Ueda Akinari’s reading “Bewitched” contained a recurring theme of supernatural and evil activity through the presence of a beautiful lady. The evil had been referred to as a serpent associating Christian beliefs as satan by using serpents in order to make Eve sin by eating the apple. In addition, the connection between females and evil has been also seen throughout other pieces of art in history as it is common for a woman to acquire someone’s trust through their beauty. For example, in Bewitched (642) once Manago had found Toyo-o at Nara, Toyo-o’s sister and her husband were truly moved by how honest she seemed when explaining to them how the situation actually worked out and why she had disappeared which led to full trust and apprising for herself. Although she was great at speaking and convincing people of how supposedly she was a good person, it was not so long after her devil appearance had been uncovered by the old man near the waterfall. The picture chosen above is a representation of how, after Managon being uncovered, had been reincarnated in the body of Tomiko who married Toyo-o. This evil force had an attachment towards him that she could not let go of as kept reappearing and even threatened to hurt other people. Thankfully we see how she is caught at the end of the story by the priest and buried, although Tomiko’s body did not survive, we can at least be relieved that the evil named Managon was at last defeated.
I agree with you that there has been a connection between females beauty and evil throughout the history. The picture that you provided shows an accurate representation of how the inner evil within Manago has revealed itself.
I’m assuming that female is associated with a form of sin because of their inherent beauty or malice and I agree that there is a connection between them.
I agree with you that there is always a connection between females beauty and evil. Evil has always been portrayed in stories and in art history when being compared to women’s beauty. A women’s beauty is viewed as a sin.
That image is interesting. It sort of makes literal the idea of someone having a beautiful exterior, but a hideous soul. I think that all of these examples rely on a particularly female kind of evil that is sneakier, more devious, and more manipulative than the kind of evil that we associate with men, so beauty is not in and of itself sinful, but it is a kind of tool of manipulation.