Of Snake Ladies and Other Reptiles. The Subversive Transition from the Femme Fatale to the Godmother in Vernon Lee´s Prince Alberic and The Snake Lady.

Abstract

Humans have always felt attracted to the figure of the femme fatale because it represents a ‘beautiful yet deadly’ woman at the same time. Then, it has always been taken for granted they were a model not to be imitated—at least, this was what one could hear internally because of their fear. Heirs to the values of a patriarchal society and to a Jewish-Christian tradition, women have been carrying a stigma—and they still carry it—if they do not conform to the rules. In her short ghost story, ‘Prince Alberic and the Snake Lady’, vernon Lee tried to show us the fears of the women of her time. Our protagonist, Oriana, is the epitome of the femme fatale who fights against society, religion and she will have to demonstrate that she deserves a place in a predominantly masculine world which overcomes her.