Summary Of Joy Kasson's Essay 'The Greek Slave'

Joy Kasson’s essay “Naratives of the Female Body: The Greek Slave” discusses Hiram Powers’ sculpture The Greek Slave and how much information it contains on the cultural construction of gender during this time period. Her naked body shows fine details and the beauty of the female body. Over time as our culture has developed, the way people view women has also developed to fit how our culture has changed. In the photo I will be discussing, a photo of Kim Kardashian from Playboy Magazine, one is able to see the similarities of expressing the beauty of the female body while at the same showing a more contemporary view of women. Hiram Powers’ work The Greek Slave became a very well respected piece of art despite the fact that it showed a nude
woman. Some said it even had respectable taste. It was like a classy way of showing the female body and people said it was “so undressed, yet so refined”. Similarly, the photo of Kim Kardashian shows her naked body, but with enough covered so that the image remains classy. She is shown on silk sheets which adds a sort of taste to the image as well. Although certainly not to the same extent as The Greek Slave, this image can also be seen as undressed yet also refined. Granted, this image was for Playboy Magazine, but it still shows her off her body features in a classy way. In another of Hiram Powers’ works Eve Tempted, it was criticized that Eve appeared to be too daring for the viewers. The story behind The Greek Slave is what made it more socially acceptable. Rather than showing that the woman had power, he took a different turn and showed how she was powerless. He explained the story of how the Turks had taken her from her country and sold her into slavery. You are also able to view how she is powerless because her hands are chained and she is clearly not free. She has been stripped from her clothing and has ended up in this situation by force, not choice. The photo of Kim Kardashian differs from The Greek Slave, because unlike the woman shown in The Greek Slave who is shown powerless instead of powerful, Kim Kardashian appears more powerful than powerless in her photo. Her image demonstrates her beauty as her choice. She has not been taken from her home and has not been forced unlike the other image. There is absolutely nothing powerless about the image of Kim Kardashian, if anything she is the one who appears to be in power. The sculpture of The Greek Slave was accompanied by text when it went on tour to explain the image and her nudity to make it more acceptable for that time period.
Women were viewed to be of a lower status and less than men during that time. The photo of Kim Kardashian does not need to be accompanied by any story of how powerless she is and that is why she has been photographed this way. As society has changed over time, it has become more acceptable for women to show themselves in a classy way. In our society women are no longer viewed as being of a lower status or being less powerful than men, many times they are viewed as
equals. To better explain the nudity of The Greek Slave, and make it more acceptable for that time in society, Hiram Powers’ commented that “her hands [will be] bound and in such a position as to conceal a portion of the figure, thereby rendering the exposure of the nakedness less exceptionable to our American fastidiousness” (Kasson). Similar to this statement, the image of Kim Kardashian shows her hands concealing a portion of her body to avoid showing her in complete nudity, and shows her legs crossed which also conceals anything that would be considered having gone too far. Both these images avoid showing the woman in complete nudity, and use their hands to conceal parts that if show would have been considered crossing the line. While Hiram Powers’ suggested that in The Greek Slave one is supposed to look beyond her body and at her face to examine her expression and consider her emotions, Kim Kardashians photo does the opposite. Her face is shown at the lower left hand corner, and is positioned in a way to emphasize her figure. Hiram Powers’ means for the face to be the emphasis of the art work, not the body while the photo of Kim Kardashian has the emphasis on her body. The way she is positioned invites the viewer to examine every detail of her body portrayed, not just her face. The audience of The Greek Slave is invited to imagine the past of the woman and what has brought her to her present state.
The point of the photo of Kim Kardashian is purely just how her body is portrayed in the photo. The viewer will not consider what her past was and how that has brought her here. A similar reaction can be assumed by men from both pieces of work. Male viewers of The Greek Slave made comments such as, “Why hauntest thou dreams” (Kasson). Women also can comment on the pieces of work but in a different way. A woman would say something about how the image is so beautiful that it could move her to
tears. Through looking at both The Greek Slave and the photo of Kim Kardashian we are able to see both similaries and differences between the image of women then and now. Both are shown in a way that covers up private features of the woman’s body to make the image appear more classy. While The Greek Slave had to have a story explaining the reason for her nudity which made the work more acceptable, the photo of Kim Kardashian does not need to be explained. The Greek Slave appeared more powerless while Kim Kardashian appears more powerful. The image of women has changed and become more modernized over time making her image more acceptable today than it would have been in the past.