Moiras, Erínias, Amazonas: as mulheres da primeira modernidade sob o véu clássico (original) (raw)

2013, Anais Fazendo Gênero 10

This paper focuses on the study of Classical representations in the 16th and 17th centuries French street literature. The canards, chapbooks occasionally sold on the crossroads of big cities, were addressed to a large public, avid for the news and scandals recounted on these texts. Calamities, celestial phenomena, diabolic manifestations and crimes are among the bulk of reports which, although focusing on daily subjects, bear the weight of a culture that was extremely influenced by Classical authors and allegories. We thus observe on their pages new Circes, women that employ filters and potions to keep their loved ones; Erinyes, who seek revenge against men who abandoned them; and infanticides, related to the figure of Medea, the mother ogre by excellence. Emphasizing the texts dedicated to crimes committed by women, the majority among the ones with a feminine presence, this work seeks to establish the connection between terrifying elements constant in the imaginary and the Early Modern women. If, on the one hand, these women are morally characterized by temptress Eva’s fault, on the other hand, the classical representations dictate most of their imagined physical aspects and psychology.