Venus in Furs

Wanda is a widow staying at the Carpathian health resort, where she meets Severin. Wanda’s prior marriage was a happy one, and she remained faithful even as her husband urged her to find a lover as he was dying. Now single, Wanda does not want to enter a monogamous relationship, noting that she would only want to marry a man who can dominate her entirely. From the beginning of her relationship with Severin, this detail increasingly becomes obscured, as the story is written from Severin’s perspective. Wanda, succumbing to Severin’s desire to be punished, gradually becomes the sadist Severin wants her to be, whipping him, ignoring him, and taking pleasure from his agony. However, the end of the novella reveals that this supposed transformation is questionable, as Wanda claims she was only trying to “cure” Severin’s masochism.

In Severin’s eyes, Wanda is the antagonist of the novella, as Severin sees Wanda as the epitome of femininity through her supposed cruelty, violence, and infidelity. From Severin’s perspective, Wanda must have always been violent, promiscuous, and dishonest, as these are the traits he projects onto all women. However, reading Wanda’s character closely reveals that she is entirely honest with Severin, specifically about how her behavior with Severin is not in line with her own perception of herself. While the final scene between Wanda, Alexis, and Severin could be seen as a culmination of Wanda’s sadism, it is more likely that Wanda is transgressing Severin’s final boundary—of being beaten by Wanda’s lover—to escape the hold Severin has on her. In her letter sent after the fact, Wanda explains that she hopes her actions cured Severin’s obsession, but her actions served the additional purpose of freeing her from Severin.

Wanda’s role in the novel changes based upon the degree to which the misogyny of the text is taken in earnest. If the novella is taken as a fully misogynistic text, then Wanda is the exact demon Severin paints her to be, hurting men with uncontrollable malice and without regard for reputation or emotion. However, if Severin and the narrator’s misogyny is taken as a flaw in their characters, Wanda becomes an innocent woman who tries to please her partner, but who, as time passes, loses interest in focusing entirely on Severin’s desires, and therefore ultimately leaves him for someone who is willing to complement her own sexuality.

The German painter, though a minor character in the text, provides a doppelganger for Severin and the narrator, expressing similar interests in Wanda’s sadistic persona. Initially, the painter is a temptation for Wanda to use to inflame Severin’s fears of infidelity, playing into his fantasy of Wanda. However, when the painter sees Wanda casually whip Severin by the bath, he begins to feel the same desire as Severin, asking Wanda to whip him as well. This paradigm, in which a person develops a sexual interest through exposure, emphasizes a critical step in self-discovery, as the painter undergoes a brief foray into the sadomasochism of Severin and Wanda’s relationship.

Though the painter requests whippings, he ultimately leaves without payment, taking a sketch of Wanda with him as a reminder of his experience. This implies that, while he enjoyed his experience, he is not the masochist that Severin is, and he is not likely to seek out a relationship like Severin and Wanda’s in the future.

The painter’s role in the novella is to provide a brief insight into Severin and Wanda’s relationship from an outside perspective, from which their sexuality is attractive and frightening. While Severin is caught between his ecstasy and agony, and Wanda is struggling to maintain her performance as Severin’s “master,” the painter appears to see only the fulfilled performance without the complications of which only Severin, Wanda, and the reader are aware. In a way, the painter shows an alternative path for Severin, who could have left Wanda once his fantasy was fulfilled. At the same time, Severin’s fantasy predates his involvement with Wanda, whereas the painter seems to only take interest in Wanda’s abuses through exposure, experimenting with a sexuality he may never have pondered before.

Alexis is a Greek man who catches the eye of both Wanda and Severin with his androgynous appearance. When he first came to Florence, he dressed in feminine clothing, tricking multiple men in town into courting him, only to reveal, at the last moment, that he was a man. Alexis’s behavior indicates a degree of sadism in his personality, as he clearly enjoys taunting and hurting other men. His perspectives on relationships betray a similar philosophy to Severin’s at the end of the novella, that men must be “hammers” and women “anvils.” Though Wanda lies to Severin about her love for him in the moment of betrayal, it is likely that her comment regarding Alexis’s jealousy over Severin is legitimate, as Alexis wants to possess Wanda completely.

Despite his seeming femininity, Alexis represents strong traditional masculinity in the novella, using violence and aggression to stake a claim over Wanda. His story about the lioness watching a new lion kill her mate, then following the new lion without question, outlines his perspective on his interference with Wanda and Severin’s relationship. In the end, Wanda watches as Alexis beats Severin severely, then she leaves with him, seemingly reinforcing his perspective on relationships.

However, Alexis’s desire to dominate women aligns with Wanda’s desire to be dominated, making Alexis less of an interloper than a release for her, as he rescues Wanda from her arrangement with Severin. In this role, Alexis is a fulfillment of both Severin and Wanda’s fantasies, dominating both. Severin’s initial reaction to being whipped by Alexis is arousal, which is drowned out by his disgust and pain. However, in that first moment, Alexis, as an androgynous figure, brings Severin’s fantasy to its natural conclusion.