Beauty, Sensual

Beauty, Sensual

See also Beauty, Feminine; Sex Symbol.

Angelica

infidel princess of exquisite grace and charm. [Ital. Lit.: Orlando Innamorato; Orlando Furioso]

Borgia, Lucrezia

(1480–1519) her beauty was as legendary as her rumored vices and heartlessness. [Ital. Hist.: Plumb, 59]

Buchanan, Daisy

Jay Gatsby’s femme fatale. [Am. Lit.: The Great Gatsby]

Cleopatra

seductive queen of Egypt; beloved by Marc Antony. [Br. Lit.: Antony and Cleopatra]

Helen of Troy

Faust’s desire to possess her makes him faint. [Ger. Lit.: Faust]

Jezebel

Phoenician princess; enemy of the prophets; name is a byword for wicked woman. [O.T.: I Kings 16:21, 31; II Kings 9:1–10, 30–37]

Lolita

precociously seductive 12-year-old. [Am. Lit.: Lolita]

Madeline

gazed at in awe by Porphyro. [Br. Lit.: “The Eve of St. Agnes” in Magill I, 263–264]

Montez, Lola

(c. 1818–1861) Irish singer and dancer; mistress to famous men. [Irish Hist.: NCE, 1821]

Phryne

courtesan, acquitted of charge by baring bosom. [Gk. Hist.: Brewer Dictionary, 830]

Playmate of the Month

nude girl provocatively gracing Playboy’s centerfold. [Am. Culture: Flexner, 285]

Queen of Sheba

sultry Biblical queen who visits Solomon. [O.T.: I Kings 10]

Salome

seductive dancer who obtains head of John the Baptist as reward. [N.T.: Matthew 14:3, 11]

Vye, Eustacia

capricious, seductive, trouble-making heroine. [Br. Lit.: Return of the Native, Harvey, 690]

Allusions—Cultural, Literary, Biblical, and Historical: A Thematic Dictionary. Copyright 2008 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.