[HARDY-Ll] Tess and Sleeping Women

[Rosemarie Morgan]

There is good reason, I think, for feminists to argue that the "sleeping 
woman" theme reflects male fantasies about passive women, or female 
vulnerability/ weakness.(a sop to male virility) whereas the "Amazonian" 
woman with spear-at-the-ready is a rare depiction in art-- evidently not 
such an enticing image (or perhaps a more threatening one if male 
performance is an issue.)

One school of thought maintains that women were/are sexually 
"unconscious,"that is, not consciously driven as is the male. This may have 
been a consolation to many a man and perhaps even to many a sexually-bored 
wife. Angelique can probably correct me on this but I believe your 
Victorian GP often advised bored wives, or wives subjected to male desire 
beyond their own needs, to feign sleep and if not sleep, headaches.  Back 
to Havelock Ellis -- I believe it is recorded somewhere in his tomes that 
women colluded with their GPs to advise husbands against conjugal sex in 
the interests of their wives' health (which meant not the begetting of more 
babies but rather the begetting of more personal space)..

All of which is to say that the sleeping woman theme is attended by a host 
of mythologies -- in the case of Tess -- "passive victim." (which as many 
of you know, really "stirs" me  but not to "confused surrender")

Cheers
Rosemarie


At 07:42 PM 1/10/2009, you wrote:
>Shortly after reading some latest posts about Tess asleep in The Chase 
>before and upon Alec's arrival (and how long she remained asleep), I 
>started to read Sisters by Michael Cohen (citation below) for a complete 
>different research project.
>I hadn't realized there was such a tradition of showing sleeping women in art.
>Cheers,
>JoAnna