“Well, I…I would try to show how this is done, sir, not just…postulate.” Selena reddens but soldiers on. “If I may…Othello, for example, accuses himself of loving his wife too much, and this is also what Milton’s Adam is guilty of, loving his wife more than he loves God. But in most other respects, Othello is characterized as a satanic figure—black, and so forth. In a recent study about racism in intertexts of Othello—” Now it is Cleveland who groans and fidgets. “Yes, I know, sir, you don’t like the author, but—”
“Whether I like her or not isn’t the point; the point is that her book about Othello is—” he seems to fumble for the right word “—utter tosh. You should only read it to disagree with it.”
“But Othello—”
“—has satanic features and is guilty of idolatry. You are perfectly right about that.” He nods. “Carry on.”
It is obvious to me that Selena would benefit much more from an hour or two of individual tuition with her advisor than from this plenary interrogation. Why Cleveland allowed her to hurl herself into a methodological and theoretical quagmire like this, I cannot understand.
Giles does not care.
Here we have it.
Making the best of a mess, I suggest to Selena that her analysis might become more dynamic if she distinguished different genres of devil narrative. “Your second type of devil, the sexy seducer—” Selena flinches a little, as if she had made a wrong movement with her elbow “—is a new figure on the Renaissance stage, but he does not immediately replace the older, medieval kind of devil, the malevolent but inept bungler who assumes the shape of a black dog and promises riches and revenge to guileless old women.”
I’m gratified to see that Selena is making some notes, though none of the professors acknowledge my comment in any way.
Jenna, the girl who had asked about my British degrees, raises her hand and waits for Cleveland to give her a nod. “I was wondering, does that mean that in stories with a sexy devil—” Again there are some giggles at the phrase, and Jenna blushes. “That these stories are always about a woman—an Eve—who has to choose between an Adam and a Satan? A lot of love stories are like that, right?”
“Yes, the theme…the theme is temptation. The satanic figures that I want to look at aren’t just…evil. They tempt. That’s their defining feature.” Distress is making Selena’s strained voice rise in pitch, and I suddenly remember what I overheard the other night.
It’s wrong!
It’s charity!
“Charity” is an odd word to use for a young man who wants to get a girl in the sack, unless he understands how she ticks and is using her Christian morality against her. Satanic indeed.
“What about Gone With the Wind, though?” Tessa speaks up. She is nervous, as students usually are in these seminars, and very earnest. “Within the framework of a formation novel, Ashley Wilkes is the immature…like, the idol of the adolescent girl, while Rhett Butler is the man, the real man, she must grow up to appreciate. But isn’t our theory that the satanic figure is the immature fantasy? That the heroine has to overcome the temptation posed by the devil in order to marry Adam Ordinary and be happy with him?”
“Selena, I think Tessa has outlined an interesting line of inquiry.” I turn to her with the most encouraging smile I can muster. But Selena has lost it. Instead of composing herself, she has been following our exchanges with apprehensive eyes, and she is not ready to respond. So I ad-lib to buy her time.
“Actually, I tend to think the opposite. Rhett Butler is the immature fantasy, not Ashley Wilkes, although the film would have you think otherwise, because it equates masculinity with the ability or willingness to dominate women, and other men. With Rhett you can be as irrational and high-maintenance as you want, and he’ll laugh at you, first, then bitch-slap you, then rape you. Which is all you wanted in the first place, of course, only you were too much of a princess to admit it.”
Cleveland is quietly chuckling in his seat, but I am warming to my topic.
“Ashley Wilkes, on the other hand, apart from being far more beautiful than Rhett Butler, in my humble opinion, has no time for bitches. The truth—” I wait for the commotion to die down. “The truth is that Ashley is bored by Scarlett on every level except the sexual, just as any