Information AboutFemme Fatale |
| CATEGORIES ABOUT FEMME FATALE | |
| stock characters | |
| french words and phrases | |
|
Mata Hari made her name synonymous with ''femme fatale'' during WWI .]] A femme fatale (plural: '''femmes fatales''') is an alluring and Seductive woman whose charms ensnare her lovers in bonds of irresistible desire, often leading them into compromising, dangerous, and deadly situations. She is an archetypal character of literature and art. The phrase is French for "deadly woman," or "fatal woman." A femme fatale tries to achieve her hidden purpose by using feminine wiles such as beauty, charm, and sexual allure. Typically, she is exceptionally well-endowed with these qualities. In some situations, she uses lying or coercion rather than charm. She may also be (or imply to be) a victim, caught in a situation from which she cannot escape; the Lady from Shanghai being one such example. Her characteristic weapon if needed, is frequently Poison , which also serves as a metaphor for her charms. Her ability to entrance and hypnotise her male victim was in the earliest stories seen as being literally supernatural, hence the most prosaic femme fatale today is still described as having an power akin to an enchantress, vampire, female monster or demon. The ideas involved are closely tied to fears of the female Witch . Although typically villainous, femmes fatales have also appeared as Antihero ines in some stories, and some even repent and become heroines by the end of the tale (see, for example, '' Bell, Book And Candle ''). In social life, the femme fatale tortures her lover in an Asymmetrical relationship, denying confirmation of her affection. She usually drives him to the point of obsession and exhaustion so that he is incapable of making rational decisions. HISTORY '', October 6 , 1946 , featuring one of the classic femme fatales, P'Gell.]] The archetype of the femme fatale has been observable, in one form or another, in the folklore and myths of nearly all cultures for centuries.Mario Praz (1951)'' The Romantic Agony'': 199. Some of the earliest examples include the Sumer ian goddess Ishtar and the Biblical Lilith , Delilah and Salome . In ancient Greek literature she is incarnated by the Sirens , the Sphinx , Scylla , Circe , Lamia (mythology) , Helen Of Troy and Clytemnestra . Alongside them stands a historical figure Cleopatra , the mighty Queen of Egypt, with her ability to charm the most powerful men of Rome . Roman propaganda used the concept of the femme fatale to attack her; the result was she was to become a legendary archetype of both the dangers and the attractions of the powerful, exotic woman. In the medieval period the idea of the dangers of female sexuality, typified by Eve , saw expression in the common figure in medieval romance, the wicked seductive enchantress, a prime example being Morgan La Fay . The Romantic period saw a new flourishing of the concept of the femme fatale in works like John Keats ' La Belle Dame Sans Merci and Lamia . Alongside this there was the rise of the Gothic Novel , The Monk featuring a particularly potent femme fatale, Matilda. This led onto her featuring in the work of Edgar Allan Poe and the female Vampire as a notable figure with Carmilla and Brides Of Dracula . The Monk was admired deeply by Marquis De Sade for whom the femme fatale was a symbol not of evil, but of what he saw as the best qualities, and his Juliette is perhaps the earliest example of a story in which the femme fatale truimphs. Pre-Raphaelite painters frequently used the femme fatale in one of her classic forms as a subject. During the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, the ''femme fatale'' became an even more fashionable Trope in Western culture and can be found in the works of the artists Edvard Munch , Gustav Klimt , Gustave Moreau and the French novelist Huysmans . In the latter's tale '' A Rebours '', we find the following feverish imaginings concerning an image of Salome depicted in a painting by Moreau: :No longer was she merely the dancing-girl who extorts a cry of lust and concupiscence from an old man by the lascivious contortions of her body; who breaks the will, masters the mind of a King by the spectacle of her quivering bosoms, heaving belly and tossing thighs; she was now revealed in a sense as the symbolic incarnation of world-old Vice, the goddess of immortal Hysteria, the Curse of Beauty supreme above all other beauties by the cataleptic spasm that stirs her flesh and steels her muscles, - a monstrous Beast of the Apocalypse, indifferent, irresponsible, insensible, poisoning. Huysmans ''A Rebours'' - quoted in Toni Bentley (2002) ''Sisters of Salome'': 24 tine In this era of Fin-de-siecle decadence Oscar Wilde re-invented this myth of Salome in his play 'Salome', but now the title character tempts her lust-crazed uncle King Herod by her enticing Dance Of The Seven Veils (Wilde's own invention) to accede to her imperious demand to 'bring me the head of