Wicked Women and The Yellow Book
Eos Evite
Ryerson University
2240
|
The Yellow Book and the Late-Victorian Period
In April 1894, Henry Harland and Aubrey Beardsley released a magazine called The Yellow Book, published under The Bodley Head (Kooistra). Unlike other magazines, however, The Yellow Book was more similar to a hardbound novel. Each volume had more than 200 pages of different kinds of literature and art. The collection of works from relevant writers and artists and its distinct yellow cover made the publication popular and recognizable. The magazine also included works that reflect the culture it is published in, like George Egerton's 'New Woman' fiction (Pykett). In the late 1890s, raw ideas of feminism began to emerge, and these ideas diverted from the established role of women. The goal of this exhibit is to analyze and situate the women represented in Henry R. Rheam’s “Merlin and Vivien” from Volume 7 and Vernon Lee’s “Prince Alberic and the Snake Lady” from Volume 10. Both works offer a version of a femme fatale, and this exhibit intends to analyze their character as examples of the convention. Henry Rheam’s Vivien matches the convention of the femme fatale, while Vernon Lee’s Snake Lady challenges it. |
The Yellow Book: An Illustrated Quarterly, Volume 10 July 1896
London, UK: The Bodley Head
|
The Femme Fatale in Victorian 1890s
During the Victorian period, the middle-class woman is idealized in her function as a wife and mother (Pykett 12). As a woman, she is expected to be moral and pure to achieve her goal of becoming the domesticated partner of the male labourer. Pykett contends this concept of womanhood as a fabrication of society dominated by men (158). A woman's role was the distinct opposite of a man's, and her ideal character was established as pure and submissive.
In keeping with the ideals, female sexuality is repressed, and femininity is associated with sexual purity and virginity. Expressions of sexual passion from a woman is deemed improper, and likened to a witch, seductress, or temptress—the feminine form of the villain. In literature, women who actively seduce a man are corrupt beings, and usually depicted as something from the supernatural realm. They are equated to fairies, witches, and sirens (Stott 200). The idea of a woman expressing her sexuality is mystical that she is represented as not fully human.
The femme fatale is not to be mistaken as the ‘New Woman’, another concept of the female popular in the late-Victorian period. ‘New Woman’ advocates argue for the equality of the genders. They also want power in society, however sexuality is not a tool in their battle for power. The two women have some similarities, but they are different concepts. This exhibit focuses on the femme fatale, as it is depicted in The Yellow Book.
The Yellow Book actively participated on current cultural movements, such as the emergence of feminism and 'New Woman' fiction, through the art and literature it has published in its thirteen volumes. The femme fatale manifested as a convention in fiction, and it illustrates the societal fears of the independent woman's attack on a patriarchal society. The two characters that this exhibit will examine are Vivien, from “Merlin and Vivien” by Henry R. Rheam, and Oriana, from “Prince Alberic and the Snake Lady” by Vernon Lee. These two women are the villains of their respective stories, and both were associated with witches and fairies. This exhibit aims to analyze both women as femme fatales and determine if they truly are examples of the dangerous female character.
During the Victorian period, the middle-class woman is idealized in her function as a wife and mother (Pykett 12). As a woman, she is expected to be moral and pure to achieve her goal of becoming the domesticated partner of the male labourer. Pykett contends this concept of womanhood as a fabrication of society dominated by men (158). A woman's role was the distinct opposite of a man's, and her ideal character was established as pure and submissive.
In keeping with the ideals, female sexuality is repressed, and femininity is associated with sexual purity and virginity. Expressions of sexual passion from a woman is deemed improper, and likened to a witch, seductress, or temptress—the feminine form of the villain. In literature, women who actively seduce a man are corrupt beings, and usually depicted as something from the supernatural realm. They are equated to fairies, witches, and sirens (Stott 200). The idea of a woman expressing her sexuality is mystical that she is represented as not fully human.
