Tasting the Whip: The Polarisation of The ‘Virgin’ and the ‘Whore’ in the works of Leopold Von Sacher-Masoch and the Marquis de Sade

This theme is very much reflected in Venus: the protagonist, Severin instigates the masochistic relationship with Wanda, with her initially refusing him, saying that “[his] way is not the way to win and hold [her].” Ultimately, though, Severin manages to coerce Wanda into experimenting with his ideal relationship dynamic, though she does so with the reasoning that she would find it “amusing”, and because he gives her an ultimatum to either marry him, or to engage in the masochistic relationship. It is worth noting, however, that throughout the novel, Wanda has moments of withdrawing her exuberance for the relationship – often vocalising that she either feels that she cannot perform the role Severin wishes her to, or that she no longer wants to participate, and would rather engage in a more typical romantic situation. Despite this, however, there are also several notable moments in which it appears evident that Wanda does, indeed, meet her given role with exuberance and genuine engagement; even warning Severin that he has “corrupted [her] imagination and inflamed [her] blood”, and that she “is beginning to like the things [he] speaks of.” It is difficult to place, in any solid terms, both Wanda and Severin’s feelings about their situation; the theme of duality, perhaps, extends even to the roles each of the couple play. At times, Severin is desperately begging Wanda to be cruel to him, and at others, asking her to marry him. Wanda, too, experiences this polarised opinion of the relationship, sometimes wishing to be as cruel to Severin as he wishes, and at other times, recoiling entirely. Rather than this being a discussion of one partner holding power over the other, therefore, it may be more prudent to suggest that the theme being discussed throughout Venus in Furs, aside from masochism, was sexual repression and the inability to express one’s sexual urges. Severin recalls to Wanda that his first encounters with sexual cruelty at the hands of a dominant woman was as a result of his Aunt performing them on him when he was a child – much like those examples given in the previous chapter of inappropriate sexual conduct with a maternal figure leading to later sexual abnormality. Within Sigmund Freud’s The History of Psychoanalytic Movement, he discusses the concept of ‘infantile sexuality’ as a result of childhood sexual traumas. These sexual traumas, according to Freud, represented themselves in adult psychoanalysis patients as forms of mental repression, in which the mind would ‘bury’ traumatic memories, which could only be accessed through hypnosis, or dreams. Within Venus in Furs, therefore, I believe Masoch was describing two distinct forms of this repression – the personal, and the societal – and that these applied to Wanda and Severin respectively. Wanda, it appears, struggles with the personal repression of sexual urges. While she makes it clear throughout the novel that she specifically does not want to partake in Severin’s fantasy, the moments where she shows not only interest in the concept, but a penchant for it, suggest at an inherent desire to partake. When discussing the idea of Severin being sexually enslaved to her, Masoch writes that Wanda “[doesn’t] understand [herself] any longer” – suggesting the appearance of repressed desires which she had previously not considered the existence of – emphasised by the statement that “dangerous forces lie within [Wanda]” and that Severin “awaken[s] them.” While at the time of Venus in Fur’s writing, Freud’s theory regarding psychoanalysis and repressed sexuality had yet to be conceptualised, the langue Masoch uses seems to predict the idea of an underlying, sub-conscious layer of desire, which Wanda becomes aware of through Severin, and yet continues to repress.  This provides an interesting discussion surround the idea of polarity which was briefly visited in the previous chapter – Wanda is at once, both the manifestation of the ‘virgin’ and the ‘whore’ in regards to her desires. As much as she may retreat from Severin’s ideas in an almost prudish need to maintain her own ideals of what a relationship should entail, her inherent and repressed sexual urges indicate an inclination towards the ‘whorish’ cruelty and dominance which Severin craves. This presents an interesting dichotomy: when Severin wishes for Wanda to be cruel to him, and she refuses in favour of wanting him to be with her in a more classical sense, Severin reacts as if this, itself, is an act of cruelty – often acting more wounded than when she is physically or emotionally harming him. In this regard, therefore, Masoch seems to cast an air of villainy on the ideal of virginity or prudishness: by refusing Severin the cruelty he desires, she is being more villanous, and causing him to suffer as a result, than if she had agreed to harm him. There is the implication, therefore, that the way to please Severin, and for the pair to live harmoniously, would be for Wanda to submit to his vision and her own inherent sexuality, and allow him to live a life in her servitude. The aforementioned societal repression of sexuality manifests itself more potently in Severin than the personal: he is, after all, aware of his sexual fantasies, and does not need any encouragement or coercion to manifest them. Rather, the repression is performed by society, and the view of sex and sexuality as both restrictive and heteronormative held within this era. Notwithstanding the depraved and sexually violent nature of Severin’s sexual impulses, the idea of Wanda in the dominant role presented some subversion of typical 19th century sexuality and gender ideals. On the discussion of sadomasochism, Freud suggested that there was inherent masculinity appointed to the sadist role, and femininity to that of the masochist - by enacting the relationship Severin envisaged, therefore, Wanda and Severin would be participating in a multitude of sexual and social taboos.

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