Venomous Woman: Fear of the Female in LiteratureThis work demonstrates the ways in which a complex of ideas with a misogynistic basis relates to the image of the venomous woman--the woman who uses poisons or potions, who has a relationship with a venomous animal, or who is herself poisonous. Hallissy suggests that the venomous woman is an image of feminine power reflected in masculine fear. The study concentrates on periods when ignorance of the medicinal effects of poisons exaggerated the potency of this image. It examines works of literature which span a large period of time but are linked by this persistent image. Through its examination of the venomous women, it clarifies the function of misogyny as an expression of masculine fear. |
Contents
Archetypes and Stereotypes I | 1 |
Mother Eve and Other DeathDealers | 15 |
Healer and Witch | 59 |
Copyright | |
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Acrasia antidote appears Arachne Arden of Faversham Beatrice beautiful becomes behavior Bernard Bianca body Bower character Christabel Circe Cligés crime dangerous death deceive deception Deianira Duke Elsie Venner Elsie's envenomed Eugène Vinaver evil father fear female feminine Fenice Geraldine Giovanni girl Guyon Hawthorne healer hero Holmes husband influence Isabella Isolde's kill knight knows Lady Essex Lamia Leantio literature Livia Lord lover lust Lycius magic male marriage marry Medea medicine medieval Mélusine Mélusine's metaphor Middle Ages misogynistic misogyny moral Mortdant Mosby mother motif motive murder nature needs Odysseus Overbury Ovid Peter Green play plot poison poison ladies poison lore potion potion-maker Queen Isolde Rappaccini's Daughter Raymond relationship Renaissance romance seductive seductress Sejanus serpent serpent-woman sexual snake supernatural symbol tale Thessala Thomas Middleton Thorndike tradition Trans Tristan venefica venomous animal venomous woman victim weak weapon wife wine witchcraft witches Women Beware Women York young