The femme fatale is not to be mistaken as the ‘New Woman’, another concept of the female popular in the late-Victorian period. ‘New Woman’ advocates argue for the equality of the genders. They also want power in society, however sexuality is not a tool in their battle for power. The two women have some similarities, but they are different concepts. This exhibit focuses on the femme fatale, as it is depicted in The Yellow Book.
The Yellow Book actively participated on current cultural movements, such as the emergence of feminism and 'New Woman' fiction, through the art and literature it has published in its thirteen volumes. The femme fatale manifested as a convention in fiction, and it illustrates the societal fears of the independent woman's attack on a patriarchal society. The two characters that this exhibit will examine are Vivien, from “Merlin and Vivien” by Henry R. Rheam, and Oriana, from “Prince Alberic and the Snake Lady” by Vernon Lee. These two women are the villains of their respective stories, and both were associated with witches and fairies. This exhibit aims to analyze both women as femme fatales and determine if they truly are examples of the dangerous female character.
Wicked Women and The Yellow Book
Eos Evite
Ryerson University
2241
|
"Merlin and Vivien"
by Henry R. Rheam
|
The Faerie Seduction
Henry R. Rheam was a British painter who practised in watercolour and the Pre-Raphaelite style. He was associated with the Newlyn School of Cornwall, a group of artists popular in England during the late-Victorian period (“The Yellow Book: Introduction to Volume 7 (October 1895)”). In October 1895, The Yellow Book featured Rheam’s “Merlin and Vivien” along with other art by other Newlyn School artists. Although Rheam painted in watercolour, his art in The Yellow Book was reproduced in black and white, just like most of the images from the magazine. The image offers a good amount of detail despite its lack of colour. Rheam’s image is of a woman drawn sitting on a rock and looking directly at the audience. The woman is Vivien, a mage from Arthurian legend. A hand is drawn reaching out from under the same rock Vivien is sitting on, and from the grey hair of this secondary character, this is Merlin, the legendary wizard from the same legend. Recalling Lord Tennyson’s poem “Merlin and Vivien” from the Idylls of the King helps to examine the image further. Tennyson wrote the poem sometime in 1859, and described Vivien as successfully seducing Merlin into an eternal trap. She voices her love and devotion for the powerful wizard: "In Love, if Love be Love, if Love be ours,/ Faith and unfaith can ne'er be equal powers:/ Unfaith in aught is want of faith in all/… O Master, do ye love my tender rhyme?" (Tennyson) and lures him in her trap. Vivien feigns love for Merlin, and praises him by referring to him as “Master”. It presents the gender dynamic of the period, and man’s superiority over woman. |
Vivien directly gazing at the viewer portrays her boldness and the look on her face implies triumph. The image does not show how Vivien succeeded, but Tennyson’s poem details how she followed the wizard into the forest, challenged his intellect with riddles, and seduced him with her love (Tennyson). Her prize was a spell that only Merlin knew—a spell that can bind him for eternity—and Rheam's illustration portrays Merlin's defeat (Tennyson). Merlin is representative of the old English patriarchal tradition—he was the wizard who helped Arthur become the legendary king he was destined to be. Vivien’s triumph depicts man’s fear of defeat by a woman, through her seduction, flattery and exploitation of man’s weakness. But Vivien is not just "a woman", she is an established character in Arthurian legend. The reference to cultural context is buried in the illustration
Victorians are not strangers to fairy lore, and Silver argues that Victorians were fascinated by fairies (4). Using fairy lore to portray this fear eases the viewer into its cultural relevance. Rheam explores fairy lore at the same time that he present the relevance of the femme fatale in Vivien.
Vivien is remembered as a villain because of this. Possessing cunning and ambition is not for a woman. Convicting Vivien as a villain is the patriarchal society's disapproval of assertiveness in a woman because her characteristics are antagonistic. In Rheam’s illustration of Vivien’s triumph, she seems to be delighted—probably almost in a frenzy, as she revels in the moment. Her victory relied on the defeat of an existing power. Rheam shows the Victorian patriarchal society's fear of being overthrown by the growing female power.
