In a dichotomy that continues to plague media representations of female sexuality to this day, biblical women have a strong history of falling into one of two unflattering characterizations: victim or bad. Especially when sexuality is involved, these women often manage to play both roles as well, falling victim to the consequences of their sexual ills. Both holders and victims of their unbridled sexuality, these women lure men to their deaths, often meeting their own as well. Eve, the archetypal fallen woman, on whose shoulders rests the guilt of humanity's earthly suffering, has successors throughout the Old Testament in numerous biblical seductresses, including Bathsheba, Delilah, and, of course, the still colloquially infamous Jezebel . Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay In many ways, the apocryphal Judith emerges not only as a departure from, but perhaps even as a subversion of this problematic trope. Unlike her seductive counterparts, Judith is neither victim nor villain, but, in fact, heroine. Throughout her narrative, Judith maintains complete control over her sexuality, manipulating it in a calculated, God-sanctioned attempt to exploit her enemy. Even with this manipulative aspect, however, Judith is not presented as a cautionary tale about the dangers of female sexuality. Thus, Judith resists both the victimhood that plagues Bathsheba's sexuality and the evil connotation that haunts Delilah. However, although Judith in many ways subverts the problematic victim-villain dichotomy that plagues many of her biblical counterparts, her narrative ultimately remains hampered by a religious context that refuses to allow Judith full agency. Using Judith's Old English poetic retelling as the basis for the story, my argument traces the ways in which the narrative attempts to portray Judith as an active heroine, but ultimately subverts its own goal, inadvertently depriving Judith of her agency through excessive dependence. on traditional religious values, in particular on sexual purity.I. The HeroineAt first glance, Judith's story manifests itself as a provocative tale that praises female sexuality as a source of power. Using her feminine charms, Judith takes advantage of the evil Holofernes' lust and indulgent appetites, killing him in his bed after he passes out in a drunken stupor. In this way, Judith transforms a position of submission – a woman led into bed for sexual purposes at her request – into a position of power. By beheading Holofernes in his own bed, Judith appears to subvert a narrative that sees women as victims of sexual objectification, instead establishing one in which women use their sexuality for power. Caryn Tamber-Rosenau also sees Judith, in her original apocryphal incarnation, as something of a rare biblical feminist icon. Noting, as I did, Judith's ability to maintain both innocence and heroism within a narrative that illustrates her as sexual and ultimately murderous, Tamber-Rosenau contrasts Judith with two other notable "beauties at biblical bath”, Bathsheba and Susanna. Both Bathsheba and Susanna succumb to the male gaze, becoming victims of their own sexuality and evil culprits whose seductive art, however unconscious, is responsible for the death of a male hero. In contrast, Judith, Tamber-Rosenau argues, “takes control of the male gaze and does not let go, using this gaze to achieve her own ends” (71). In this way Giuditta becomes a subjectactive like none of its counterparts manages to do. Judith is not the unwitting victim of her own attractiveness that both Bathsheba and Susanna become in the hands—or eyes—of the voyeurs who desire them. As Tamber-Rosenau notes, Judith is spared the punishment that her counterparts receive for their sexuality. “Here,” he argues, “what is contemplated does not suffer. Instead, the reader goes straight to the punishment visited upon the beholder” (70). Judith's sexuality is not a source of vulnerability. Rather, it is a form of force, ultimately a weapon over which he maintains, and actively exercises, complete control. What distinguishes Judith from her objectified counterparts, ultimately, is that she is not condemned for her actions. The other, more notoriously sexual women of the Bible are often victims, along with the men they seduce, of their own sexuality, and face death even when they do not knowingly or actively exercise this sexual prowess. Meanwhile, those who do, deliberate temptresses and seductresses like Delilah and Jezebel, are offered as warnings about the dangers of female sexuality. Interestingly, Judith manages to escape both of these roles. She is neither the passive victim whose sexuality is preyed upon, nor her active and deliberate seduction of Holofernes condemns her to an eternity as evil. Instead, Judith manages to become a heroine, despite her overt sexuality and her deliberate use of it for destructive purposes. Throughout the poem, she maintains a series of honorable titles and epithets, "the holy woman" (l. 97), "the noble one" (l. 256), "the brave woman" (l. 107), and is rewarded by God with "honor and glory in the kingdom of this earth, and also as his reward in heaven" (l. 342-43). In this way, Judith resists being victimized or vilified by her sexuality, paving the way for a new tradition of literary heroines using their charm to their advantage that would reemerge centuries