Feminist Interpretations
Light and dark female rivals, Helen and Queen Meriamun, both cause men’s deaths; Odysseus is “beguiled” by the snake of Meriamun, as was Eve, and the Argive Helen dwells with death, yet she is “beauty’s self.” These characters represent abstractions, rather than individuals. The hero is the ideal to which the reader is meant to aspire, but Haggard and Lane fuse together in their depiction of the fierce Meriamun. Meriamun is an embodiment of the independent New Woman they strongly disliked, however they cannot help their attachment to the character.
Read more about this topic: The World's Desire
Famous quotes containing the word feminist:
“Women have been taught that, for us, the earth is flat, and that if we venture out, we will fall off the edge. Some of us have ventured out nevertheless, and so far we have not fallen off. It is my faith, my feminist faith, that we will not.”
—Andrea Dworkin (b. 1946)