Victorians are not strangers to fairy lore, and Silver argues that Victorians were fascinated by fairies (4). Using fairy lore to portray this fear eases the viewer into its cultural relevance. Rheam explores fairy lore at the same time that he present the relevance of the femme fatale in Vivien.
Vivien is remembered as a villain because of this. Possessing cunning and ambition is not for a woman. Convicting Vivien as a villain is the patriarchal society's disapproval of assertiveness in a woman because her characteristics are antagonistic. In Rheam’s illustration of Vivien’s triumph, she seems to be delighted—probably almost in a frenzy, as she revels in the moment. Her victory relied on the defeat of an existing power. Rheam shows the Victorian patriarchal society's fear of being overthrown by the growing female power.
Wicked Women and The Yellow Book
Eos Evite
Ryerson University
2242
|
The Fatal Fairy Godmother
In contrast to Rheam’s Vivien, this exhibit samples Vernon Lee’s Snake Lady, Oriana. Oriana was introduced as a nobleman’s beautiful female companion, whose image on a tapestry mesmerizes a young prince. Oriana represents many things in the text, much like the tapestry containing her image. Oriana personifies freedom, the mythical, and the femme fatale, all together in her existence as a fairy. The lengthy short story showed Vernon Lee's gothic and decadent style, and her depiction of an oppressed female successfully divert from the femme fatale convention. Vernon Lee was the pseudonym of Violet Paget, and she was a popular gothic and decadent writer during the Victorian period (Maxwell & Pulham). Her short story “Prince Alberic and the Snake Lady” was her only contribution to The Yellow Book. Maxwell and Pulham argue that the story was Lee’s expression of her sympathy towards the unfortunate events surrounding Oscar Wilde. “Prince Alberic and the Snake Lady” was one of the longest literary pieces published by the magazine ("The Yellow Book: Introduction to Volume 10 (July 1896)”). Her style was apparent in the thirteen chapters she wrote, borrowing aspects of Christianity and mythology to contrast the real and supernatural in its world. The story is consistent with Vernon Lee’s gothic style of presenting mysterious portraits and femme fatales (Margree & Randall 230). The tapestry in young Alberic’s chambers had him wondering about the history of his ancestor and his beautiful female companion. The revelation of her full form in the tapestry invited even more questions, that the Lee does not answer until the sixth chapter. Displaying Oriana as a snake, a predatory animal, aligns with the femme fatale stereotype. |
Vernon Lee
by John Singer Sargent
|
The title of the short story misleads the reader to the character of Oriana. Vernon Lee does not portray Oriana as a villain, however the other older male characters in the story do. The priest, who the young Alberic asks about the story about the first Prince Alberic and Oriana, describes Oriana as a villain. Oriana is associated with the supernatural for most of the story. Her peculiarity as a fairy, cursed in snake-form, sets her existence as a villain. Lee mentions early in the story that Duke Balthasar Maria, young Alberic’s grandfather and guardian, even associates snakes with the devil, thus his decision to take the tapestry down (Lee 290). In Lee’s story, the highest patriarchal authority is depicted against the only active female character, both directly and indirectly.
When young Alberic is exiled to a farmer's home, he befriends a grass snake and meets his fairy godmother. The snake and the fairy are never shown together. From the priest's tale of Alberic the Blond and Oriana, the reader assumes the snake and the fairy are the same being in two different forms. Despite the negative connotations about snakes and fairies, Lee shows Oriana as Alberic's benevolent caregiver. She gives him clothes, books and horses before the Jester, Jesuit and Dwarf can exploit him with these gifts (Lee 311). The priest refers to Oriana as a "witch" and "fairy" in his tale almost interchangeably, depicting how the culture understands magic and the supernatural as one and the same, and also calling her "demon" shames her status as a witch or fairy (Lee 323). Oriana was released from imprisonment after asking for a kiss. Women are not expected to request sexual contact from men, and Oriana breaks from the norm. Also, the curse on Oriana can only be fully broken by a faithful lover, whom young Alberic's ancestors failed to be (Lee 324).