later in the form of Vanity Fair's Becky Sharp or Scarlett Gone with the wind. O'Hara. Like Judith, these women become formidable rather than dangerous. They are powerful and cunning, but remain sympathetic characters, rather than villains presented as a warning.II. The Faithful Servant While Judith's tale initially reads as an unexpected feminist triumph lurking in the Apocrypha, the story, particularly its reincarnation in Old English poetry, ultimately reinforces still a less-than-innovative vision of female power and sexuality. Indeed, the poem's very attempts to "save" Judith, to spare her any blame or evil for her actions, ultimately strip her of the authority and agency that made her such an impressive feminist heroine in the first place . Through the poem's insistence on maintaining Judith's innocence and purity, the heroine becomes less a free agent of her own sexuality and instead a vehicle of God. The story evolves from the defiant tale of a warrior woman to that of a faithful servant of the Lord. The poem's unintentional subversion of its heroine may be due, in part, to the cultural climate into which the story's Old English reincarnation was born, one increasingly dominated by Christianity and its rigid sexual mores. The poem is essentially a Christian translation of the Hebrew text, characterized throughout by anachronistic references to Christ. Judith, in her Christian reincarnation, is called "the handmaid of the Savior" and appeals to the "glorious Trinity" (l. 74, 86). This Christian influence also manifests itself in the poem's pejorative treatment of sexuality. While at first glance, the story of Judith appears to be a rare example in which a biblical woman is free to use her sexuality as a source of power, it is important toyou notice that, at least in the Old English poem, Judith's tale doesn't actually praise sexuality, either male or female. The poem constantly reinforces Judith's sexual purity. Although not a virgin, Judith is a chaste widow, a status that grants her repeated epithets such as "the blessed maiden," "the maiden of the Lord," and "the bold maiden" (l. 35, 166, 334). , Judith's sexual purity appears to be her primary source of praise throughout the poem. Meanwhile, the villain of the poem, the evil Holofernes, is characterized as such primarily by his sexual appetites. Holofernes is condemned throughout the text as “the licentious,” whose desire for Judith appears to be a direct consequence of his corrupt state (l. 256). While the poem traces Judith's heroism primarily through her sexual chastity, it similarly establishes Holopherene's wickedness through her sexual deviance. Meanwhile, another important feature of the story is that Judith's exercised sexuality remains unconsummated. With God's help, “the holy girl” escapes her destiny of sexual “contamination” at the hands of Holofernes: “He wanted to rape the luminous woman with contamination and sin” (l. 59). The repeated praise of Judith's virginity throughout the poem indicates that she would not have been so generously rewarded by God if her sexual purity had been compromised. Ultimately, although Judith's sexuality grants her a position of power, her heroic status carries the implicit demand that her sexuality remain unconsummated. Therefore, the story ultimately continues the tradition of separating sexuality and heroism. While Judith can play with the idea of ​​sex and sexuality and tease it to her advantage, she ultimately must remain chaste to maintain hero status. Meanwhile, the poem's almost didactic condemnation of sexuality along with its obvious promotion of chastity ultimately only serves to undress Judith. of his free will and authority. In her analysis, Tamber-Rosenau goes on to argue that Judith not only escapes the fate of her victimized and vilified biblical counterparts, but ultimately manages to “subvert and even reverse it,” making Holofernes, in his highly aroused state, both an object and victim of his own sexuality (Tamber-Rosenau 71). I argue, however, that this intense focus on Holofernes' sexuality ultimately strips away, or at least weakens, Judith's role in his death. By portraying Holofernes as a victim of her sexual desires, Judith becomes less a victor of evil than Holofernes is simply a victim of his own lust. Even symbolically, Holofernes seems to be more the victim and author of his own end than Judith is an active victor of her evil. As Tamber-Rosenau notes, Holofernes is killed by his own sword (65). By understanding the sword as a phallic symbol, this image reinforces the idea that Holofernes' death is ultimately the result of his licentious appetites. By emphasizing Judith's purity alongside Holofernes' sexual depravity, the narrative undermines Judith's role in the execution while painting Holofernes as the primary perpetrator of her own death, ultimately reducing the initially provocative tale of a warrior woman into a kind of parable of prudence and chastity. Likewise, Judith's agency in the story is again reduced by her dependence on God. Throughout the poem, Judith's actions are incessantly sanctioned by God. Before beheading Holofernes, Judith first turns to God in prayer. In response, God “immediately inspired great zeal,” without which, it is implied, Judith would not have had the strength to carry out the execution. Again, Judith's actions.. 2017.