Abstract: | Oscar Wildeâs The Harlot's House presents the authorâs own images of love and lust with the help of puppetry imagery; he refers to prostitutes as âmechanical grotesquesâ, âautomatonsâ, âskeletonsâ, âpuppet[s]â, âmarionette[s]â and ultimately âthe deadâ. He could hardly find more synonyms for âmanipulated, lifeless dollsâ. Women are misogynistically viewed as objects of desire and subjected to the male glance. All these images represent in fact Wildeâs attempt to create âart for artâs sakeâ by illustrating decay and depravity through a disrespectful depiction of harlots, dehumanizing them and stealing them the gender identity. The women, described as phantomatic, slim and inert, controlled by a puppeteer, are in fact the representation of the true loveâs decay and the lustâs increasing attraction. The female puppets/dolls try to imitate real feelings but cannot do this because of their wires pulled mechanically. |