Breaking curses in older fairy tales, like of "The Frog Prince", only required a kiss from a princess. Lee's choice of requesting ten years of faithfulness from a man criticizes the gender issues in the nineteenth century. Oriana's last hope was in young Alberic, who has been loyal to the lady for almost ten years, but she is killed by the older men when young Alberic was sick and unable to protect her. The Jester, the Jesuit and the Dwarf success in destroying the forbidden love between the Prince and Oriana, and the tale ends draws in the conquest of man over woman. It shows the opposite of Rheam's illustration, but it is still a successful criticism of the gender politics of the society.
Lee imposed many cultural criticisms in her short story. Some critics even argue that Prince Alberic's forbidden relationship with Oriana is a reference to Oscar Wilde and Lord Alfred Douglas (Stetz). Nonetheless, Lee attacks the then-current patriarchal society in "Prince Alberic and the Snake Lady". She contradicts that women with agency can still be tame and harmless. Oriana was not seducing anyone from Alberic's family to overthrow the Duchy. She merely wanted to be released from her curse.
When young Alberic is exiled to a farmer's home, he befriends a grass snake and meets his fairy godmother. The snake and the fairy are never shown together. From the priest's tale of Alberic the Blond and Oriana, the reader assumes the snake and the fairy are the same being in two different forms. Despite the negative connotations about snakes and fairies, Lee shows Oriana as Alberic's benevolent caregiver. She gives him clothes, books and horses before the Jester, Jesuit and Dwarf can exploit him with these gifts (Lee 311). The priest refers to Oriana as a "witch" and "fairy" in his tale almost interchangeably, depicting how the culture understands magic and the supernatural as one and the same, and also calling her "demon" shames her status as a witch or fairy (Lee 323). Oriana was released from imprisonment after asking for a kiss. Women are not expected to request sexual contact from men, and Oriana breaks from the norm. Also, the curse on Oriana can only be fully broken by a faithful lover, whom young Alberic's ancestors failed to be (Lee 324).
Breaking curses in older fairy tales, like of "The Frog Prince", only required a kiss from a princess. Lee's choice of requesting ten years of faithfulness from a man criticizes the gender issues in the nineteenth century. Oriana's last hope was in young Alberic, who has been loyal to the lady for almost ten years, but she is killed by the older men when young Alberic was sick and unable to protect her. The Jester, the Jesuit and the Dwarf success in destroying the forbidden love between the Prince and Oriana, and the tale ends draws in the conquest of man over woman. It shows the opposite of Rheam's illustration, but it is still a successful criticism of the gender politics of the society.
Lee imposed many cultural criticisms in her short story. Some critics even argue that Prince Alberic's forbidden relationship with Oriana is a reference to Oscar Wilde and Lord Alfred Douglas (Stetz). Nonetheless, Lee attacks the then-current patriarchal society in "Prince Alberic and the Snake Lady". She contradicts that women with agency can still be tame and harmless. Oriana was not seducing anyone from Alberic's family to overthrow the Duchy. She merely wanted to be released from her curse.
Wicked Women and The Yellow Book
Eos Evite
Ryerson University
2414
|
The Yellow Book, Prospectus Vol I
by Aubrey Beardsley
|
Femme Fatale vs. New Woman
Vivien from Henry R. Rheam’s “Merlin and Vivien” and Oriana from Vernon Lee’s “Prince Alberic and the Snake Lady”, however similar, portray two different women in the fin de siécle. Both women begin as manifestations of the wicked femme fatale, but further analysis shows that Rheam’s Vivien is a closer example, while Lee's Oriana contests the stereotype. The two women are shamed for their sexual expression because they do not conform with societal standards, and Oriana, however defeated, succeeds in criticizing patriarchal double-standards. The inclusion of these two works in The Yellow Book documents the magazine’s participation in the discourse of gender in the 1890s, yet neither are examples of the period’s “New Woman”. It shows the difference between the femme fatale and the “New Woman”, and however similar they may seem, they are not equivalents of each other. Rheam’s Vivien is an example of the femme fatale, driven by pride and working through seduction, while Lee’s Oriana is much closer to a “New Woman” attempting to relieve herself of the curse and live freely in human form. Both women are victims of a dominantly male society, who retold their histories and portrayed them as villains. Their presentation in The Yellow Book in the context of late-Victorian female sexuality offers the possibility of having different female roles emerging through development of modernity. It also presents The Yellow Book as an avant-garde publication curating culturally-relevant issues in its literature and art. |
Copyright
Images in this online exhibit are either in the public domain or being used under fair dealing for the purpose of research and are provided solely for the purposes of research, private study, or education.
