The Image of Death in Symbolism

The first part:

In the field of western art and literature, ancient Greek and Roman myths and bibles have always been the source of creation. In Roman mythology, the image of death includes Thanatos, the twin of the night god, who often appears as an elegant and handsome male figure, holding a torch and standing upside down (figure1); Or hades and hades in Greek mythology, appearing as monsters (Figure 2); Or Clouseau among the three goddesses, the weaver of the thread of destiny, the huge spinning wheel that keeps turning, the giant genus that is responsible for measuring the length of fate line, and Aytop who cut the thread of life at the end of his life. The god of death in the Bible is included in Revelation [3], the reaper with a sickle (Grim Reaper, Figure 3) or the god of death among the Four Horsemen (Figure 4); As the messenger of God, a god of death with an hourglass, a crown and a sword (King of Death, Figure 5). In addition to classical myths and bibles, there are of course other symbols that are independent of traditional images and have their own systems, such as skeleton (skeleton) represented by skeleton, and so on. However, the same motif has different images in works of art, and each era also has its own emphasis.

In the Middle Ages and the early Renaissance, people's view of death was closely combined with the teaching of the Bible. The core idea at that time was that after God created man, Adam and Eve fell and were expelled from the Garden of Eden, because the price of sin and fall was death, which led to human beings having to face death [4]. The original sin of mankind comes from Adam and Eve's betrayal of God. Instead of obeying God's will, they were tempted to eat apples from the tree of life. They left the Garden of Eden until the end of their lives and returned to the kingdom of God again. So "sin" and "death" have become relative nouns, and Adam and his descendants must pay the price of death for this original sin [5]. Prints are like Dance of Death by Hans holbein (1538). From the very beginning, the first four works take the creation, temptation, depravity and expulsion of the Garden of Eden in Genesis as the background to remind people not to forget the essence and source of death. The Book of Time is a prayer book used in medieval Europe. The illustrations in the book often show typical skeletons, sickles and swords accompanied by death. Death is not only associated with original sin, corruption and threats, but also the four knights mentioned in the Revelation of the Bible and the god of death symbolizing kingship often appear in literature and art. Diu Lei's prints (Figures 4 and 5) show that the god of death wears a crown, rides a horse, wields a sword, or counts people's dying years with an hourglass; In Jean Colombe's illustration of The Book of Time (Figure 12), Death even appeared as a knight, bravely riding a white horse and leading the army of corpses wrapped in a shroud, which made the secular army rout and looked frightened. In Europe, which has been occupied by countless wars, diseases and famines for centuries, it seems natural that such an authoritative image of death exists. Because death is related to Adam's original sin, the personification of death at this time is mostly presented as a male image [6].

During the Renaissance, there was another image with erotic symbols. Take the works of Hans Baldon (figure 13, 14, 15) and nicklaus Manuel (figure 16) as examples: in the painting Death and the Girl, if a beautiful young girl dresses herself casually with a mirror, she echoes death with an hourglass. "death and the maiden" describes a girl who has been mastered by death, with helpless prayer and frightened expression, and obediently lets death lead her by the hair. The third "Death and Women" is more erotic. The background is a cemetery engraved with a cross. Death has completely embraced the woman in her arms. The woman's action is to untie her gauze and wait for the kiss of death in fear. Between the death of nicklaus Manuel and the maid, it seems that the girl is no longer afraid, but meekly welcomes the kiss of death. Ragged and terrible death surrounds the plump and youthful body, uncovers the girl's dress with obscene gestures and explores the depths of ambiguity. The kiss of death symbolizes that Satan tempted Adam and Eve to bite the apple. The consciousness of death and gender shame appears in this fallen world while betraying God. At this level, death has become the incarnation of Satan and evil, without the connotation of authority and the price of original sin.

