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Judith Slaying Holofernes: Judith And Gentileschi

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Once, there was a woman who claimed that her identity is like the spirit of Caesar. She was raped when she was nineteen, and public condemned her of losing her virtue, even though virtue is not a woman’s consumable good that can be achieved by purity or lost by accident. This reaction is similar to that of a school teacher in the poem of Martín Espada, My Native Costume. In the poem, the teacher asks the writer to wear traditional costume for the students even though the writer defines himself as a lawyer. She is full of prejudice that the Puerto Rican people will always wear traditional clothes, but she rather thinks that she is doing a good job for her students while saying “the children want to see a native costume” (Espada). Probably the public was not aware that they were having prejudices against the rape victims. Still, she was a friend of Galileo Galilei and was supported by European aristocrat and royalty. Nowadays public, however, is still ignorant of her works, her story or even her name, while extolling Van Gogh and Leonardo da Vinci. Who is she?
She is Artemisia Gentileschi, a female Baroque artist, who is lauded as an early role model for successful female artist. Judith Slaying Holofernes is one of her masterpieces that has been …show more content…

They had to overcome the obstacles not only as a woman but also as a member of the society. According to the Book of Judith, Judith is a widow for three years and four months who lived in Bethulia, Israel. She only wears sack cloth and lives in “a little shelter on the roof of her house a little shelter on the roof of her house (Judith 8:2-5). The book also mentions that the invasion of the Assyrian army disturbs the life of Judith; Assyrian army blocks and surrounds Bethulia for thirty-four days in order to desiccate the reservoir of Bethulia, and Bethulia’s citizens became dehydrated and “no one had any strength left” (Judith

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