Sunday, March 9, 2014
Artemisia is a great story of a woman's perseverance through the challenges of her time period. Artemisia is a talented artist, but in the 1600s, society does not take women artists seriously. Artemisia was also raped when she was younger, which marked her with scandal for the rest of her life. Artemisia suffers from loneliness and neglect from her father, her husband, and later on, her daughter. It is interesting to study Artemisia's different relationships more closely. It seems that any man that gets close to her eventually abandons her. Do they leave her because they are selfish or because they cannot stand to be with an independent woman? Artemisia is not the typical woman in the 1600s in the sense that she has a mind of her own and she cannot sit and embroider a piece of fabric all day. Artemisia needs a man that can challenge her and treat her as an equal. Unfortunately, she is never able to find a man that has the confidence to allow a strong woman be his companion. Artemisia is also unable to maintain relationships with women. She is often the topic of gossip, due to her scandal, and she doesn't engage in the typical feminine activities of the time period. Artemisia is a misfit in the circle of women around her. The only relationship that Artemisia is able to sustain is the relationship she has with the author, Banti. Anna Banti writes several passages that indicate to the reader that she is very similar to Artemisia with their relationships and unique ideas about how the world works. Even though Banti's manuscript of the novel is burnt, her closest companion is Artemisia, who now only exists through her memory.
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To answer your question, I believe that the men in her life leave her for different reasons. Francesco, does not in fact leave her, and remained loyal to her until Artemisia refuses to allow him to go to England with her. I think her father leaves her for both reasons: while he cannot handle her being an unconventional woman, he is also very selfish. He is ashamed by her rape, and because she was viewed as a prostitute (certainly not conventional) he did not want anything to do with her. If he had stuck by his daughter's side despite all she went through, he would have hurt his reputation as a respected artist. By the section at the end of the novel in which Artemisia and her father have reunited, it could be said that he abandoned her because he did not want to allow a hectic personal life get in the way of his passion: art. Orazio wanted to focus on painting, and nothing else, and so he distanced himself to achieve this end. The other important man who gets close to her is her husband, and I definitely believe her driving him away is the only reason he abandoned her. Even when she wanted to move away from his family into a nicer home, he went with her even though that is not what he wanted in his heart. Artemisia was cruel to him, and that is why he left. We could look at her reasons for leaving him, as well, but they are far too complicated and would take pages to analyze.
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