“Nelsons Academy accommodated those who were perturbed in their bodies and wished to verify, however unequivocal, however much they cost, the pleasures of the flesh were, at bottom, splendid. But, as for Madame Schreck, she catered for those who were troubled in their…souls”
There is a stark contrast between “Nelson’s Academy” and “Madame Schreck’s” that I think Carter Carter offer’s us for a reason. That is, I think Carter is commenting on something about how view women as opposed to how we engage with women. That is, the contrast offered seems to be one which comments, very subtly mind you, on the objectification of women in two different contexts. “The Academy”, is what one could putatively regard as a whorehouse, no if and’s or maybes. Nelson’s is in no way a representative of a new phenomenon but is rather a thing that people have done since the dawn of civilization- sell their bodies that is. I don’t think Carter is justifying it, but rather presenting it as a vice of humanity that, if managed properly, isn’t the most degraded existence one could live. Be that as it may, as it stands in contrast to Madame Schreck’s, it seems to represent a new phenomenon that has permeated the modern experience, pornography. That is, it seems to present women as creatures of a subhuman level and more importantly as spectacles to be watched through glass. However, this is not enough, but rather the following exchange between Fevvers and Mr. Rosencrauntz, seems to characterize how detrimental such spectacles become. Indeed, as Fevvers states above, Madame Schreck’s was “catered for those who were troubled in their….souls.” More evidence needs to be cited but for now let us turn briefly to another transgressive text which also demonstrates the danger of the pornographic gaze in the postmodern, or modern experience. Take for instance John Self’s relationship with Martina Twain versus Selina Street in Martin Amis’s Money. Selina Street is described by John from the beginning in strictly pornographic terms. What he enjoys about her is a body and a sexuality that is a spectacle. From her sexy outfits, to their economical sexual exchanges, and even with Self’s proclivity for hitting women, his relationship to her is one that seems sublimated with the notion that women are objects. Again, this is offered in contrast to another relationship between Martina Twain and Self, which is the antithesis of the aforementioned. In the end however, John could not help his pornographic tendencies and destroys himself by making himself and Selina a sexual spectacle in the eyes of the women he actually loves.
Granted these assertions need more developing, but this theme of the sexual spectacle seems prevalent in the texts and to a certain extent is perhaps characteristic of a post-modern predicament regarding how men and women engage the world.
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