SLSL "TSR" Swamp Wench

[jbor]

on 4/12/02 2:03 AM, Scott Badger at lupine at ncia.net wrote:

> What I find most interesting is the line, "a never totally violated
> Pasiphae". Why "never totally"? Is Levine a beast? Is "Buttercup" a
> disguise? What minotaurs would be their issue? and so forth.

I think there's a double play on the notion of Levine being a "plowboy",
which fits in with the Biblical "seed" stuff early on. The description of
the girl as a "never totally violated Pasiphaë" fits OK because of how the
seduction was orchestrated. It indicates that she isn't being raped by
Levine or bewitched by gods in being drawn to him (in fact, she is the one
who instigates the sexual encounter), and that she perceives Levine as, and
is sexually attracted to him because, he comes across as a sort of brute
animal (a "white bull" in the myth, his "animal magnetism"). Like the bull,
he has emerged from "the waves" after the hurricane. It's a fairly shallow
allusion, a bit like the G&S one, but it makes sense. The various allusions
relating to her (little Buttercup, Betty Coed, Pasiphaë, a "swamp wench")
build up a fairly comprehensive picture of different aspects of the girl's
character and personality.

best