International Journal of Pure and Applied Mathematics Volume 119 No. 16 2018, 5413-5424 ISSN: 1314-3395 (on-line version) url: http://www.acadpubl.eu/hub/ Special Issue http://www.acadpubl.eu/hub/
Scrutinizing Gender Realities through the Effeminate and Femme Fatale Archetypes 1Arsha Subbi, 2K. Balakrishnan, 3Bincy Mole Baby and 4Kavya Purushothaman, 1Department of English and Languages, Amrita School of Arts & Sciences, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, Kochi, India. 2Department of English and Languages, Amrita School of Arts & Sciences, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, Kochi, India. 3Department of English and Languages, Amrita School of Arts & Sciences, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, Kochi, India. 4Department of English & Languages, Amrita School of Arts & Sciences, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, Kochi, India.
Abstract A rereading of human psyche and their general behavioral patterns demonstrate a concealed counterfeit image of gender psychic reality.Since archaic times the idea of archetypes have made its strong base within the psychological working of human civilization.These archetypes have later paved way for more complex predicaments regarding the accepted norms and regulations for each separate individual.This oscillating set of values for two diverse biological forms have laid the foundation for the stereotypical situations now prevalent in the human society. In this paper, I first present the evident biological and stereotypical division rampant in the male and female categories.The essay presents two character types
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namely, the Effeminates and Femme Fatales as the accurate manifestation of C.G.Jung’s concepts of ‘anima’ and ‘animus’.To give a more luciddepiction of these two character types I have mentioned two of the most illustrious characters in English literature, namely, Mr. Ripley of The Talented Mr.Ripley and Amy Elliot Dunne of Gone Girl. Key Words:Feminism, psychoanalysis, archetypes, anima, animus, stereotypes, representation.
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1. Introduction
An empirical reading of human existence reveals evident biological polarities, but these variations cannot be used as means to justify the consequent facts and ideologies that later surfaced within the fashioned set of accepted rules and regulations.According to philosophers and scientists a human being is the constellation of both masculine and feminine traits.They are of the opinion that man is androgynous in nature.Russian philosopher Nicholas Berdyaev writes:
Man is not only sexual but a bisexual being,combining the masculine and feminine principles in himself in different proportions and often in fierce conflict.A man in whom the feminine principle was completely absent would be an abstract being completely severed from cosmic element.A woman in whom the masculine principle was absent would not be a personality…only the union of these two principles that constitutes a complete human being.The union is realized in every man and every woman within their bisexual,androgynous nature,and it also takes place through the intercommunion between the two natures,the masculine and the feminine (61).
After a while writers began to explore the aesthetic side of their creative productions and began to introduce various characters types to defy the set norms and patterns prevalent in their times. These unconventional characters emerge from the pool of constructed imageries that arise in the creative artist. According to theorists like Sigmund Freud and C. G.Jung, emergence of such behavioral patterns is solely based on the coping mechanism these individuals employ to survive the harsh world. These are results of the collective unconscious and stereotypical representations prevalent within the human race. According to CG Jung, these well-built stereotypes become a part of the unconscious of an individual and later become a part of a collective unconscious.
This actuality is often concealed thus receive little or no acceptance in human conscience and their theories of rights and wrongs.Man‟s deference to the fallible list of commandments creates gender binaries.These binaries later expand to a situation where one is dominated over by the other. Binaries generally embosom inequity and bigotry,where one half always faces the maltreatment.Based on the pragmatic views, gender binaries have almost always brought their worst denouement to the female ratio which is clearly a result of the predefined gender standards.
An individual‟s androgynous nature was aesthetically defined in the theoretical concepts of „anima‟ (Jung 59) and„animus‟ (Jung 59) by C.G.Jung.Jung elucidated the femininity within a male individual as „anima‟ and the masculine elements within female psyche as „animus‟.Jung was known for his scientific elaborations on human psyche and his studies are nothing less than the
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analytical findings of a scientist.These alternate manifestations of gender archetypes have surfaced in fairy tales, other works of art and literature and more evidently within the plain human psyche.Jung‟s „anima‟and „animus‟ surface in every situation where the psyche of a person surpasses the existingstereotypes and the other accepted predicaments.
