Жіночі образи в літературі епохи Fin de Siècle

Abstract

The article examines three models of female images in the literature of the Fin de Siècle era. During the analysis of literary studies by foreign scientists, it was found that three models of femininity dominate in the literary works of the foreign era: femme fatale, femme fragile and femme enfant. The scientific study provides a detailed description and comparison of the three above-mentioned artistic images of literature. The first image, the femme fatale, was found to be that of a demonic temptress who leads to ruin, lusts after a hedonistic lover and kills him in extreme cases. The image is mostly of a young woman with characteristically expressed sexuality. She is a very mysterious, attractive woman with wavy, lush blond hair, pale complexion and expressive eyes. A strong and viable figure, whose appearance causes a strong physical attraction in men. Self-confident, untamed, unapproachable, with typical "male" character traits. The characters of this image dominate men – their victim possess them but are at the same time the opposite of the image of the "new" woman of the era of realism, because they cannot get rid of the classical social hierarchy. The second image – femme fragile – depicts white, pure women, like Madonna, sinless. The image of a holy woman was a reproduction of the ideal of beauty of that time. In this image, women from the old aristocratic nobility were depicted (wealth and luxury were mandatory prerequisites for this female image), who led a life in a state of absolute passivity and peace. Characters of the image of a saint are usually exhausted, tired, nervous and sick in novels – mostly pulmonary tuberculosis (tuberculosis) or hysteria, which signals their "spiritual elevation" and elevates them to "unearthly spiritual beauty". The third image – femme enfant – shows an unusually beautiful, innocently attractive young girl with pronounced childlike features of appearance and character. The character of the image of femme enfant is similar to the character of the image of femme fragile, which causes the "defender instinct" in a man and, realizing her own attractiveness, tempts and seduces him, therefore, in fact, from the very beginning she is a potential representative of the image of femme fatale. Very direct and playful, has "unlimited sexuality" combined with childish timidity and narcissism. The three female images of femme fatale, femme fragile and femme enfant, in which the characters of the literature of Fin de siècle are represented, are closely intertwined and flow from each other. These three images are a reproduction of three stages of the development of femininity: woman-child, woman-saint, woman-whore. However, not every literary character is destined to go through all three stages of their female transformation.