Dance of death is another recurring motif. Medieval manuscripts recorded that dancing in cemeteries was common before the European continent completely converted to Catholicism. 1493 Wohlgemuth's woodcut (Figure 17) records a legend: On Christmas Eve, when the mass of St. Magnus's Church in Medeborg was still going on, 18 men and 10 women ignored the church's teaching and sang and danced in the nearby cemetery. Therefore, they were cursed by missionaries and could not stop dancing as punishment [8]. Another legend tells the story of three nobles who happened to meet three dead people (figure 18). The dead man said to three people, "We were what you are now, and you will become what we are now" [9]. In this story, moral education and exhortation are emphasized, which also opens up the dual expression between death and the living: the death and the living who lead people to death are actually the same incarnation, and the contrast between them shows that no matter who is strong, whoever is strong will face death, and the dance of death even laughs at people's struggle for worldly wealth, no matter how many trophies will eventually disappear and become disillusioned. Legends like this, whether it is really the source of the dance of death or not, are really inspired by artists and writers. At present, the earliest existing stone carving is the Innocent Church of 1424.

Dance of Death,/kloc-works by Hans holbein and nicklaus Manuel in the 6th century (Figures 20, 2 1, 22 and 23),/kloc-works by Rodov and Conrad Meyer in the 7th century, Toden Danz (Figure 24), 18. Thomas Rolandson/Kloc-The Dance of Death in England in the 9th century (Figure 26) all followed the traditional motif and expression, using the image of a skeleton to express death, intervening in different mass classes and situations, and conveying different meanings in different time and space cultural environments.

By the18th century and the first half of19th century, the image of death had a new look in the debate between Lessing and other scholars. Lessing's article "How the ancients expressed death" (1769) pointed out that in the classical art of Greek and Roman period, death was the image of Thanatos, a happy, caring and handsome boy. It is generally believed that it is a sculpture of eros/Amor, which should represent death. It was not until the intervention of Catholic forces that death became a frightening skeleton [10]. He mentioned in the article: "The state of death is nothing to be afraid of. Facing death is only a transition, and death itself is not terrible "; It is also said that "ancient artists did not use the image of a skeleton to represent death, but used the twin brothers of Sleeping God to describe death and Sleeping God at the same time, and the similarity between them naturally made us have the same association" [1 1]. Lessing used the marble carving on the ancient sarcophagus or monument to describe the teenager holding the torch upside down, and his posture was similar to that of the sleeping god, thus demonstrating that the handsome teenager in the works of art should be Thanatos, not Amor as claimed by other scholars. At that time, Adolf Kloz held the opposite opinion on the reappearance of death or Cupid, thinking that Cupid was completely different from death and presented in different ways. Like Herder, who is close to Lessing's argument, although the two cannot be completely equated, sometimes death can also appear as Cupid [12]. Although there is no consistent conclusion in these debates and there are indeed omissions in Lessing's exposition, in any case, it reveals the concept of death in this period, which already contains the connotation of calmness, peace, friendliness and even sweetness. Death itself is no longer terrible. Death incarnates as a beautiful boy, lover or friend, and is integrated with the redemption of Christ Jesus. Death keeps people away from disease, sadness, pain and other secular disasters and brings eternal gospel.

In the first half of19th century, the image of death not only conforms to eternity, but also exists in daily life. Daily life is full of dangerous death traps, but people still live in a daze. In fact, death is where you least expect it. At the same time, death, like the medieval dance of death, must be faced regardless of gender or social class. However, different from the religion and atonement consciousness in the Middle Ages, the turmoil in the national political environment and the drastic changes in the economy and society in the19th century, the death reflected in the works of art removed the frightening image in the Middle Ages and added many features that were integrated into the actual situation, and sometimes even approached cuteness. For example, Thomas Rolandson's Dance of Death accurately satirizes people from all walks of life (Figure 29); The series of prints "glanville's Eternal Journey" (Figure 30) were made on the eve of the 1830 Revolution, showing the life of the bourgeoisie at that time, just like a train of death going everywhere, in which death disguised itself as a patriot, socialism or lust. No matter who it is, it is inevitable to catch this express train. A person's life is small and short, just like being in.