Regardless of every non-conformist declarationby any society,it is evident that every single mortal being is driven by the archetypal convictions that run the whole civilization. These archetypes determine the actions of an individual as well as the actions of a whole group of individuals.The question is whether these concepts are based on the factual reality underlying every human psyche or if these are all collectively formed in the course of the development and growth of human civilization.
These collective concepts are garnered from within the societal expectations and ideologies.Thus each culture varies in the level of cultural polarities they maintain among different individuals.Cultural stereotypes lay the foundation for the accepted and rejected norms.Each individual is expected to carry out their socially assigned roles and duties.When this expectation is traumatized the particular individual is branded illicit and delinquent.They are stigmatized and expected to be cast in darker shades by the onlookers, artists and society as a whole.
Two of the most discredited characters types that have been cast within the illicit shades of characterization in the mainstream society would be the Effeminates and the Femme Fatales.These two character types display a vehement style of role reversals.Effeminate males and the Femme Fatales are two of the most questioned characters in fictional and non fictional realms.Here the male and female in question exchange established mannerisms and their prescribed distinctive abilities.Michel Foucault established that „homosexuality‟(43)was part of the identity status of an individual rather than the characteristic features.It wasindicted by him in what he termed an”interior androgyny,a hemaphroditism of the soul” (42).Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick held similar views when she was of the opinion that gender transmutation was kind of an exchange of roles.She elucidated on Karl Heinrich Ulrichs‟ phrase“anima muliebris in corpore virile inclusa” -“a woman‟s soul trapped in a man‟s body” and “vice versa” (1990:87).This inversion of character traits, manifest itself in the stigmatized character types,namely the effeminates and the femme fatales.
Effeminates are often rendered with titles such as „girly‟,‟sissy‟ (Dalzell 885) etc.The projection of these female traits as such is considered lowly and disgraceful.These characters are presented in a whimsical light and considered to be out of normal.In the luminosity of gender equality prevalent in today‟s society,this exchange must be considered normal and acceptable,but it is not.This displeasure in accepting the inversion of roles, exhibit the sham in the whole set of concepts related to gender equality.
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„Sissy‟ is an antiquated term usually attributed to men with dominating feminine characteristic features.They have made their interminable appearances in works of art and literature.These perpetually humorous characters have peppered the narrative flow of a number of novels and other fictional works of art.Notwithstanding the myriad fictional representations,the characteristically effeminate individuals corroborate various principles.He questions the notion of sole ownership of feminine features, which is generally accepted to be possessed by women alone.He establishes that feminine traits are not the exclusive properties of female bodies.He surpasses the biological specifications of his male body and establishes the fact that the accepted characteristic traits are merely results of performative effects and societal norms.He effortlessly deconstructs the accepted gender stereotypes and the concepts of masculinity and femininity.
One of the most abominable Effeminates in the history of this characterization is Tom Ripley,the notorious psychopath killer in Patricia Highsmith‟s, The Talented Mr. Ripley.The titular character presents the most complex elements of human behavior.Patricia Highsmith invokes a sense of sympathy in the minds of the readers,who eventually find way to defend the actions of the title character in this work.The Effeminate in this novel suffers an unpleasant childhood,having lost both his parents and brought up by his aunt,who often referred to him a „sissy‟. Tom Ripley is one among the few characters in this category who transcends the prescribed norms followed by his gender and still manages to remain confident and undefeated.
The incongruous personality he possess does not limit the extends of his actions.The character reaches his triumphant ends with the help of his luck and hard work.The character Tom Ripley discards the typical qualities of gentleness and forbearance,otherwise generally attributed to the effeminates.They are expected to be sensitive and tender-hearted.Tom Ripley shatters these stereotypes.Hence there are two levels of refusal of adherence in Tom Ripley‟s case.Primarily and most importantly he refuses to adhere to the male oriented attributes by being an effeminate and secondarily he rewrites the attributes associated with the effeminates as well.
