Literary Women Of Water

Literary Women Of Water

Time for another literary/mythology/historical lesson with the Doll Divine Elemental Maker, lol. Today, all four Elementals are water.


The Lady of the Lake is probably the most well known of these four women, and probably the least tragic, as she is disputably the woman who gave King Aurthur the sword Excalibur, raised Lancelott, and/or enchanted Merlin. She has also been given many different names. [link]

The Lady of Shalott is also from the world of King Aurthur, and is refferenced in Ann of Green Gables. To be honest, thanks to Ann of Green Gables, I've been confusing her for Ophelia for years. In the poem by Alfred Lord Tennyson, the Lady Of Shalott lives in an island caslte in the middle of a river that flows toward Camelott. She's under a curse that keeps her inside the castle, weaving a magical web. Under the curse, she cannot look directly out into the world, and thus has to use a magic mirror as her only window. However, as the handsome Lancelott rides by, one day, she looks out to see him, and her mirror begins to break. She casts herself off in a boat, but is dead by the time she reaches Camelott. [link]

Ophelia, most recently refferenced in the video game Brutal Legend, was the noble virgin lover of Prince Hamlett in the Shakespeareian play Hamlett. By the end of the play, she had gone mad, and it was believed because she was striken with grief both from the loss of her father, and from Hamlett insisting "get thee to a nunnery." She was heavily associated with flowers and herbs throughout the later parts of the story, including with rue, which was symbolic of regret, abortion, and suicide, as it is a poisonous plant that if taken in the right dose will cause natural abortion. It is hinted that she may have lost her virginity, but never proven. Before the story ends, Ophelia climbs into a willow and when the branch she's sitting on breaks, she is dropped in the river below. According to Hamlet's mother, Ophelia is "incapable of her own distress" and drowned. It is argued, however that she in her madness had committed suicide, though, and thus should not have been burried on sanctioned ground. Here, I have depicted her as a flower-adorned water nymph, under a sakura tree, with a pair of doves in the branch above her, symbolizing the love between her and Prince Hamlet. The flowers I couldn't place on her dress and in her hair, I tried to make look as though she were holding them, and since she was a noble lady, I gave her a few pieces of real jewlery and lined her virgin-white skirt with tuffs of white fluff/fur. [link]

And, finally;

Princess Danaë is from Greek Mythology, more specifically, from Clash of the Titans. Danaë, too, was a case of lost virginity. Her father King Acrisius was warned that if the princess gave birth to a son, it would mean his death. To avoid this, he locked her away in a tower, to keep her away from men. However, while she was locked away, Zeuse came to her and... Well, if there were ever a case for yelling 'emaculate conception', that would be it, right? Upon finding that the princess was pregnant, Acrisius cast Danaë and her child into the sea in a wooden coffin. I his anger, Zeus kills Acrisius and calls for Poseidon to release the Kraken, bringing about the prophecy. Danaë and her son Perseus managed to safely float to the island of Seriphos. Here, I have depicted Princess Danaë as a Water Nymph, having been reborn, as she had once born the child of Zeus. 1981_film