/kloc-the first half of the 0/9th century emphasized the omnipresence and multiple characteristics of death. In the second half of this century, the personification of death, whether in literature or art, has gradually changed. In the art of symbolism, aestheticism and decadence at the end of the century, the gender difference of death is highlighted, and two images appear in the way of presentation: the angel of death and the witch. At the same time, the image of the mother is more or less integrated into it. Before, it was not completely without the convention of taking female death as the image. For example, the dead in the wet murals of Pisa in the14th century were wearing long hair with female sexual characteristics (Figure 3 1). However, it was not until the second half of the 19th century that the theme of femininity really developed and got rid of the traditional expressions of religion or myth. Following the overlapping images of death and love in the18th century, the two themes of death and love in the19th century are more closely integrated, just like D.G. Luo Saidi's poem [14], which directly identifies death and love without the mythological implication of classical art:

Different from the images of death in the past, Luo Saidi's poems clearly show that this period combines the images of women and death, love and death. The angel of death, seducing women, or deadly women seem to have double meanings, including representing death itself or death, and the messenger of death. Carlos Schwabe 1895- 1990's work Death of a Grave Digger (Figure 32) depicts a beautiful girl. From the same image of the angel of death in his early prints, we can confirm that this girl is a god of death completely different from the traditional image in the past. In the picture, an old grave digger was surprised to see the angel of death arrival at work. He seemed surprised to see the angel crouching next to the grave, with slender willows and angel wings gently surrounding him. The angel's serene face and slightly closed eyes are like the Virgin Mary, holding the pale green light of the underworld in one hand and pointing to heaven in the other, as if promising another heaven. The grave digger's posture of looking up seems to be looking forward to redemption, and death has become a beautiful redemption. The background is a typical cemetery covered with snow. On the contrary, there is a paradoxical contrast between the white death in the world and the green tone of death, which should represent the new green and sublimate death into an eternal blessing. In this painting, Carlos Schwabe vaguely juxtaposes the young girl and the old man, the contrast between death and life, eternity and the passage of time, the pure and sacred virgin and the decaying and mortal body. All this subverts the image of death inherent in the past.

The same is the personification of women into death. Two paintings by Jack Malczewski named Thanatos (1989) contain more erotic meanings. Malczewski transformed Thanatos, who was originally a young man, into a woman with a beautiful figure, and her elegant posture was as perfect as a sculpture. But her wings, sickle and whetstone in her hand all show the identity of death, and the small bag with whetstone hangs in her abdomen, suggesting reproductive ability and linking death with sex. The background season of this painting is just the opposite of Schwabe's painting. Grassland and dense forests indicate spring or early summer, which is the season for all things to breed. Animals in the distance are sitting quietly in front of the classical colonnade building. An unknown old man looks like he is undressing, as if he is waiting for his death. Another painting, also called Thanatos, has a stronger breath of spring. A god of death in a red robe appeared in gloomy Yamashita, just like a beautiful woman with a sickle. The background is suddenly covered with lilies, lilacs, tulips and other flowers symbolizing love. Death looked back at the old man at the window. We didn't know whether he was asleep or dead. In any case, the fear of death does not exist in these two paintings at all, and the religious salvation significance still existing in Schwabe's paintings is all transformed into hints of sex and love here.