Images in this online exhibit are either in the public domain or being used under fair dealing for the purpose of research and are provided solely for the purposes of research, private study, or education.
Wicked Women and The Yellow Book
Eos Evite
Ryerson University
2293
Works Cited & References
Denisoff, Dennis and Lorraine Janzen Kooistra. "The Yellow Book: Introduction to Volume 7 (October 1895)." The Yellow Nineties Online. Ed. Dennis Denisoff and Lorraine Janzen Kooistra. Ryerson University, 2012. Web. 05 November 2015.
Denisoff, Dennis and Lorraine Janzen Kooistra. "The Yellow Book: Introduction to Volume 10 (July 1896)." The Yellow Nineties Online. Ed. Dennis Denisoff and Lorraine Janzen Kooistra. Ryerson University, 2013. Web. 05 November 2015.
Kooistra, Lorraine Janzen. "The Yellow Book(1894-1897): An Overview." The Yellow Nineties Online. Ed. Dennis Denisoff and Lorraine Janzen Kooistra. Ryerson University, 2012. Web. 05 November 2015.
Lee, Vernon. "Prince Alberic and the Snake Lady." The Yellow Book 10 (July 1896): 289-344. The Yellow Nineties Online. Ed. Dennis Denisoff and Lorraine Janzen Kooistra. Ryerson University, 2013. Web. 04 November 2015.
Margree, Victoria, and Bryony Randall. “Fin-de-siècle Gothic”. Victorian Gothic: An Edinburgh Companion. Eds. Andrew Smith and William Hughes. Edinburgh, GBR: Edinburgh University Press, 2012. ProQuest ebrary. Web. 28 October 2015.
Maxwell, Catherine and Patricia Pulham. "Introduction". Vernon Lee: Decadence, Ethics, Aesthetics. Eds. Catherine Maxwell and Patricia Pulham. New York, NY:Palgrave MacMillan, 2006. 1-20. Print.
Patton, Lucy Allen. “Niniane and Merlin”. Studies in the Fairy Mythology of Arthurian Romance. New York, NY: Burt Franklin, 1960. Print.
Pykett, Lyn. The Women's Sensation Novel and the New Woman Writing. New York, NY: Routledge, 1992. Print.
Reed, John R. “Women”. Victorian Conventions. Athens, OH: Ohio University Press, 1975. 34-78. Print.
Rheam, Henry R. "Merlin and Vivien." The Yellow Book 7 (October 1895): 25. The Yellow Nineties Online. Ed. Dennis Denisoff and Lorraine Janzen Kooistra. Ryerson University, 2011. Web. 04 November 2015.
Silver, Carole G. Strange and Secret Peoples: Fairies and Victorian Consciousness. Cary, NC: Oxford University Press, 2000. ProQuest ebrary. Web. 26 October 2015.
Stetz, Margaret. "The Snake Lady and the Bruised Bodley Head: Vernon Lee and Oscar Wilde in The Yellow Book". Vernon Lee: Decadence, Ethics, Aesthetics. Eds. Catherine Maxwell and Patricia Pulham. New York, NY:Palgrave MacMillan, 2006. 112-122. Print.
Stott, Rebecca. The Fabrication of the Late-Victorian Femme Fatale: The Kiss of Death. London: MacMillan Press, 1992. Print.
Tennyson, Alfred. “Merlin and Vivien”. The Complete Poetical Works of Tennyson. Cambridge ed. Ed. W. J. Rolfe. Boston, 1898. Hathitrust Digital Library. Web. 26 October 2015.
