Abstract:
The image of the dangerous and depraved woman who uses her feminine wiles and causes the downfall of man is not new. Numerous examples exist in the literature and popular imagination of many cultures. Still, this woman was not categorized as a type until the nineteenth century due to specific social and political conditions. This thesis, a comparative study of the femme fatale archetype, is an analysis of what constitutes the “otherness” of this figure in different cultures. I will tackle two plays by Tennessee Williams, A Streetcar Named Desire and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, and their American and Egyptian film adaptations, in order to trace the similarities and the differences between the American and the Arabic conceptions of the same femme fatale. This comparison will be conducted in the light of their historical/social background, of the “fatal” characters themselves, and the actresses playing the roles. What do these women “threaten” and how do they threaten?