However the effeminacy displayed by these characters are not always taken in lighthearted manner but is considered equally disturbing and illicit.This illicit reputation derives from the mutations brought about in these characters.Although the reception and acceptance of such alterations have improved considerably in the present times,the conditions were a lot worse in the bygone days.The displeasure expressed by philosophers and critics towards the anachronistic morale of culture and stereotypes, reveals the unchanging principles held by people today.Their relentlessness is manifested in the vexation associated to the character types like the effeminates.
This sense of resentment clearly emerges out of misogynistic values held important by majority of the perceivers.Effeminates hold positions beneath the
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stereotypical masculine figures and perhaps even below the stereotypical female figures,owing to the fact that, belonging to the biological category of males,they are expected to act like males, the superior figures rather than the inferior females.The superiority and inferiority statures are rooted in the age old notions of reality that were conditioned to be followed by every single member of the society.Thus the „womanliness‟ in a man is ridiculed and amusing to the onlooker.They deny to be fit into the gender equations created by human civilization.
These characters portrayed in literary and fictional works usually remain a loner and the most resented character throughout the narrative.They are the least desired characters and occupy comical positions within these works of art.They are merely tools for amusement and comical relief. In spite of being powerless and handicapped in many aspects, the effeminates manage to restructure the stereotypical concepts of manhood.
The Femme Fatale character type is correspondingly similar to the effeminates in the fact that they are the accurate manifestation of the reversed stereotypes.The word Femme Fatale first appeared in a letter by George Bernard Shaw published in 1912 .The true identity of the Femme Fatale character type has not yet been discovered despite the growing interest of authors and writers in this lethal woman archetype whose extensive presence was seen throughout the nineteenth and twentieth century literary and cultural texts.The Femme Fatales have taken on various forms and demeanors since their arrival into the literary and cultural arena. She is the Egyptian Sphinx, half-human, half-animal. She is the Bible‟s teenage seductress Salome. She is the devious World War I spy Mata Hari. She is the evil Queen in Snow White. She is the Egyptian Queen Cleopatra, the Roman empress Messalina, the much maligned Renaissance princess Lucrezia Borgia, and the misunderstood second wife of English King Henry VIII, Anne Boleyn.
The Femme Fatale archetype refurbishes the entire ideologies governing the conventional patriarchy which often put women under the control of these patriarchal figures. She breaks free from the roles of a dutiful wife and nurturing mother that the mainstream society prescribes her. She finds marriage to be confining, loveless and dull, and her wildness and sexual magnetism is put into use to help herself out of this muddle, that she knowingly or unknowingly gets into. She nevertheless persists even at the face of her own annihilation. And despite the ultimate punishment of death, she leaves behind the strong picture of an unremorseful, bold and daring woman who sticks on to her own ideals rejecting the rules put forward by men and she is also one who rejects the institution of the family. Murder is the weapon used by a classic Femme Fatale and she often uses it to free herself from the clutches of an excruciating marriage or a relationship, where she is given the meager value of a property or pet. They feel trapped by husbands or lovers who treat them as standard equipment and by an institution like marriage that makes such treatment
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possible. Marriage for the Femme Fatale represents unhappiness, boredom, and the absence of romantic love and sexual desire. A certain kind of myth is generated within the society rendering the family home as the center of safety, fulfillment, and love. The benefits normally associated with marriage and the families especially in the conventional romantic fiction are actually absent in reality.
Stereotypes state that men are masculine; they are physically strong and are not expected to behave compassionately or emotionally. They are able to control their family and women, they earn the most in the family and if possible they strive to remain the sole bread winners or providers and protectors for their family. When a man or woman tries to step outside of this stereotypical bubble, they are resented and branded malevolent. Women are expected to be the unconditional care-providers of their families, sacrificing and dependant on their husbands or partners. They are expected to be disciplined and submissive.Thus neither is a woman supposed to break these prescriptions nor does a man have the right to adhere to these.
