The Whore

Alternate Titles: Mistress,

The Whore is not necessarily involved in the profession of prostitution, nor are the majority of literary prostitutes archetypal Whores (most writers have the good sense to realize that women who end up in the sex trade generally get there by way of desperation or coercion, not wanton and unbridled sexuality.) Nor are the Whore's sins necessarily sexual, though that side of her nature has certainly not been left unexplored throughout the ages. What is essential to this archetype is that she is a woman who can be bought. She has a price, whether it is the head of John the Baptist on a platter, freedom from prison, or a new mink coat, and she will use her body or affections to get what she wants.
She is generally a woman of wild passions. Her temer is fickle, and liable to flare up with relatively little provocation. When she loves, her love is like the seed in the parable of the sower that falls on rocky ground: it springs up all at once, bright, green and evidently full of vigor, but it dies quickly because there is not depth to it. For this reason she often has a trail of used-up lovers trailing in the dust behind her -- a dangerous situation given the Green Square male's proclivity for vengeance. Yet she too can be vengeful, and often is if she feels that she has been slighted or jilted in love.
Although, like the Psiren, she often leads men into sin and brings about their downfall, she is not culpably evil in quite the same way. She doesn't lure men into her trap only for the joy of destroying them, it's just that she has no sense of proportion or self-control when she wants something, and she is willing to use other people to get what she wants. Once she has it, however, she is liable to become bored, and to want to move on to something else. As often as not, either she or her lover (or both) end up dead by the end of her story.

Archetypal Events: T

Common Whore Plots:

Frailty Thy Name Is Woman: The Whore gives herself to a man (usually a Pharisee, Avenger or Coward), whom she claims to love. After a while, though, his demand to be the sole object of her affections becomes stifling or boring to her, and she moves on -- often secretly, at first, but eventually she leaves him to be with her new lover. The original lover is driven wild with jealous fury and kills her, her lover, himself, or any combination of the above.

Object of My Desire: The Whore wants something desperately, but she can't afford it or get it for herself. There is a man for whom she cares not at all, but who is able to get her the thing that she wants. She promises herself to him (perhaps she will dance for him, or go on a date, or sleep with him, or perhaps she simply implies that by procuring what she wants, he will earn her affections), on the condition that he obtain her idol for her.

The Obsolete Husband: The Whore is married, faithless, and terrified that her husband is going to find out about her infidelities. She and her new lover(s) plot to kill or otherwise get rid of the husband.

Home: N
Supply: D
Weapon: A
Clothing: Furs
Prize: C
Monument: C
Minor Symbols: T

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