John The Baptist '. Salome then became the subject of an opera by Strauss, and was popularized on stage, screen and peep-show booth in countless reincarnations.Toni Bentley (2002) ''Sisters of Salome'' Another enduring icon of female glamour, seduction and assumed moral turpitude, of the early twentieth century, was the tragic Mata Hari . An alluring oriental dancer, accused of spying and then shot by military firing squad, she embodied the archetype of the femme fatale in real life, and following her death was the subject of much fantastical imaginings and sensational films and books.Toni Bentley (2002) ''Sisters of Salome'': 85-128 , one of the great vamps of the Silent Screen. ]] As we have seen the femme fatale has long been sometimes portrayed as a sort of sexual Vampire ; her charms were thought to be able to leach the virility and independence of her lovers, leaving them shells of their former selves. Rudyard Kipling was inspired by one painting of a vampiress by Edward Burne-Jones , typical of the era in 1897 , to write his poem 'The Vampire'. Like much of Kipling's verse it was incredibly popular and its refrain "A fool there was", describing a man entrapped by female seduction, was used as the title of the popular film A Fool There Was that made Theda Bara a star, the poem being used in publicity. On this account, in earlier American Slang ''femmes fatales'' were often called "vamps", short for "vampire". According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the word is actually English in origin, first used by G. K. Chesterton , but was popularized by an American silent film called ''The Vamp,'' starring Enid Bennett From the perspective of American film audiences, the femme fatale was often seen as foreign, usually of undetermined Eastern European or Asian ancestry. She was designed as the sexual counterpoint of the wholesome actresses such as Lillian Gish and Mary Pickford . Among the notable vamps of the silent screen were Theda Bara who started the craze, Louise Glaum , Musidora , Nita Naldi , Pola Negri , and in her earliest film appearances, Myrna Loy . Following the fashion for Film Noir in the 1940s, the femme fatale flourished in Pop Culture . One of the most famous femme fatales, and one credited with propelling the archetype to prominence, was 1946 's '' Gilda ''. Rita Hayworth played the title character, who uses her sexual allure to manipulate both her husband and his best friend. Other examples are visible in Espionage Thriller s, and in a number of Adventure Comic Strips , such as '' The Spirit '' by Will Eisner , or '' Terry And The Pirates '' by Milton Caniff . In more recent times she remains a key figure in films like Fatal Attraction and Basic Instinct A classic portrayal of a ''femme fatale'' can be seen in Justine's character in Lawrence Durrell 's Alexandria Quartet . In Opera , the femme fatale is usually played by a Dramatic Mezzo-soprano . More often in Musical Theater , the femme fatale is played by an Alto . The femme fatale is sometimes the Foil or the enemy of the Ingenue or the Damsel In Distress . Although often depicted in ancient texts as a symbol of corruption and used to justify Misogyny , in more recent times the femme fatale is often portrayed in fiction as a symbol of free will for women and unrestrained passion. In modern media, the femme fatale archetype has survived, though often as the anti-heroine or even the heroine. Examples are seen in the films '' Nikita '' and '' Moulin Rouge! '', and a number of assorted media from Video Games to comic books. '' Elektra '', a character from the Marvel Comics universe, Catwoman from the various '' Batman '' stories or EVA from '' Metal Gear Solid 3 '', have all been described as femmes fatales. The female Ninja (the Kunoichi ) depicted in media is legendary for being trained in sexual allure as well as martial arts. The television show '' Desperate Housewives '' depicts female characters using sexual allure to get what they want. Additionally, there is a song by The Velvet Underground named "Femme Fatale" on The Velvet Underground And Nico . A hideous type of "Femme Fatale" is seen in these two contemporary poems: A rabid macabre surreal nightmarish "Femme Fatale" is seen Vespiary: femme fatales ; A voracious vampiristic Gothic "Femme Fatale" is seen in La belle dames sans merci: HOMMES FATALS Male characters who may play a "fatale" role include Don Juan , Heathcliff from '' Wuthering Heights '', many of the heroes in Lord Byron's books (termed the " Byronic Hero "), as well as such diverse characters as Billy Budd , Count Dracula , Tadzio in '' Death In Venice '', Harthouse in Charles Dickens ' Hard Times , Georges Querelle in Jean Genet 's '' Querelle Of Brest '', James Bond , and Tom Ripley in Patricia Highsmith 's "Ripley" novels.Mario Praz (1951) ''The Romantic Agony'': 53-95 There is a psychoanalytic poem where the father is the "Homme Fatale" Arachnids: homme fatales REFERENCES BIBLIOGRAPHY
SEE ALSO
EXTERNAL LINKS
|
|
|