However these aspects alter from society to society. Socializing process inculcates certain ideologies within the minds of people. Thus they find it completely normal to tolerate these tortures as ways of life. They do not question the society nor do they stand up for themselves. Similarly the permission, expectation and authority to treat the people stepping outside these norms as inferiors are also, what people are socialized and taught since childhood. Thus, for women to consider abandoning her family and for men to stay at home and nurture the family is not an option.The complex network of this stereotypical mesh enslaves categories of people into believing what is honorable and what is dishonorable behavior. Stereotypes often lead to unjust and unfair conditions for the victim but equally create a nexus of standardized ideologies that later expand to become a set of closed and prejudiced point of view.Thus these stereotypes demarcate the society and delineate the superiors and inferiors among them.Stereotypes are often used to categorize people, and their judgments regarding others, are made using these conditioned inferences.This later leads to expectations, which are forced to be followed for a very long time until the revised version of these expectations sprout.The categorization brought about by stereotypes are the bounding factor for the archetypal situations that later arise.
The detrimental nature of negative stereotyping is not realized by the people who blindly follow them.These concepts are made a part of their cognitive processes. This becomes a huge factor for the prejudiced ideas they possess, their style of perceiving certain things, their memories and personality. Thus altering the stereotypes is far from being possible and this social process gets more and more harrowing as they exclusively work to make these beliefs intact and obeyed. In comparison to the Effeminate characters the Femme Fatale character type adopts a far more daring and cunning approach.They discard the
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sentimental aspects often attributed to their gender.They refuse to be emotionally attached to anyone or anything around them.The world and people around them are nothing more than mere pawns they use for their survival and triumph. The modern patriarchy is evasive, sly and crafty, thus the femme fatales volunteer to be the new kind of resistance appropriate for this patriarchy. They travel beyond their boundaries of femininity and tenderness.
The title of the first Femme Fatale is ironically attributed to the woman, considered to be the first of the female kind, Eve. She is held responsible for the primal sin.The misogynistic perspectives often read into the character Eve and the primal sin and tend to consider every single woman to be the replica of Eve.Thus the characterization of the femme fatale archetype is a fitting reply to every faulty perspectives held against women.She herself is the personification of every dissentious point of view.
Likewise art and literature have witnessed several other characters within the genre of the Femme Fatale characterization.Few other important characters who have taken up the demeanor of a femme fatale are Circe, Acrasia, Cleopatra, Geraldine and Salome. Towards the Victorian era, the manner and mien of the femme fatale archetype improved a great deal.They were no longer the manifestations of lust and greed; instead they were equally intelligent and competent like their male counterparts.Arthur Conan Doyle introduced Irene Adler,the charmingly intelligent femme fatale,who was proficient enough to beat the extremely brilliant character, Sherlock Holmes.Arthur Conan Doyle knit together several layers of social evils prevalent in his society, into his works and characters.However Irene Adler was a femme fatale character that passed through several layers of perspectives,as she was presented by Doyle,who wrote it as Dr.Watson,who perceived things through the findings of Sherlock Holmes.This often diminished the readers from the true identity and personality of Irene Adler,the „woman‟.
Femme Fatale character type is the true embodiment of growing patriarchal fears regarding the inter changeability of gender roles. The fatal woman, especially those in the 19th century literary works personify multiple concerns like violence, sex, epidemics, lunacy, infections and social degeneration as a whole. Later periods saw the widespread concerns regarding issues like prostitution, pornography and sexual diseases addressed in Femme Fatale narratives. These fatal women were ultimately punished for the devious acts.
Regardless of the previous representations of this archetype, Gillian Flynn‟s contemporary psychological thriller, Gone Girl presents a daring fatale, Amy Elliot Dunne. The newfangled modes of patriarchal expectations are cunningly used by this character for her personal nefarious purposes.Women are expected to be faultless in this society. They are expected to delve within perfection. Unlike her predecessors Amy does not give up on her plans and dreams after a while, but fights till she achieves them and witnesses her own triumph in the process.
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Amy Dunne masters the gender performance by veiling herself within every single expectation the society puts on her. Gillian Flynn includes the descriptions of each characterAmy is expected to play with different people. These expected characters provide her the facade she uses to manipulate the ones around her. Amy has clear perspective of different types of gender roles she is required to play in the society, such as a cool girl who gratifies every single wish of her boyfriend, who later becomes her husband, in order to not defy his masculinity. This is something that is given utmost importance by Amy and done consciously. It could be argued that it is at the forefront of most women‟s minds. But the authenticity of Amy‟s conscious adherence to these set rules is not completely comprehendible.She effortlessly makes use of the feminine aspects prescribed to her gender whenever she needs them but uses these to fool the society and to picture herself as the embodiment of the perfect stereotypical concepts put forward by the very same society she fools.Thus she makes use of the stereotypes to eventually break the stereotypes.