Zipes, Jack. "Witch as a Fairy/Fairy as a Witch: Unfathomable Baba Yagas", "Tales of Innocent Persecuted Heroines and Their Neglected Female Storytellers and Collectors". Irresistible Fairy Tale: The Cultural and Social History of a Genre. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2012. 55-108. Ebook Library. Web. 16 November 2015.
Denisoff, Dennis and Lorraine Janzen Kooistra. "The Yellow Book: Introduction to Volume 7 (October 1895)." The Yellow Nineties Online. Ed. Dennis Denisoff and Lorraine Janzen Kooistra. Ryerson University, 2012. Web. 05 November 2015.
Denisoff, Dennis and Lorraine Janzen Kooistra. "The Yellow Book: Introduction to Volume 10 (July 1896)." The Yellow Nineties Online. Ed. Dennis Denisoff and Lorraine Janzen Kooistra. Ryerson University, 2013. Web. 05 November 2015.
Kooistra, Lorraine Janzen. "The Yellow Book(1894-1897): An Overview." The Yellow Nineties Online. Ed. Dennis Denisoff and Lorraine Janzen Kooistra. Ryerson University, 2012. Web. 05 November 2015.
Lee, Vernon. "Prince Alberic and the Snake Lady." The Yellow Book 10 (July 1896): 289-344. The Yellow Nineties Online. Ed. Dennis Denisoff and Lorraine Janzen Kooistra. Ryerson University, 2013. Web. 04 November 2015.
Margree, Victoria, and Bryony Randall. “Fin-de-siècle Gothic”. Victorian Gothic: An Edinburgh Companion. Eds. Andrew Smith and William Hughes. Edinburgh, GBR: Edinburgh University Press, 2012. ProQuest ebrary. Web. 28 October 2015.
Maxwell, Catherine and Patricia Pulham. "Introduction". Vernon Lee: Decadence, Ethics, Aesthetics. Eds. Catherine Maxwell and Patricia Pulham. New York, NY:Palgrave MacMillan, 2006. 1-20. Print.
Patton, Lucy Allen. “Niniane and Merlin”. Studies in the Fairy Mythology of Arthurian Romance. New York, NY: Burt Franklin, 1960. Print.
Pykett, Lyn. The Women's Sensation Novel and the New Woman Writing. New York, NY: Routledge, 1992. Print.
Reed, John R. “Women”. Victorian Conventions. Athens, OH: Ohio University Press, 1975. 34-78. Print.
Rheam, Henry R. "Merlin and Vivien." The Yellow Book 7 (October 1895): 25. The Yellow Nineties Online. Ed. Dennis Denisoff and Lorraine Janzen Kooistra. Ryerson University, 2011. Web. 04 November 2015.
Silver, Carole G. Strange and Secret Peoples: Fairies and Victorian Consciousness. Cary, NC: Oxford University Press, 2000. ProQuest ebrary. Web. 26 October 2015.
Stetz, Margaret. "The Snake Lady and the Bruised Bodley Head: Vernon Lee and Oscar Wilde in The Yellow Book". Vernon Lee: Decadence, Ethics, Aesthetics. Eds. Catherine Maxwell and Patricia Pulham. New York, NY:Palgrave MacMillan, 2006. 112-122. Print.
Stott, Rebecca. The Fabrication of the Late-Victorian Femme Fatale: The Kiss of Death. London: MacMillan Press, 1992. Print.
Tennyson, Alfred. “Merlin and Vivien”. The Complete Poetical Works of Tennyson. Cambridge ed. Ed. W. J. Rolfe. Boston, 1898. Hathitrust Digital Library. Web. 26 October 2015.
Zipes, Jack. "Witch as a Fairy/Fairy as a Witch: Unfathomable Baba Yagas", "Tales of Innocent Persecuted Heroines and Their Neglected Female Storytellers and Collectors". Irresistible Fairy Tale: The Cultural and Social History of a Genre. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2012. 55-108. Ebook Library. Web. 16 November 2015.