Originally posted on Instagram 21st May 2022
Circe
Greek myth is full of deadly women, and perhaps one of the most famous is Circe. A goddess and powerful enchantress, she would lure men onto her island of Aeaea, who would then be transformed into pigs if they offended her.
Circe’s most famous appearance is in The Odyssey, when she transforms all but Odysseus, who was forewarned. He then sleeps with Circe.
Circe is also infamous for poisoning the water where her love rival, Scylla, bathed, thus turning her into a terrible monster.
Madeline Miller’s novel, Circe, offers a retelling of her story from her own point of view.
Bond Girls
A more modern example are the numerous ‘Bond’ girls – young, seductive women who James Bond invariably falls for and sleeps with.
Not all Bond girls fall under the femme fatale umbrella – some are damsels in distress, for example – but there are several key examples, such as Sévérine (pictured right), the classic, sexy femme fatale with the mysterious and dark past, and Xenia Onatopp, who killed men by crushing them between her thighs.
Notably, these women often meet their deaths after an encounter with Bond – Sévérine is shot in the head, and Onatopp is ironically crushed between the branches of a tree.
Vampires
From literature to cinema, female vampires are a constant in the ranks of femme fatales. So much so that, in 1910s America, vamp was a slang term for femme fatale.
Vampires were especially prominent in the 1890s-1910s. Bram Stoker’s Dracula was published in 1897, featuring Lucy Westenra (left: played by Katie McGrath in a 2013-14 TV adaptation) and three unnamed vampire women who attempt to seduce Jonathan.
Other examples include Philip Burne-Jones’ 1897 painting The Vampire, which inspired his cousin, Rudyard Kipling to write a poem, which in turn inspired a Broadway production (A Fool There Was, 1909) and a 1915 film of the same name.
Salome
Known from the New Testament, Salome was the daughter of Herod II and step-daughter of Herod Antipas. She is not named in the Bible, in which she performs a (possibly) erotic dance; Christian tradition often depicts her as an icon of female seductiveness.
She was popularised by Oscar Wilde’s 1891 tragedy, Salome. Wilde’s Salome attempts to seduce John the Baptist; when she is refused, she demands Herod gift her the prophet’s head on a silver platter.
When she receives the head, Salome speaks to it as if he is still alive and kisses his lips. Appalled, Herod then demands his guards to ‘Kill that woman!’ and she is crushed to death.
There were many beautiful vipers in those days and she was one of them.
Mary Elizabeth Braddon in ‘Eveline’s Visitant’ (from The Gentlewomen of Evil)
Carmen
Carmen originally appeared in an 1845 novella (called Carmen) by Prosper Mérimée, but perhaps more famous is the opera of the same name by Georges Bizet. In the opera, Carmen, a Romani woman, seduces a guardsman, José, into freeing her after she was arrested.
Carmen and José fall in love, but the romance is short-lived; eventually Carmen admits that her love is fading and tells José to go back home. Another man, Escamillo, comes for her.
The two part ways in Act Three, but meet again in the fourth and final act. José tries to persuade Carmen back to him, but she declares that she lived free and will die free. José then murders her.
Fox spirits
In Edo period folklore, a nine-tailed fox spirit appeared first in China, possessing a concubine named Daji. She then went to India, back to China, and ended up in Japan, where she appeared as Tamamo-no-Mae, a beautiful and intelligent woman.
Tamamo-no-Mae was the most favoured courtesan of Emperor Toba, whom she caused to be extremely unwell. She was found out and chased away, her spirit being trapped in a stone called the Sesshōseki (which split in two in March 2022…)
In China, the spirit corrupted the emperor and caused a reign of terror, and in India she made the crown prince go on a killing spree.
Cersei Lannister
Beautiful, wealthy, powerful, and smart, Cersei Lannister is one of the more famous modern-day femme fatales. And it’s not a coincidence that she shares a name with Circe from myth; the two women also have several traits in common.
She is a woman in a man’s world, which means she often uses sex to manipulate her way into getting what she wants. In both the book and the TV series, Cersei is consistently cruel, and is often either directly or indirectly involved in the deaths of several characters, including her husband.
Her fate in the books is as yet undetermined, but in the series, she too was killed.
Whose fantasy?
There is a debate to be had over who femme fatales were created for.
On one hand, they are powerful women who are in control of men; perhaps a woman’s dream
On the other hand, they are frequently portrayed as a man’s sexual fantasy. A femme fatale is sexy, and, sure, she may put men in their place, but there is a key similarity to all the women listed here.
They get their comeuppance.
Femme fatales are, with few exceptions, villains. They are murderesses who convince men to do wicked deeds. And, in the end, the male hero emerges from under her influence and kills her. This, if nothing else, is a distinct male fantasy. Yes, the woman has power. But it is always temporary, and she always pays for it.
The French phrase “femme fatale”…understates the human embodiment of lust and peril…that makes these creatures so fascinating. The femme fatale is a sleek and sensuous creature, dangerous either physically or emotionally to her victims.
Dominique Mainon in ‘The Femme Fatale: Cinema’s Most Unforgettable Lethal Ladies‘
See also:
- Blog post: Lucrezia Borgia
- Blog post: Marie Antoinette