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Like Father, Like Daughter
A woman victimized by men, raped and humiliated, broken and looked down upon; can she really make a name for herself in the art world in 17th century Italy? The Passion of Artemisia, by Susan Vreeland, is the story of a strong woman who is a victim of men, her society and her circumstances. Instead of allowing her circumstances to disable her and suppress her artistic talent, she uses her experiences and her womanhood to her benefit. However, she discovers that she is quite similar to the one who hurt her the most, her father. Artemisia and her father Orazio, share qualities and experiences that affect not only their relationship to each other, but their relationships with others as well; they pursue their love of painting over their love of people, their pride prevents reconciliation and forgiveness, and they have both experienced great humiliation and loneliness. Unfortunately, Artemisia doesn’t realize these similarities until it is nearly too late.
From early in her childhood, Artemisia wanted to be like her father. He was a successful painter and she wanted to learn to paint like him. Ironically, it was this passion of painting that led to her passion (suffering) surrounding her rape. A man named Agostino, who worked with her father, raped her. He was supposed to be teaching her technique and brush strokes but instead, he selfishly took advantage of an eighteen-year-old girl who would never be the same. Agostino was sent to trial but really it was Artemisia who was being punished and interrogated. She endured immense humiliation in the courtroom while her father just stood by and witnessed everything. He would not stand up for her or say anything because he wanted to protect his reputation. This lack of fatherly protection and loyalty causes major trust issues in Artemisia and puts an obvious strain on the relationship between her and her father. Her trust in men was already shattered with the rape, but...