For her portfolio project, Shannon Sullivan has created four beautiful watercolor portraits that capture the resilience and strength in the experiences of premodern women. Each portrait is crafted with care and intentionality: the vibrant colors reflect the vivid illumination and rubrication of medieval codices, while each figure is framed to accentuate her centrality in British literary history. Shannon offers her scholarly and artistic rationale behind the project:
One large misconception that I used to hold was that [premodern] women were not well represented within literature nor did they write any literature from these time periods. My final project is an attempt to debunk these myths about women in pre-1800’s British literature. I chose four different representations of women in literature that readers from today would admire or see as a partial representation of themselves. The figures I want to depict should move modern readers away from the idea that pre-modern women were submissive, weak, and always thought of or depicted in a negative light. They are characters that display traits of strength, curiosity, resilience, and intelligence. With these four diverse women, modern readers can hopefully be given an impression that pre-modern people were humans, just like we are.
In the portraits that follow, she invokes the figures of Wealhtheow, the Wife of Bath, the Empress of The Blazing World, and Fantomina for us to consider in the present. We have supplied her thoughtful commentary to better appreciate the skill and motivation behind the art.
Wealhtheow (Beowulf, anonymous)
I was pleasantly surprised to hear Professor Winstead’s explanation of the role of the Queen in Beowulf, which is to act as a peacemaker in one of the highest positions and to defend her family. It was also surprising to hear that Beowulf was written anonymously and it is important to note that women could have had influence over or written the story. Queen Wealtheow demonstrates dexterity in her communication as well as power to influence her powerful family. For that reason, she is portrayed looking calm and powerful, with purple behind her as well as a staff and crown to represent her royalty.
The Wife of Bath (The Canterbury Tales, Chaucer)
Although there were questions raised about the toxic relationships she has with her husbands as well as her stereotypical depiction as a “lustful” woman, [The Wife of Bath] is still a character of strength who followed her heart despite common church teachings about sexuality and women’s roles. In my painting, The Wife of Bath is depicted in red as a beautiful and “fair” woman, as this is how she is described in the Canterbury Tales. She walks down a path, both physically and metaphorically, as we read about the fascinating, winding path she follows in her life with her husbands as well as the path she travels down during her pilgrimages.
The Empress (The Blazing World, Cavendish)
Not only did the female Margaret Cavendish create the sci-fi genre, but she created a wonderful portrayal of a resilient woman who becomes Empress through marriage after being kidnapped and surviving a storm. This woman, who has no name, is also very interested in science, philosophy, and environmentalism, fostering these ideals in the new world she stumbles upon. [. . .] The Empress is depicted wearing an unconventional crown of leaves to represent the [eco-conscious] aspects of Cavendish’s work as well as earthy colors such as green and blue. The stars shine behind her as a nod to her interest in science and astronomy, as well as to give her more of an ethereal feel.
Fantomina (Fantomina, Haywood)
Fantomina is a very clever and strong-willed character, who takes on the roles of many of the jobs that lower class women could have in her society through her disguise and deception of Beauplaisir. She disguises herself as a prostitute, a widow, a maid, and an aristocrat. By the end of the story, she is brave enough to tell her mom and Beauplasir how she manipulated Beauplaisir and does not play a victim role, even if that meant she would be shipped to a convent. I depicted Fantomina as a young, pretty woman holding a mask to represent the disguises she devised. She is looking to the side, not straight ahead, to her unknown future filled with new experiences and adventures at the monastery as well as a continually evolving future for all depictions of women in literature.