George Frederick Watts's paintings inject maternal love into the image of death. In the painting "Death Crowned Innocent" (1886-1887), death removes all the symbols of threat, leaving only wings to gently encircle a baby. Soft light shines on the mother-like death and the quiet sleeping baby. The whole color is sacred blue light, and death and death become a warm scene for loving mothers to take care of their children and sleep. In Time, Death and Judgment (1884), time is a strong young man, and the goddess of justice is flying on it. Death is a beautiful girl in white, wearing a headscarf and closing her eyes to meditate. Exquisite clothes folds show women's obedience and femininity, like a myth without fear and threat. The angel of death in 1870 (Figure 38) is not only a woman, but also a savior who leads people to hope. Watts himself explained the painting in 1893: "I gave her a pair of wings, so she didn't look like the virgin." She holds a child who may not come into this world and provides shelter. Beside her, there are silent angels invisible to mortals. Under the altar of death, many worshippers hurried: old beggars came to wait; The nobles gave their crowns; The soldiers unloaded their swords and surrendered; The poor sick little girl is hugging the feet of the angel of death. I hope the death I painted has no fear in it [15] ".

In gustave moreau's Young People and Death (1865,), death also appears as a young girl. The boy in the foreground is walking down the marble stairs, holding flowers and laurels, showing his strong body. In the rear, there is a light female figure floating in mid-air, holding a sword and an hourglass in both hands, so that the viewer can undoubtedly identify the identity of death. The flowers in a man's hand are in contrast to the flowers scattered on the floor in front, just like the laurel of achievement and the symbol of death in the rear-are these symbols pointing out that short-lived fame can still override death, or that all achievements can't escape the disillusionment of death? The little angel holding the torch on the lower left is also a metaphor of death, and the blue bird flying out of the screen on the right symbolizes the soul leaving the body, implying the ultimate death. The gorgeous colors and dreamy atmosphere of the whole picture set off the complex integration of classical symbols and biblical meanings. The death presented here is not only a gentle girl, but her melancholy face makes the picture more poetic and sad.

Alfred Kubin's work "1902 The Best Doctor" uses a deadly female image to connect the image of a doctor with that of a god of death. A dying body was lying flat on the bed, wrapped in white clothes like a shroud, praying with his hands folded, and his legs were too stiff, which was very strange. The lady standing by wearing a well-tailored evening dress can recognize the identity of death from the skull and reach out gracefully and proudly to cover the face of the man in bed. This ghostly female image also refers to the medical behavior at that time. Is it to help people enter the country of death faster? The so-called best doctor, the best medical treatment and the only way to get rid of illness are all combined with death, religious and spiritual comfort, and the attractive but fatal charm of women in this painting. The Death of the Bride by Thomas Cooper Goch (1895) is also an ambiguous connection between pure angel and fatal temptation (Figure 4 1). The bride in a black veil is surrounded by exquisite and beautiful flowers, but it symbolizes death and fleeting poppies; She slightly lifted the veil, lazy eyes and faint smile, which made the viewer fall into the fog of invitation and rejection, but also into the quagmire of bliss and death.

The above images of death are more or less erotic, but the relationship between women, death, death and prostitutes can only be said to be brought to the extreme when it comes to Fé licien ROPS (1833-1898). Rops brilliantly describes the irresistible attraction of attractive women or prostitutes who meet customers on street corners. The protagonist of Death at the Ball (1865- 1875, Figure 42) is a skeleton wearing a Japanese coat, dancing hard at the ball, and a looming man is watching behind him, estimating the gorgeous merchandise display. Men have mastered gender superiority and power, but they cannot avoid the threat of death. Dancing to death (1865, Figure 43) is the same structure as being seen, but the posture and decoration of almost naked women are more vulgar. This scene is probably a strip bar rather than a dance. The gaudy flowers on the hat cover the skulls under the brim, and the sex trade is not hidden under the short skirt.

The third part:

The view of death in the Middle Ages focused on sin and depravity, while the Renaissance and Baroque emphasized the role of Satan and evil lust. 18th century and19th century, death became similar to the handsome god of love, or like a friend, and the focus of attention was the pursuit of eternity and immortality. By the end of19th century, what caused artists and writers in this period to use a large number of female images to present death? As psychologists and psychoanalysts say, "Men face women's neurosis" ("Men face women's neurosis? -vis female ")? Or what sociologists say, is it a kind of resistance of men to the rising feminist forces at that time? Or, like the refutation put forward by feminism, this phenomenon just shows the fear and misogyny complex hidden in men's hearts, just as Eve was portrayed as the incarnation of the devil in the Middle Ages. All these theories can explain some different phenomena, but the most important question is why did this happen at this time?

