ABSTRACT
The images Francis Bacon employs conjure the spectacle of torture, giving birth to an epistemology grounded in violence. The image schematizes epistemology, reinforcing the point that “investigation” is a masculine pursuit conducted upon feminized objects. A specialized epistemology of slander takes over, leaving Mariam vulnerable to attack. Othello and Mariam mutually partake of the calumniated-woman genre. Herod’s obsession with Mariam’s open and inviting mouth reprises Othello’s fixation on Desdemona as an open and sexually available woman. Interestingly, the metaphor of woman-as-book is also powerfully manifested in Othello. In charting the relationship of gender, knowledge, and power, Othello and Mariam dispense rather grim warnings. In Othello and Mariam, sexual penetration of women by men is supplanted by epistemological conquest. It can be no accident that for Othello and Herod fulfillment of desire coincides with murder. Murder precedes the outing of women’s secrets, and “bringing to light” proves to be synonymous with killing.
