friday, December 5, 2014

Brittany's Blog Post #2

Echo and NarcissusJW Waterhouse, 1903
After reading Taylor’s article on the Femme Fatales in Pre-Raphaelite art that used magic as their source of power, I became very interested in where the various Femme Fatales got their power. Upon sifting through images of women that were portrayed by the Pre-Raphaelites and their followers, I noticed a trend from the beginning of the Pre-Raphaelite movement of mythological goddesses that naturally possessed power and strength.
These women yielded complete command over men, seducing them and controlling them to do what they pleased. Some take down singular mortal men (Echo, Circe), while others bring pain and suffering to the entirety of mankind (Lilith, Pandora).
Circe Offering Cup to Ulysses, JW Waterhouse, 1891
Mythological women may have been a warning to society about the amount of power that a woman should be allowed to yield. These women were free to do what they please and thus saw themselves as equals or above the status of mortal men. These women used their power for mischief and evil rater than for the good of humanity. They represent what would happen if women were given equal rights and status as men in Victorian society. This was often seen as the true nature of women, and one of the reasons that they should always be kept at a less powerful stance than men. 

Pandora, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, 1871
Lilith, John Collier, 1892
This was definitely my breakthrough in deciding what to focus on for my paper. Originally I had wanted to focus on Femme Fatales in general, but I believe focusing on the mythological versions of these powerful women is much more useful. I would like to look further into how the women that were part of the Pre-Raphaelite movement also portrayed mythological characters, and contrast those depictions with the ones created by men.


No comments:

Post a Comment