Vernon Lee’s Dionea (1890) draws interesting connections to the more modern novel Beloved by Toni Morrison published in 1987. I believe that texts expose the fascination with the “evil” supernatural appearing as young women that are overly sexual and malicious beyond their physical appearance.
While both are written in different time centuries, the main parallel is drawn when a supernatural force in the form of girl has appeared to wreak havoc on the unsuspecting adults. Throughout the novel Dionea was described in an animalistic way with her “raising her head with that smile like the twist of a young snake” and having lips like “a tiny snake’s curves” (pg 11 & 13). In seeing the comparison between Dionea and a snake it suggests that her humanity isn’t acknowledged in the male narrator’s perspective. It serves as a way to make Dionea seem creepy yet sexual by describing her physical features like a snake’s “curves.” This connects to the description of Beloved in Toni Morrison’s novel who makes home feel “spiteful. Full of a baby’s venom” (Chapter 1). We can see that the narrative of vengeful girls is something that continues from the 1800s well into the 1900s. The same language of comparing them to snakes reveals their slimier motivations that goes beyond the unsuspecting appearance of a young girls.
Dionea and Beloved motivations are made visible in the way that they haunt and terrorize males throughout the novel. Dionea was described as having multiple occurrences of violence towards males. One notable incident was the death of Sor Agostino who was hit by lightning and “was killed on the spot; and opposite, not twenty paces off, drawing water from the well, unhurt and calm, was Dionea” (pg 14). The convenient placing of Dionea in a Sor Agostino’s death paints her out as a murderous girl who appears innocent and “calm” to the unsuspecting eye yet, the narrator is shaken by these constant unnatural actions of Dionea. This evil and unusual girl archetype is present in Beloved when Paul D, who’s Beloved mother’s lover, falls prey to Beloved schemes when she torments him into sleeping in the cellar and commands that he “touch on the inside part and call me my name” (chapter 11). In this instance, while she’s not outrightly violent like Dionea, Beloved fulfills her deeper desires which was to overtake Paul D and drives him into isolation to complete this plot. Similarly, to Dionea killing Sor Agostino in a more secluded area.
Therefore, the connection between these two texts over 100 years apart depicts the popularity of the supernatural semi-sexual young woman horror stories which intrigues the imaginations of readers.
This was a great blog post on Dionea. I could not help but relate it to Sibly Vane who was made out to look like the perpetrator and not a victim. Sibyl’s emotions and love were too much for Dorian to handle after one disappointment. He saw her differently, now he believes Sibly has deceived her. Even in her death, he cannot bring himself to feel any emotions for her as he now sees it as an annoyance. Although Dorian is not killed and instead Sibly is, she still holds similar traits of being a young girl who was sexualized for her appearance whose life ended in horror.
This is a really thoughtful blog post. When I was reading Dionea myself I was thinking about how common it is in literature from this time period to villianize women through these supernatural elements, and I wonder why authors or male narrators choose to use the supernatural as a means to create fear or express anger or dislike towards women. I feel it could have something to do with the ambiguity of women during this time period, there isn’t a lot of emphasis on learning about the biologies of women like there are of men and that uncertainty works with the uncertainty of the supernatural, which I think is what you’re getting at here, really interesting!
Love Toni Morrison! So glad you brought this up! Although I have not read Beloved by Morrison, I have read Song of Solomon, which also has supernatural and biblical elements.
Your point about vengeful female characters in both the 1800s and 1900s is interesting. I think it’s important to take into account the female author perspective as well as a New Historicist look at both the text and author. I think Lee and Morrison wrote these characters with purpose to reflect the injustices on women, which is why they are seen as vengeful and evil. Another comment brings up villainizing women through supernatural elements which I completely see and agree with. Again, I’ve not read beloved, but I think Dionea’s actions were justified.
This is a really interesting close reading. Something else you mention is the description of Dionea’s lips or mouth. We can make a connection between this short story, and Dracula with this in mind. Stoker repeatedly describes the female characters, and Dracula, by their lips or mouth. In both stories the feeling that something isn’t quite right about a specific character can relate back to the description of their mouths. Perhaps, we can consider this a critical aspect of the uncanny.