Freud, who was active at the end of 19 and the beginning of the 20th century, directly linked death with the image of his mother. He believes that according to the relationship between men and women, women can be divided into three categories: breeders, companions and destroyers. These three images must be presented with maternal elements, so they are transformed into the mother herself (reproduction), the lover (companionship) chosen according to the mother's image, and then the earth mother who accepts him at the end of her life (destruction). The three fates in Greek mythology also combined these three images. In The Interpretation of Dreams, the first one is Closso, the weaver of the thread of destiny, who leads the thread of destiny to make people exist; the second one is the giant genus responsible for measuring fate line, who gives him strength; and the third one is Aytop, the incarnation of death, who cuts off the lifeline. Freud linked the three stages of life, birth, fate and death, with the image of his mother. The anxiety of death can be explained most clearly from a passage in the complete works: "As originally accepted from his mother, an old man is looking for women's love in vain, and only the third goddess of fate, the silent goddess of death, will hold him in his arms." With the development of psychoanalysis and psychology, the relationship between women, mothers and death has been excavated from people's subconscious, which is also closely related to the reproduction of art and literature.

Sociologically, Adorno and Hawke Harmo put forward in Dialectics of Enlightenment 1947 that the scientific progress in the Enlightenment period closely linked the essence of femininity with the concepts of "nature" and "biological cycle". They believe that/kloc-artists in the late 20th century, such as Morrow, Wilde and huesmann, experienced the threat of nature and transformed it into a superficial mask form and an over-artificial image: the women in the works were all covered with jewels, colorful makeup covered up the original "natural" essence, and excessive clothing was used to beautify their gradually degraded bodies. At the same time, there is another reason for the fear and oppression of women's gender in the Enlightenment: in the Enlightenment, the biological instinct of animals is opposed to human rationality, and if women approach biological and animal instinct, it is irrational and hostile to the patriarchal society. This statement can be further seen from Simon Bova's exposition that she traced the projection of rationalism in the Enlightenment to the more primitive and fundamental anxiety of men, that is, the anxiety about the connection between women and nature. The biological function displayed by women reminds men of their own biological source, the source of their creation, so, of course, the future will come to death. Women's biological functions, such as fertility, menstruation, raising children, menopause and so on, all show a series of biological cycles, and also emphasize that after life is born, it will inevitably lead to decline and destruction. Therefore, the images of women and mothers who represent life and love also symbolize the power of death. She can give life and also bring death. She mentioned in the article:

When the mother gave her son life, she foretold his death. Love tempts lovers to give up their lives and fall asleep at the end of their lives. The Legend of Tristan profoundly shows the connection between love and death, which contains quite profound truth. People come into the world in the flesh, and achieve themselves in love, and this flesh is also doomed to the final grave of death. The alliance between women and death is established here; The fertile soil that breeds the lush growth of grain and the bumper harvest afterwards are like an organic whole, and both sides are indispensable. Beneath the sweet but false and charming appearance of death, it is the creepy bone of death. [ 18]

