“La Belle” Artistic Interpretations (4)

The final painting of “La Belle Dame sans Merci” that I want to consider is by John William Waterhouse (1849-1917).

http://cgfa.acropolisinc.com/waterhou/p-waterh48.htm

According to Christopher Wood, Waterhouse’s typical enchantress is “not a witch, but a beautiful girl with long hair and a seductive, child-like expression. This was the distinctive femme fatale…the beautiful, wistful nymph who lures men to their doom, almost apologetically, because she simply cannot help it” (Victorian Painting). And that is another possible answer to my question about La Belle’s reason for giving “sweet moan,” weeping and sighing “full sore”: She is the unmerciful seducer because she must be; it is her purpose. She doesn’t want to hurt the knight and feels sympathy for him. However, her very existence necessitates her betrayal of men. Waterhouse’s interpretation of La Belle depicts this haunting dilemma.

The two are in a forest with flowers and brambles surrounding them. She is sitting on the ground and her feet are bare, an image of helplessness. La Belle’s pale face, with its sensitive intensity and bright red lips, is the lightest thing in the painting. She looks at the knight almost as if she were pleading with him. He is trying to get support from the trees and branches around him but they ensnare him just as La Belle does. She has her long, silky straight hair wrapped around his neck and seems to be pulling him toward her. He is in full armor with his visor up and his face dim. His expression and posture show that he is desperately trying to withstand the temptation that La Belle offers. But even as we look, he seems about to fall into her arms.

This was painted in 1893. Wood writes that “from the 1890s onwards, all Waterhouse’s pictures are of women; men only appear as victims.” It was during that decade, according to Peter Trippi, that “a panoply of menacing females [were painted] triggered by the perceived threat of the New Woman” (J.W. Waterhouse).  A very interesting cause and effect that I want to explore further.