The Beautiful Lady

Lou Salomé 's association with men was additionally portrayed by the analogy of indecision: "fire and ice". She was depicted as a lady who quickly burst into flames with enthusiasm and afterward chilled off. The Swedish psychoanalyst Poul Bjerre, a companion of hers, portrayed this character characteristic utilizing a paradoxical expression, "fire and ice". She burst into a fire that was promptly smothered. One of the clarifications for such a bipolar appearance of emotions could be that coldness serves as a guard against the fascination felt. Be that as it may, such irresoluteness may likewise be the after-effect of a contention between two goals: sexual longing and the craving for scholarly acknowledgment. It is fascinating that this paradoxical

It is definitely from the picture of the Beautiful Lady that the traumatic picture of the Femme Fatale, as was prevalent in the Victorian era, emerges. The structure of relations with the Femme Fatale is such that never, under any circumstances, can the man secure for himself the coveted meeting with her: it is possible that she stays unattainable for ever while he endures and ultimately dies, or he attains intimacy with her and then either both of them die or love dies. The concept of fate prescribes (for the man) humility, obedience, passivity, even masochism. Being doomed simultaneously creates the conditions for challenging fate and the conditions for accepting one’s own desires, as well as responsibility for it. Being doomed, the impossibility of taking possession of the object, introduces a suicidal aspect into the relationship with the femme fatale. And this aspect takes us back to Narcissus. The femme fatale encounters the masochistic desire, the desire to include death in the plan of relations with a woman. Aggressiveness is an inalienable function of narcissism. The figure of Narcissus presents both erotic and self-destructive tendencies. The American psychoanalyst Harold Stern somewhat ironically remarked that Narcissus died because he was so carried away by his own image that he forgot all about self-preservation, about food. Lacan in turn talked about narcissistic, suicidal

He notes that in contrast to the classical image of the femme fatale--elusive, ghostly, and enigmatic--the new femme fatale displays an aggression not concealed by anything. She can lead her hero straight to physical death (Zizek 1999, pp. 70-1). . Let us add that she can lead him to death, but she can also rescue and revive him. She is endowed with omnipotence. Today’s world is travelling on a virtual road of the externalization of psychic reality. In this psychedelic reality of postmodern society, the place of the femme fatale is occupied by a polymorphous, multifunctional being, ready for any exploit; she can change her identity, she is the phallic mother, son and brother in one person. She might be both Lou Salomé and her surroundings