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영어

The study of the contiguity between death and femininity in Western literature has been made by many scholars such as Beth Bassein, Elisabeth Bronfen, Dorothy Dinnerstein, Nina Auerbach, and Bram Dijikstra. The Arts and literatures of the fin-de-siècle especially give lots of connecting links to the notion of death and femininity. Of course, the tendency to see death as being masculine has been existed. According to Karl Guthke, who did a memorable study about the correlation and identification of death and femininity, the gender of death in the Middle Ages was uncertain because one could not decide whether Eve or Adam really brought death upon mankind. In the ages of the Renaissance and the Baroque, death was represented as demon who had no specific gender. It was in the Romantic Age when death was clearly defined as masculine: the motifs of “death and the maiden” and “death and the bride” became prevalent. It was in the end of the 19th century, however, that death was redefined and regarded as feminine. Lilith and Salambo were female figures who predominated in the arts and literary scenes of this century. Whether death is redefined as good or bad, masculine or feminine, the tendency to see women as keepers and carriers for death will be no more kept and valid in its old usage and context. To see woman as again the embodiment of love and regeneration will provide an alternative for the Western world which is death-oriented in its pursuit of destructive masculinity, violence, and war.