I like this a lot -- I think it encompasses why we are drawn to anti-heroes a lot of the time, rather than write them off. Gregory Maguire's Wicked gave the Wicked Witch of the West a soul, a name, and a soundboard. Suddenly, she wasn't just this wretched, evil green-lady out to get everyone's best friend, Dorothy.
She was Elphaba--an extremely misunderstood woman forever thrust into the category of villain.
It hardly seems fair considering everything she endured. Then again, many women who showed confidence, power, and strength were demonized in early literature.
Look at Lady Macbeth, who tried so hard to play in a man's world and ended up losing her sanity instead. She's literary poison in that she's not the damsel. She's not the heroine. Her death is at the hands of all-consuming guilt...because her female conscience can't cope with her role in a man's world.
That's enough lecture...but I do wish someone like Maguire would tackle why Lady Macbeth ended up with her husband...what was her past before married life? And please, for the love of God, someone give her a name. Though, I suppose Susan Fraser King's book comes closest.
But I also have my own angle...
In my head, her name is something sweet like Laura or Melinda. She's a young daughter of a widowed midwife. One evening, Laura's mother is called to the home of a Lord--I'll call him Lord Kiltry. His unwed daughter is giving birth. He gives Laura's mother a grim task: deliver the child and kill it, lest his daughter be ruined and his family name tarnished.
In exchange for performing this gruesome task, Laura's mother will be given money and land... The problem is once the child is born, the poor midwife can't do it. She can't take the life of the child. Hiding away, Laura witnesses Lord Kiltry killing her mother, and then the child.
This haunts Laura until adulthood. And it also teaches her a lesson: men can be ruthless and act without remorse. This lesson guides her as she meets her future husband--a man with even more ambition than Lord Kiltry. It also teaches her that women cannot afford to be weak. And in order for her to rise above her mother's fate, she must succeed where her mother has failed (<--there's the infanticide spin anyway).
What's fascinating about these classic villains is that they're so attractive simply because they're women doing bad things. OR, they're women acting like ruthless men. Either way, they're equal parts disturbing and beautiful. And it's a shame that their true origins had to be written or imagined long after they materialized on stage or on page.
There are modern versions of them today--some in soap operas (oh, yes, I'll go there), in Disney (you're not safe either), and, really, nearly everywhere. And I'll hit some of them next week.
Until then...HAVE A SAFE WEEKEND!
PS: oh, yeah, this book is also live.
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*Images courtesy of Google. I do not own rights.*
