Arthur Symons Moulin Rouge provides the reader with a vivid visual of a dance hall in the late nineteenth century. He uses his conventions to support his opinion on prostitution, as well as express gender constructions during the time. Symons starts by setting the scene with Olivier Metras’ Les Roses, a waltz created during the nineteenth century that sheds some light on Symons poem. Overall Les Roses, allows us to see the “dancers” movement through the artist’s eyes. Before I delve into the overall theme of Moulin Rouge, I believe that it is important to note that the dancers in this poem live a life similar to an escort or prostitute, which is they sell their bodies as a means of entertainment for men. This is common of the time, and expressive of the barriers that women faced. While Les Roses plays loud in the background, Symons describes the dancing of the women in the hall. He describes this dance as “The perfect rose of lights and sounds” and that the dancer’s movements to the song resemble “The rose returning into the circle of it’s rounds”. This paints a picture of the dancers spinning with their flamboyant dresses, dancing to the waltz, rising with the crescendo and continuing with the melody of Metras’ song. By using the word “rose” to describe the dancers and their movements, Symons wants his readers to see the dancers as superficial and skin deep. Since roses tend to shed their petals over a short amount of time, so do the dancers by accepting the life of a dancer. Symons is saying how their beauty is short-lived, and easily reproducible. As Symons moves farther into the poem he delves into the life of the prostitutes and some of the repercussions of this lifestyle. He describes a dancer in the group to be “alone” and “apart” from the others. As Symons continues to say “Her morbid, vague, ambiguous grace” he tells us about the moral repercussions that the dancer in his poem is feeling as the subject of such a grandeur show. He leaves us with the overhanging impression that the dancer is being watched by “mirrors” and that these mirrors are reflecting the dancers own misgivings in her profession. In the next stanza Symons continues to describe the dancers’ movements as both a “dream” and a “dance of shadows”. By using these obscure lyrics, Symons is explaining that the dance is truly just a charade for the pleasure of the men watching, not a work of art, or a show of skill. Instead he is leaving the impression that this charade dehumanizes the dancer’s by making them the object of the viewers’ lust. The “mirrors” by now have been identified as the men watching the performance, and most likely the ones that are going to later pay for sex from the dancer that they fancied the most. Now that we see the pressure put upon the women to impress these men, we can see why the dancer feels judged by them. This is tied up by the last stanza where Symons comments that the dancer is “a shadow dancing back to a shadow in the night”. Since during night time shadows cannot form, Symons is commenting on how fake both the dancer and her customer are. Whereas earlier in the poem where Symons was commenting on the victimization of these dancers, he is now continuing to explain that both the dancer and the men are the protagonist of the situation. Both are “shadows” allowing them to be thrown into the throng of a moral injustice. So, what does this say about gender in the nineteenth century? Tons, while explaining his views on the Moulin Rouge, Symons also explains the sexism that was prevalent during the nineteenth century. During this time women were seen more as objects of a man’s desire, without rights they did not have the resources to truly find themselves as human beings. Instead they are trapped without a means to survive except by selling their beauty to the very men who discriminate against them. They are “shadows” and the men are “mirrors” both focusing on the aesthetics of the situation, and none worried about who the dancer is as a person. This, is the gender problem of the nineteenth century. Sexism allowed the men of the time to see women as objects, not people, and forced the women of the time to give up their humanity in trade for a means of survival. Symons although, is convinced that the women also have added to their situation by allowing themselves to be mirrored. Even though they must follow a profession of exploitation, they are still allowing themselves to be dehumanized. They enjoy the money they make off of prostitution, and have come to accept the lifestyle as their own. This helped prolong their situation, and it was not until both genders overcame this ignorance that the problem started to remedy itself through history.
Artists Statement: In this collage I wanted to take the theme represented in Arthur Symons Moulin Rouge and give it some type of visual interpretation. Here you can see that both the man and the women are standing on the leaves of the rose. The man is smelling the flower, inspecting it for any irregularities and testing to see whether or not it is worthy of being a rose by his standards. The women on the other hand, is distressed and falling off the rose/leaning precariously over the edge. To me this symbolized the problem with gender roles in the nineteenth century by highlighting the objectification of women during this period. By showing that the man is judging the rose, and not the women shows that he is only interested in her aesthetics’. What this means for the women, is that she is trapped by the rose and forced to look upon herself in the same way. This captures the oppression that women felt during the nineteenth century. Unable to truly find themselves as people they are trapped in a world of aesthetics.
I think that it would be appropriate to label the above gender dilemma as the problem of the rose. Even though our society has advanced and women have achieved equal rights of law, the problem of the rose has not dissipated. Even today women are constantly judged and “mirrored” through countless acts of sexism. Professionally women have to work harder to achieve the same amount of respect from their male counterparts, and why is this? I believe it is due to a combination of many factors, including but not limited to physical differences and mental differences between the two genders. How does this relate to gender roles and sexuality during the nineteenth century? As I mentioned earlier the problem during this time was sexism. Because men of this time did not respect women as human beings with equal rights, women were repressed into being slaves of desire. Dancing is a great representative of this, because it shows how both women and men viewed each other during this time period. The lack of respect from both parties to the rights of women did and will continue to weigh on the female agenda. The fact of the matter is, that women have not achieved equality in the world today. Whereas they are much farther than they were in Symons time, women still face sexism in modern times. What is the reason for this? The rose, a continual obsession of aesthetics that causes people to overlook a women’s true being. Makeup, designer fashion, highlights, the list goes on and on of things that are meant to keep the rose beautiful. These adaptations, are nothing but a barrier to keep the human mind contained, and constrained within the boundaries of societal acceptance. The worst part about the whole problem is that men are not the only contributing factors. Women themselves seem to propel each other into the materialistic world of makeup and hairdoos. Similar to Symons believing that both the man and the dancer are both “shadows”, both men and women continue on the problem of sexism. The hand of man in this can be seen clearly throughout history, the abuse can truly not be downplayed. The hand of the women on the other hand is not as obvious, and can be seen in the “mirror” that Symons represents in his poem. This mirror, is the feeling that one must reflect and improve upon their outward appearance, it keeps women from looking to and improving upon the true substance of the world. Their humanity, their ability to identify themselves as a person and use this to build relationships with others.
With help from Symons I was able to identify this problem. The true question although, is whether either party can truly overcome the problem of the rose. Through what means will it take to get others to realize that the true beauty comes from the root of the plant. That which sustained, and provided the internal strength needed to provide that rose with life and beauty. That which stretched far beneath the hard soil, and propelled the rose towards the sun. This root, is the only asset needed to overcome this dilemma for men. On the other hand the understanding of both the root and the flower is what is needed for a women to truly accept her own humanity.
Works Cited: Symons, Arthur, Moulin Rouge, http://books.google.com/books?id=RR9HAAAAYAAJ&lpg=PA24&ots=8T4k0TzdK9&dq=arthur%20symons%20moulin%20rouge&pg=PA24#v=onepage&q&f=false .
