Table Of Content‘In this fascinating study, Stevie Simkin traces the murderous fi gure of the femme fatale from
her early modern roots to her present day incarnation ... It will be of great interest to scholars
of literature and fi lm, as well as those located in gender studies and criminology.’
– Lizzie Seal, Senior Lecturer in Criminology, University of Sussex, UK
The fi gure of the beautiful but lethal woman has haunted the Western imagination
from ancient myth (Pandora, Eve, Lilith) to contemporary cinema. However, there are C
also remarkable ‘real life’ cases of women on trial for murder who have been represented u
as femmes fatales, including Frances Howard in the court of King James I, Ruth Snyder (the lt
u
inspiration for The Postman Always Rings Twice) in the 1920s and, most recently, Amanda
r
Knox, accused of murdering a fellow student in Italy in 2007. This interdisciplinary study a
traces the fi gure of the femme fatale across a broad cultural map, considering representations l
C
in news media, drama, fi lm, art and literature, and the relationships between them. By o
considering the ways each of these lethal women has been coded, decoded and n
Cultural
re-encoded, Stevie Simkin reveals how Western culture and society have struggled s
t
to comprehend and contain female violence. r
u
c
Stevie Simkin is Reader in Drama and Film at the University of Winchester, UK. He is the t Constructions of
i
author of, among other works, studies of Basic Instinct (2013) and Straw Dogs (2011) in the o
Controversies series, Early Modern Tragedy and the Cinema of Violence (2005) and A Preface n
s
to Marlowe (2000). the Femme Fatale
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Cultural Constructions of the Femme Fatale
AlsobyStevieSimkin
CONTROVERSIES:BasicInstinct
CONTROVERSIES:StrawDogs
EARLYMODERNTRAGEDYANDTHECINEMAOFVIOLENCE
REVENGETRAGEDY:ANewCasebook
MARLOWE:ThePlays
APREFACETOMARLOWE
Cultural Constructions of
the Femme Fatale
From Pandora’s Box to Amanda Knox
Stevie Simkin
UniversityofWinchester,UK
©StevieSimkin2014
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2014
978-0-230-35569-9
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inaccordancewiththeCopyright,DesignsandPatentsAct1988.
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LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
Simkin,Stevie.
Culturalconstructionsofthefemmefatale:from
Pandora’sboxtoAmandaKnox/byStevieSimkin,
UniversityofWinchester,UK.
pages cm
Includesbibliographicalreferences.
1.Femmesfatales. 2. Womeninpopularculture.
3. Femmesfatalesinliterature. 4. Femmesfatalesinmotion
pictures. I. Title.
HQ1122.S562014
305.42—dc23 2014021119
Transferred to Digital Printing in 2015
For Aileen. For everything. For always.
Contents
ListofFigures ix
Acknowledgements xi
Introduction 1
DeathinPerugia 1
FromPandora’sboxtoAmandaKnox 3
Thefemmefatale 5
‘Actuallyevil.Nothighschoolevil’:Therealand
thefictive 9
1 DefiningtheFemmeFatale 20
Introduction 20
Thefemmefatale:OpeningPandora’sbox 21
Earlymodernlethalwomen 27
TheVictorianfemmefatale:Fantasyandreality 30
Femalecriminality 39
Themaskofbeauty 42
2 FrancesHoward(1590–1632) 50
Thebride’sstillwaitingatthealtar:Twomarriages 50
Youwillnotdie,itisnotpoison:Thedeathof
SirThomasOverbury 52
Tenthousandtalkers:Thecirculationofthe
Overburyscandal 55
Justlikeawoman:Earlymodernrepresentations
offemininity 58
Sheknowstoomuchtoargue:Thequerelledesfemmes 61
Onegooddeedbeforeshedied:Thedangerouswoman
onstage 65
Power,greedandcorruptibleseed:TheDuchessofMalfi 70
Insidethemuseums,thewomengoupontrial:
TheWhiteDevil 73
VisionsofJoanna:TheChangeling 78
Imagesanddistortedfacts:Francesasmaliciouswoman 82
vii
viii Contents
Howcouldtheyevermistakeyou:TheWitchand
TheTrueTragicomedy 85
Drinkupyourbloodlikewine:Punishingthe
transgressivewoman 88
Conclusion 91
3 RuthSnyder(1891–1928) 93
ThemurderofAlbertSnyder 93
Thewomaninthecase 96
Theatreofjustice 103
Themarblewomancrumbles 110
‘Justapoorsoul’:RuthbyRuth 112
Sentencingandexecution 115
Ghosting:PictureSnatcher(1933) 119
Talestoldandretold 123
VersionsofRuth 126
Isnothingmine?SophieTreadwell’sMachinal(1928) 131
Conclusion 138
4 AmandaKnox 140
Introduction 140
AmandaKnoxascelebritymurderess 144
Youmustrememberthis... 148
Devilorangel?TheAmandaKnoxshow 159
Justagirlwhocan’tsayno?Knox’ssexuality 165
Anothergreyarea:Knoxandherintertexts 176
Conclusion 187
‘HowlonghaveIbeheldthedevilincrystal?’ 187
ThelaughingMedusa 188
‘AfraidofLosingMyself’:Authoringidentities 191
‘AnAdventureofSelfhood’ 194
Notes 200
References 207
Index 226
Figures
I.1 PosterartforTriangle(2009),BlackSwan(2010),TheHand
ThatRockstheCradle(1992),FatalAttraction(1987)and
SingleWhiteFemale(1992) 14
1.1 Michelangelo’s‘TemptationandExpulsion’(1511) 26
1.2 SirFrankDicksee’s‘LaBelleDamesansMerci’(c.1901) 32
1.3 MyraHindley,1966 44
1.4 PortraitofFrancesHoward,CountessofSomerset,
c.1615,attributedtoW.Larkin 45
1.5 Courtartists’impressionsofMadeleineSmith1857 48
3.1 Afrequently-reproducedshotofSnydertakeninher
twenties 97
3.2 PhotographofSnydertakenduringthetrial(NYDN
25March1927,p.1) 98
3.3 NewYorkDailyNewsfrontpageFriday13January1928 118
3.4 Theoriginaluncroppedphotograph 118
3.5 FromPictureSnatcher:Danny(JamesCagney)isvisible
seatedinthefrontrow,neatlyframedbythe‘V’ofthe
switchtheexecutionerisgripping(screencapture) 121
3.6 PictureSnatcher:Frontpagenews(screencapture) 123
4.1 TheVancouverriotskiss 149
4.2 FootageofKnoxandSollecitooutsidetheapartment
2November2007(BBCTVscreencapture) 151
4.3 FootageofKnoxandSollecitooutsidetheapartment
2November2007(BBCTVscreencapture) 151
4.4 EvaMarieSaintasEveKendallinNorthbyNorthwest
(1959) 152
4.5 PosterartforBasicInstinct(1992) 153
4.6 PicturefromMOL27September20111:23PM(Mario
Laporta/AFP/GettyImages) 160
4.7 PictureofMeredithKercherinfancydressonHalloween
night,2007 182
ix
x ListofFigures
4.8 AmandaKnoxenterscourtforthecommittalhearing,26
September2008(PierPaoloCito/PressAssociation
Images) 184
4.9 Screenshotfromthescenerecreatingthemomentin
AmandaKnox:MurderonTrialinItaly(screencapture) 185