/kloc-in the second half of the 0/9th century, the changes in medical discourse about body and gender also influenced literary and artistic creation. /kloc-the sexual fantasy interwoven with pleasure and pain in the 0/8th century changed to concern about pathology in the 0/9th century, and gender-related diseases became the source of people's understanding of the body in the 0/9th century. The understanding of the human body continued until the Enlightenment, when the view of the body transformed the corruption and original sin in18th century theology into the body known in medicine. Karl Ernst von bell saw the eggs of mammals under the microscope in 1827. Since then, medical views on gender differences have focused on the performance under the microscope. What was originally "visible" to the naked eye only represented "surface", but what was originally invisible and had to be displayed by scientific instruments was called "invisible". Cytopathology, published by rudolf virchow 1858, completely shifts the root cause of diseases from physiological explanation to cellular level, and holds that all problems should be understood from the changes of cells. In this framework, patients, or the whole human body, disappeared in medical research and were replaced by cells under the microscope and dismembered bodies. Gender differences are also hidden in cells, rooted in cells like diseases, waiting to detonate like time bombs, and become the source of all diseases and depravity [19]. Based on this knowledge of physiology and pathology, the views and explanations of sexually transmitted diseases in the19th century are very different from those in the past: from obvious external symptoms to concern about the source of the disease hidden in cells, from concern about the pain caused by the disease itself to concern about the "real source" of the disease, which is related to the patient's internal background, thus making the stigma of the disease more natural and acceptable. Virchow's cytopathology expands the metaphor of the body into a well-organized national machine. Different levels of power operate like different levels of body tissue, from the cellular level, various organs, various parts of the body and even the whole individual. And a corrupt cell leads to a corrupt organ, and the whole individual will eventually be destroyed [20]. The presentation in the painting clearly expresses the view (Figure 44) that women with syphilis have become a symbol of death and moral corruption: the skull and head are hidden under gorgeous costumes and beautiful masks, the little angel flying above the clouds symbolizes love, and the sickle buried under the curtain shows the inevitable death threat.

/kloc-Pauline Tarnowsky, a pathologist and doctor at the end of 0/9 century, published a book about the appearance of prostitutes at that time. Among them, a lot of descriptions are given about their head shape and size, color of hair and eyes, family background, discussion of their knowledge level, and the corruption of their lives. The special abnormal expressions of prostitutes' faces are also recorded in detail, including: asymmetric face, collapsed or poorly shaped nose, overgrowth of lateral skull, simplified ear shape and so on. These characteristics indicate the lowest and ugliest female image, and also mean approaching the most primitive nature of human beings. The simplified ear shape misappropriates Darwin's genetic concept, and then rationalizes these characteristics into a fate that is inherited and will be passed on [2 1]. In this way, women engaged in special industries are separated from ordinary women. The so-called "normal" and "abnormal" class division makes men control diseases or deaths that they could not control before, or I should say, they reasonably think they control these unknowable phenomena. Gilman also pointed out that these theories about gender, special industry, race and so on not only control women's bodies, but also include the projection of men's self-body control; The control of sex actually reflects men's anxiety about the control of their original nature.

Before and after the turn of the century, even in the twentieth century, the images of women's death appeared constantly, perhaps because of the double standards of society, biology, psychology, philosophy and culture on gender and the unacceptability of the emerging women's liberation movement, which made women become scapegoats for all human life and social evils in the mainstream culture at that time. Under the male-dominated trial at the end of this century, she became the embodiment of destructive power, with innate mysterious power, engaged in the work of destroying personal life, which was a catastrophe of the stable structure of things in the universe. At the end of this report, a poem by Gottfried Benn, a poet and doctor, was quoted to illustrate the death admitted by senior intellectuals at that time. This is the scene of a drowning girl being dissected in 19 12 described by our doctor. In addition to doing autopsy and finding the cause, he also recorded the description of pathology into a very beautiful poem, comparing a drowning prostitute to a dead mouse, while the secret in a woman's body reveals her own portrayal-the incarnation of the source of disease, evil and death:

Sickle Cronus

People confuse him with the name of Cronus, the incarnation of time, so the image of Cronus holding a sickle (or a sickle with a long handle) becomes a symbol of the passage of time. In this sense, the sickle becomes a symbol of death, and it is natural for death to "choose" it as a weapon.

Wearing a black robe, not showing his face and holding a sickle are his most striking features.