Amy uses her gender to her advantage. Rather than adopting the masculine characteristics of murder and action throughout, she simply excels at manipulating those around her with her classy femininity. Ironically enough, Amy‟s motivations are gender-related. She wrecks vengeance upon her husband‟s life for having been infidel towards her, thinning his opportunities of leaving her for another woman.Amy uses her femininity to achieve her devilish goals. She uses her sexuality, wielding it as a weapon. They are tools in her fund to trap and punish men. She makes use of both feminine and masculine traits to achieve her means. She utilizes the stereotypical masculine traits of anger and violence. She pretends to be driven by her gender.However, Amy despises gender norms and does notwant to be constrained by them. She doesn‟t want to be a satellite to a man. She wants to do whatever she pleases, regardless of the consequences.
Femme Fatale narratives are most appropriate in a society that has an innate and consistent feeling of a threat from the female characters. Femme Fatale narratives also topple with the existent gender power structures and assigned female roles.
Gender roles are never firmly in place. In a narrative framework where women are clearly under control or in their place, a Femme Fatale narrative loses their appeal. Thus current feminist aspects and conditions pave way for the growing relevance and priority of this character type.
The stereotypical notions ought to change in order to cleanse out many irregular and unfair outlooks now prevalent in the society.These characters question the very nature of society and the judgmental factors that label every single individual .Effeminate characters delve deep and conduct a tough probe into the primordial concepts of manhood and masculine identity.The effeminates become the personification of C.G.Jung‟s notion of „anima‟.The secondary feminine features surface and embellish a man.
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Jung distinguished four broad stages of the anima, analogous to levels of the Eros cult described in the late classical period. He personified them as Eve, Helen, Mary and Sophia (Sanford 6)
According to Jung a man passes through four stages of anima. The „eve‟ stage is the mother phase, where man finds it impossible to discard his close connection to a woman. The second stage, ‟Helen‟, is more sexual in nature. Mary, the third stage fixates on more religious aspects. The fourth stage Sophia, functions as the man‟s guide to his deep consciousness. A man passes through these stages as he grows old.
Jung‟s concepts related to anima and animus hurt certain aspects of gender sensitivity.The anima is considered to be the contra sexual attitude adopted by a male in an irrational manner while animus is considered to be rational expression of the inner soul adopted by a female.Thus adopting a male persona is acceptable and considered sensible and prudent. Therefore these theoretical concepts demonstrate the gender irregularities and emphasize the relevance of such archetypes that topple the established gender structure consequently paving way for a more balanced and unbiased situation. References [1] Jung, C.G. Abstracts of the Collected works of C.G. Jung, ed. C. L. Rothgeb, London: Karnac Book, 1992.Print [2] Sedgwick, Eve Kosofsky. Epistemology of the Closet. London: UCP, 1990.Print [3] Berdyaev, Nicholas A. The Destiny of Man. New York: Harper Torchbooks, 1960. Print [4] Sanford, John A. The Invisible Partners: How the Male and Female in Each of us Affects our Relationships. New York: Paulist Press, 1980. Print [5] Foucault, Michel. The History of Sexuality, Volume I: An Introduction, trans. Robert Hurley, New York: Random House, 1980.Print [6] Highsmith, Patricia. The Talented Mr. Ripley. United States: Coward McCann, 1955. Print [7] Flynn, Gillian. Gone Girl. United States: Crown Publishing Group.2012.Print [8] Dalzell, Tom. The Routledge Dictionary of Modern American Slang and Unconventional English. London, New York: Taylor & Francis.(2009) [1st pub. 1937].Print
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[9] Mainon,Dominique and James Ursin.Femme Fatale:Cinema’s Most Unforgettable Lethal Ladies.Milwaukee: Limelight publishers.2009.Print [10] Mercure, Michelle. The “Bad Girl” Turned Feminist: The Femme Fatale and the Performance of Theory. Web blog post.2010.
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