Author: Ophelia-Wilde

During the Victorian Era, there is a common misconception, or notion, that they were prudish and unable to talk about sex or lust. This is then directly juxtaposed by Christina Rossetti in her poem “In an Artist’s Studio”. With an omnipresent narrator, they (the narrator) have a bird’s eye view of a male artist painting the name woman, over and over in various dresses and poses. And in that, he lusts over his subject of the painting “feeding” on her face while she looks with “kind eyes”.

In “In an Artist’s Studio”, about three quarters down the stanza, Rossetti writes “He feeds upon her face by day and night, /And she with true kind eyes looks back on him,/Fair as the moon and joyful as the light…Not as she is, but as she fills his dream”. Rossetti’s strong start to the sentence, “feed”, immediately draws the reader in and depicts an almost animalistic view the painter has on his subject. By “feeding upon her face” he (the artist) acts like an animal on prey, like a lion and a zebra. The woman is then painted as having “true kind eyes” insinuating that no matter what he does to her, or how he views her, she is forever painted as present and enjoying him and what he does. By following her facial depiction with a comparison of her body as “fair as the moon”, her pale body insinuates the purity and undisturbed body Victorian Women were almost required to have. The male artist also paints her as “joyful” without “waiting” or “sorrow”; he paints her as always happy and willing to observe whatever it is he does, as she “fills his dreams”.

This poem is written by Christina Rossetti about her brothers (Dante Gabriel Rossetti) infatuation with his wife Elizabeth Siddal, who is the woman posing in “Ophelia”. And although “Ophelia” is painted by Sir John Everett Millais, not Dante, the fact she (Christina) is able to write an entire poem on her brother’s sexual desire for his wife is quite strange, and unsettling. In the painting “Ophelia” she is painted as a woman in water surrounded by flowers, green trees, and sunlight. Her skin is pale with a white dress embroidered in gold, looking up almost dazed. Like the woman in “In an Artist’s Studio” “Ophelia” is depicting the perfect Victorian woman. Her eyes are “kind” her skin is “fair as the moon” and although she may not have filled the artists dreams, she certainly was the main focus of Dante, the artist in the poem. Both of these pieces of art, the poem and painting, show the picture-perfect Victorian Woman, of sensuality and desire without having a say in what they believe. The animalistic behavior both portrayed in the poem as well as the painting show the way in which women were treated, as objects of desire instead of a sentient being.

Count Fosco, as discussed in class, is a sleazy, grimy, Robert-California-esk character. In “Sugar” by Laura Eastlake, she describes Count Fosco as “both unmasculine and distinctly un-British” using his child-like approach to sugar to cover for his commanding attitude and mesmerism over many of the characters. She then goes on to contradict herself stating that “sugar and chocolate were proffered as fuel for masculine performance, from the physical endurance” and sugar was a “masculine endeavor whether physical, commercial, or imperial” which directly followed her description of The Count. By contradicting herself, she is now stating that chocolate and sweets are both childlike as they offer a sense of wonderment, but mainly because they help the physical being of a man. And by following up Count Fusco’s reading, it almost feels like she is describing him as childlike but also a man with power, who knows how to use his childlike innocence to get what he wants.

To then circle back to Count Fosco (ew), he is described as the man who could “tame anything” and has a “rod of iron with which he rules her…it is a private rod, and is always kept upstairs”. Following this quote, he is described as a “good-humored father, ” juxtaposing the “rod” image. Using the lens of the Laura Eastlake piece, these paints Count Fosco in an even worse light. If we are assuming that sugar made The Count “unmasculine” and “un-British” she is pointing out his “otherness” in being a foreigner, implying he is not masculine as he enjoys sugar just a little too much and those around him may not accept him because he is not British. But if we are then using her contradictory statement, the “rod…with which he rules her” insinuates a dominatrix-type attitude, where he is ruling over his wife and other women in his company. This imagery within itself is disturbing as he is now painted as this father figure who likes sugar just a little bit too much and rules over women in bed with a rod. This now changes the way in which I personally read Count Fosco, as I didn’t like him before, but I certainly don’t like him now. This may be completely incorrect, but I would like to know if this somehow connects back to Collins, as we had discussed in class that he has some ties to the story, as well as hypnotism as a cure for various issues. Did he personally relate to Count Fosco? Was he writing Count Fosco based on someone he knew or who he wished he could be? Overall, The Count is not a pleasant person, but I would like to know how he connects back to Collins

 

(I just have the online version, so I copied the section I wanted to close read because there are no pages!) “Sad! To remember her, as I did, the liveliest, happiest child that ever laughed the day through, and to see her now, in the flower of her age and her beauty, so broken and so brought down as this!”

 

Although the passage above seemed insignificant as just a passing thought by Mr. Gilmore, it stood out as it demonstrates the contrast of Laura Fairlie. Throughout Mr. Gilmore’s narration, he often talks about, or to, Laura as if she were a child. Innocent, and unable to make her own decisions with the need of an older man to guide her through her impending marriage. His exclamation of “Sad!” paired with “and now” is a dismal view of Laura. By assuming “and now” it insinuates that she is unable to change and is now stuck in this cycle of childhood purity, unable to be the woman she is. He then goes on to say that she is “broken” and “brought down” to who she is yet again reaffirming that she is no longer a woman but a shell of one. “Broken” followed by “brought down” sounds as if she is unable to be put back together like glass shattered. And if she were to be able to be rebuilt, she would still have pieces missing as it’s difficult to put together a glass broken.

Mr. Gilmore then uses the “flower of her age and beauty” to describe her. He could be using “flower” to depict her beauty like a flower; or, in the way that flower is used in a sexual manner. Not that he is viewing her as a sexual object, but that she is at the age to be “deflowered”. This view then contrasts his previous observations, viewing her as the “child that laughed the day through”. This again insinuates the young characteristics that Laura embodies, and that Mr. Gilmore looks down on her as a woman and a child, whether that be implicitly or explicitly.