I am about half way through "Sorrows of Satan" and as reading about Countess Elton I was heavily reminded of all those Meth pictures that are mass distributed amongst HighSchool kids.
On page 159 of "Sorrows of Satan" we learn that Countess Elton is paralyzed because she suffers "the worst of all the physical punishment that can befall a 'rapid lady'. AS a 'rapid lady' she "did everything that could be done by a woman at her worst and wildest" (159). Of all her phyiscal ailments her husband descibes The worst as being the disfiguration of her face.
"She's dreadful to look at--positively dreadful!--no longer human, you know. She used to be a lovely woman,--now she is literally frightful. Her eyes especially;--the are as scared and wild as if she had seen the devil(164).
http://www.methmadness.com/facesofmeth.html
Drug use, including meth, often leads to death because of overdose or other a weakened system. Drugs lead to prostitution and other crimes such as car theft. All of this is of course common knowledge but it is to help make my point. Darwin claims that vices of the weaker people is an action of Natural selection itself. Even though the immoral breed more nature balances out because vice leads to death.
first off:
ReplyDeleteawesome creepy picture!
second:
Your post made me wonder about Lady Elton's vice: men. "She had scores of lovers- and I believe one of them cleared off her husband's turf debts,- the Earl consenting gladly..." (159). Here I believe that Corelli implies Lady Elton's "drug" is unfaithfulness to one man and to me it almost implies that perhaps Lady's Elton lewd behaviour may have resulted in STDs as a moral punishment. This illustrates something of Corelli's moral stance if she is able to make Lady Elton physically degenerate because she loved someone or someones other than her husband.