Ancient archetypes is described to have enchanted gods, demons and sages alike. The
femme fatale archetype exists in the culture,
folklore and myths of many cultures. Ancient mythical or legendary examples include
Inanna,
Lilith,
Circe,
Medea,
Clytemnestra,
Lesbia,
Tamamo no Mae, and
Visha Kanyas. Historical examples from classical times include
Cleopatra and
Messalina, as well as the biblical figures
Delilah,
Jezebel, and
Salome. An example from Chinese literature and traditional history is
Daji.
Early Western culture to the 19th century The
femme fatale was a common figure in the European
Middle Ages, often portraying the dangers of unbridled female sexuality. The pre-medieval inherited biblical figure of
Eve offers an example, as does the wicked, seductive enchantress typified in
Morgan le Fay. The Queen of the Night in Mozart's
The Magic Flute shows her more muted presence during the
Age of Enlightenment. The
femme fatale flourished in the
Romantic period in the works of
John Keats, notably "
La Belle Dame sans Merci" and "
Lamia". Along with them, there rose the
gothic novel The Monk by Matthew Gregory Lewis, featuring Matilda, a very powerful
femme fatale. This led to her appearing in the work of
Edgar Allan Poe, and as the
vampire, notably in
Carmilla and
Brides of Dracula.
The Monk was greatly admired by the
Marquis de Sade, for whom the
femme fatale symbolised not evil, but all the best qualities of women; his novel
Juliette is perhaps the earliest wherein the
femme fatale triumphs.
Pre-Raphaelite painters frequently used the classic personifications of the
femme fatale as a subject. in a 1906 painting by
Franz von Stuck In the Western culture of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the
femme fatale became a more fashionable
trope, and she is found in the paintings of the artists
Edvard Munch,
Gustav Klimt,
Franz von Stuck, and
Gustave Moreau. The novel
À rebours by
Joris-Karl Huysmans includes these fevered imaginings about an image of Salome in a Moreau painting: In 1891,
Oscar Wilde wrote the play
Salome, in which Salome manipulates her lust-crazed stepfather, King Herod, with her enticing
Dance of the Seven Veils (Wilde's invention) to agree to her imperious demand: "bring me the head of
John the Baptist". Later, Salome was the subject of an opera by Strauss, and was popularized on stage, screen, and
peep show booths in countless incarnations. She also is seen as a prominent figure in late 19th- and 20th-century opera, appearing in
Richard Wagner's
Parsifal (
Kundry),
Georges Bizet's
Carmen,
Camille Saint-Saëns'
Samson et Delilah and
Alban Berg's
Lulu (based on the plays
Erdgeist and
Die Büchse der Pandora by
Frank Wedekind). Other considerably famous
femmes fatales include
Isabella of France,
Hedda Gabler of Kristiania (now Oslo),
Marie Antoinette of Austria, and, most famously,
Lucrezia Borgia.
20th-century genres Early 20th century ''
Mrs Patrick Campbell,
George Bernard Shaw's "second famed platonic love affair", (she published some of his letters) and
Philip Burne-Jones's lover and subject of his 1897 painting,
The Vampire, inspired Burne-Jones's cousin
Rudyard Kipling to write his poem "The Vampire", in the year
Dracula was published. The poem, which began: "A fool there was ...", inspired
Porter Emerson Browne to write the play,
A Fool There Was. The poem was adapted to become a 1909
Broadway production. This was followed by The 1913 film
The Vampire by
Robert Vignola, containing a "vamp" dance. Protagonist
Alice Hollister was publicised as "the original vampire". The 1915 film,
A Fool There Was, starring
Theda Bara, as "The Vamp" followed. The short poem may have been used in the publicity for the 1915 film. 1910s
American slang for
femme fatale was
vamp, for
vampire. Film villainesses often appeared foreign, often of Eastern European or Asian ancestry. They were a contrast to the wholesome personas of actresses such as
Lillian Gish and
Mary Pickford. Notable silent-cinema vamps include Theda Bara,
Helen Gardner,
Louise Glaum,
Valeska Suratt,
Musidora,
Virginia Pearson,
Olga Petrova,
Rosemary Theby,
Nita Naldi,
Pola Negri,
Estelle Taylor,
Jetta Goudal, and, in early appearances,
Myrna Loy.
Classic film noir era , played by
Barbara Stanwyck, in the classic film noir
Double Indemnity During the era of classic
film-noirs of the 1940s and 1950s, the
femme fatale flourished in American cinema. The archetypal
femme fatale is
Phyllis Dietrichson, played by
Barbara Stanwyck (who was nominated for the
Academy Award for Best Actress for this role) in the 1944 film
Double Indemnity. This character is considered one of the best
femme fatale roles in film noir history. The character was ranked as the #8 film villain of the first 100 years of American cinema by the
American Film Institute in the
AFI's 100 Years... 100 Heroes and Villains. In a classical film noir trope, she manipulates a man into killing her husband for financial gain. Other examples of
femme fatale include the
Dorothy Dandridge as the titular character in
Carmen Jones, Brigid O'Shaughnessy, portrayed by
Mary Astor, who murders Sam Spade's partner in
The Maltese Falcon (
1941); manipulative narcissistic daughter Veda (portrayed by
Ann Blyth) in
Mildred Pierce who exploits her indulgent mother Mildred (portrayed by
Joan Crawford) and fatally destroys her mother's remarriage to stepfather Monte Barragon (portrayed by
Zachary Scott);
Gene Tierney as Ellen Brent Harland in
Leave Her to Heaven (
1945), and the cabaret singer portrayed by
Rita Hayworth in
Gilda (
1946), narcissistic wives who manipulate their husbands;
Ava Gardner in
The Killers and Cora (
Lana Turner) in
The Postman Always Rings Twice, based on novels by
Ernest Hemingway and
James M. Cain respectively, manipulate men into killing their husbands.
Mia Goth stars as a mysterious female character in
Infinity Pool (2023). Academy Award-winning actress
Marion Cotillard has frequently played femmes fatales, in such films as
A Private Affair (2002),
A Very Long Engagement,
The Black Box,
Inception,
Midnight in Paris,
The Dark Knight Rises and
Macbeth. In addition to
To Die For,
Nicole Kidman has played femmes fatales in films such as
Malice,
Moulin Rouge!,
The Paperboy, and
The Northman. The archetype is also abundantly found in American television. One of the most famous femmes fatales of American television is
Sherilyn Fenn's
Audrey Horne of the
David Lynch cult series
Twin Peaks. In the TV series
Femme Fatales, actress
Tanit Phoenix played
Lilith, the host who introduced each episode
Rod Serling-style and occasionally appeared within the narrative. In the
Netflix TV series
Orange Is the New Black, actress
Laura Prepon played
Alex Vause, a modern
femme fatale, who led both men and women to their destruction. Femmes fatales appear frequently in
comic books. Notable examples include
Batman's long-time nemesis
Catwoman, who first appeared in comics in 1940, and various adversaries of
The Spirit, such as
P'Gell. This stock character is also often found in the genres of opera and
musical theatre, where she will traditionally have a
mezzo,
alto or
contralto range, opposed to the
ingénue's
soprano, to symbolize the masculinity and lack of feminine purity. An example is Hélène from
Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812. In more recent years, femmes fatales have been recognized in video games, an example of which being
Ada Wong in the
Resident Evil video game series. ==Use in criminal trials==