In his book The Art of Seduction, Robert Greene sets out the existence of seductress profiles that may lie dormant in every woman. We shall begin with the oldest and most obvious of them: that of the siren.
Each of us is a unique woman, set apart by her personality, her character, her attitude and the way she approaches situations and other people. Depending on her way of being, her behaviour in her immediate surroundings will differ. Her interaction with others will change according to the kind of person she faces and the aim of the exchange. Thus, whether the relationship is professional, friendly or familial, a certain profile will come to the fore. And, as with the previous examples, in a situation of seduction each woman will display a certain type of profile.
Who is she?
Men often feel oppressed by the role they must play in life: they are expected to be responsible, rational, in control of their moods so as not to appear weak… For such a man, the siren is the supreme figure of his ultimate fantasy. How so? Quite simply because she frees him from life's constraints. Her presence, always sexually charged, carries him into a world of pure pleasure, because she is willing to project that image without shyness.
The siren's theatricality: Cleopatra
In 48 BC, Ptolemy XIII of Egypt exiled his wife, Cleopatra. He had secured the borders to prevent her return and set about ruling alone. Later that year, Julius Caesar arrived in Alexandria to make sure that, despite all the turmoil reigning there, Egypt would remain loyal to Rome. One evening, while he was in a meeting with his generals, a guard informed him that a Greek merchant was waiting with a large and precious gift. Caesar had him shown in.
The merchant carried a large rolled-up carpet on his shoulders. He unrolled it to display it, and as he did so the young Cleopatra appeared, before the marvelling gaze of the Roman. Every man present was at once fascinated by her boldness, her sense of staging and her beauty. According to the Roman writer Dio Cassius: “Cleopatra was in the flower of her age. Her melodious voice bewitched all who heard it. She had such charm, and her speech was so captivating, that everyone fell into her nets. The moment Caesar set eyes on her, he was captivated. And when she opened her mouth to speak, he was lost.”
That very evening, Cleopatra became his lover, and she soon became his favourite, easily ousting all her rivals. Caesar had, of course, known many women, and many wished to keep him. But he tired of them rather quickly and changed them very often. Until Cleopatra, for whom nothing had ever prepared him. One evening she would tell him how the two of them would restore the city of Alexandria to its former glory. Another evening she would disguise herself as Isis, surrounded by an opulent court. By day she would lead an expedition aboard a majestic boat along the Nile and tell him the secret of the pyramids.
She embodied Egyptian exoticism and never ceased to surprise him. Life with her was a game often as subtle as the art of war, and just when he believed himself sure of her love, she would turn away from him, grow cold as marble, or fly into a rage. He would then have to win back her favour to appease her. And Caesar would find pretexts to stay by her side, despite all the trouble his absence caused the empire.
When Caesar was assassinated in 44 BC, a triumvirate of three leaders succeeded him. Mark Antony was one of them. He was a talented soldier who fancied himself something of a disciple of Dionysus. When he travelled to Syria a few years later, Cleopatra invited him to visit her in the city of Tarsus, in Cilicia. There she kept him waiting a long while, and when at last she appeared, she took him by surprise and turned his head. She came to meet him aboard a golden barge with purple sails. The rowers were accompanied by ethereal music, played by beautiful young girls dressed as nymphs and other mythological figures. Cleopatra, for her part, sat on the deck, dressed as Aphrodite and surrounded by cherubs. Her name was chanted everywhere, and Mark Antony was not indifferent to her.
He then decided to tame her, to subdue her. It cost him dearly, for, like Caesar before him, he chose to spend more time in her company and ended up succumbing to her exotic charm. To bring him back to his senses, Octavian, another member of the triumvirate, arranged a union with Octavia, one of the most beautiful women in Rome — and who, as it happened, was also his own sister. Not only was she very pleasing to look at, but she also enjoyed a fine reputation for her virtue and kindness. Three years later, Mark Antony could bear it no longer and ended up joining Cleopatra — the very woman they had tried at all costs to keep him from — never to leave her again.
Historical landmarks: from Caesar to Mark Antony
| Landmark | What happens |
|---|---|
| 48 BC | Ptolemy XIII exiles Cleopatra; Julius Caesar arrives in Alexandria. |
| 48 BC, that same evening | A Greek merchant presents Caesar with a rolled-up carpet; as it is unrolled, Cleopatra appears and becomes his lover that very evening. |
| 44 BC | Caesar is assassinated; a triumvirate of three leaders succeeds him, including Mark Antony. |
| A few years later | Cleopatra invites Mark Antony to Tarsus, then comes to meet him aboard a golden barge with purple sails. |
| Three years later | After Mark Antony's arranged marriage to Octavia, he joins Cleopatra for good. |
Very few images of her have come down to us. Many writings describe her. Her face is said to have been long and thin, with a rather pointed nose and large, fascinating eyes. Her power of seduction therefore lay not in her appearance, which was rather unremarkable. It lay rather in her ability to captivate, to bewitch a man. She was able to transform herself and was constantly full of surprises. From one day to the next, her clothes, her hairstyle and her make-up would change. She took ceaseless care to embody the image of a goddess. Much has also been written about her melodious, intoxicating voice. Her words could be utterly ordinary. And yet, when she spoke, almost in a murmur, the whole audience would fall silent. No one would remember what she said, but everyone would surely remember that she spoke and that they listened.
With Cleopatra, we can understand that the siren does not use her physical beauty to seduce, but rather a theatricality charged with sensuality. The siren excels at staging and lets her carnal side show through. Men, being particularly sensitive to the visual side of things, cannot help but succumb. The siren manages effortlessly to embody fantasies, and even to stir them.
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