Introducing... Madwoman
Elle's Essays
It began with Lady Macbeth.
A murderess. A manipulator. A witch.
A woman.
No…
A madwoman.
It has evolved into a fascination that continues to hunger despite how often I feed it.
Thus, the beginning of a new collection of essays.
I’ll leave you with this…
“As she laughed I was aware of becoming involved in her laughter and being part of it, until her teeth were only accidental stars with a talent for squad-drill. I was drawn in by short gasps, inhaled at each momentary recovery, lost finally in the dark caverns of her throat, bruised by the ripple of unseen muscles. An elderly waiter with trembling hands was hurriedly spreading a pink and white checked cloth over the rusty green iron table, saying: 'If the lady and gentleman wish to take their tea in the garden, if the lady and gentleman wish to take their tea in the garden...' I decided that if the shaking of her breasts could be stopped, some of the fragments of the afternoon might be collected, and I concentrated my attention with careful subtlety to this end.”
– Hysteria, T.S. Eliot, 1917
There are three people in this short prose poem. Two men, a waiter and a narrator, and a female companion.
I’ll ask you the same question I have been trying to answer since I read this piece last year…
Why do they seem so afraid of her?
To Be Continued