Eve the Serpent and Death
- This is a preview of the essay.
To view the full text you must login!
The Renaissance fashioned the Bible as it is known today. With the invention of the printing press in the early 16th Century, the Bible was able to be copied into hundreds of different languages in dozens of countries (Iannauzzo, pg. 2). The arts, in particular, were heavily influenced by religion, by the newly made accessibility to the written word, Biblical depictions began to appear all across Europe. One German artist, Hans Baldung, noted for his erotic and evocative works, produced a painting, titled Eve, the Serpent and Death. In the painting Eve is depicted vulnerably nude beside a fallen Adam who has succumbed to Death. In conjunction with the accounts from the Bible, there appears to be the ever present idea that the purpose of women from the beginning has been to corrupt the good nature of man. In relations to this, women are portrayed as both deceitful and untrustworthy, as the property of men and lastly are viewed as sexual predators.
There are numerous instances throughout the Bible in which women are given the role of the deceitful and untrustworthy foe of men. In one instance, Joseph, Son of Jacob was unsuccessfully seduced by the wife of his master, Potiphar:
One day Joseph went into the house to do his work as usual and was the only man in the house at the time...