Melendez 1

Melendez, Julian

Matthew Kaiser

ENG 033 01

10/07/2018

Essay 1

Whips, Chains, Passion, Blood, Lust, Chaos this is the world that Leopold Von Sacher-

Masoch hurls the reader to make us pursue sexual liberation in the form of Venus in Furs, but in

doing so shows the true nature of the main character Severin. Looking through the metaphorical

Freudian lenses we can see that this act of perverse childlike behavior committed by Severin is

because of repressed child sexual aberration, Neurotic behavior caused by a repressive society,

and other sexual deviations.

Venus in furs, by Leopold Von Sacher-Masoch, is a controversial novel the focuses on a

young man named Severin who has an interest in the goddess Venus in Furs. Severin’s interest in

the domineering, sadist like Venus in Furs and newly found relationship with the neighborhood
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widow named Wanda, lead him to the conclusion of combining these two worlds, to create a

masochistic/sadistic relationship with Wanda who would take on the role of Venus in Furs.

Wanda is conflicted at the beginning of this new dominant, submissive relationship; Indecisive

on her feelings toward this new relationship she slowly begins to grow more confident in her role

as a dominatrix to the point of buying her very own whip, and furs.

Severin and Wanda’s relationship grows more intimate throughout the chapters to the

point that Severin would like to complete the role of a slave by signing over his life to Wanda.

Once the paperwork is complete and Severin is now fully Wanda’s slave, their relationship

begins to stagnate. Wanda begins to grow tired of always being the dominatrix in the relationship

She sets out to find someone who will challenge and take control of her. Severin grows jealous,

bratty, clingy and annoyed with Wanda allowing her to easily connect with another man. Wanda

demands Severin to leave but he rebels and attempts to challenge Wanda’s new lover but fails to

do so when he is unable to harm either Wanda or her lover. The sub-story ends, and the novel

continues with Severin leaving Wanda and creating a life for himself where he is now a

dominant and believes that men are only able to keep a woman if and only if a man is the

dominant and women remain the submissive.

Sigmund Freud's Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality are crucial to the argument that

Severin’s wanting to be dominated, and his actions throughout the novel are because of repressed

childhood sexual aberrations, neurotic behavior caused by societal repression, and his sexual

deviance. Sigmund Freud believes that family is the source of sexual warfare in other words that

family is this cornucopia of sexual desire that one is not allowed to engage in due to societal

norms. This is believed to be true by Freud because of the theory of infantile sexuality. Infantile

sexuality is a theory that explains why we are these sexual beings through childhood impulses.
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Infantile sexuality comes in stages first, the period of latency: This is where a child is born with

sexual impulses but society, as well as hereditary impulses, suppress the child’s sexual instincts

through shame and disgust. Second, we have the manifestation of sexuality: This is where the

child acts in a form of autoerotism; such as sucking their thumb to receive self-satisfaction in an

act that is very similar to sucking their mother's breast for nourishment. Third, we have the

sexual aim of infantile sexuality which is when the child by any societal appropriate means

attempts to reach satisfaction through erotogenic zones. The child does this in an assortment of

ways specifically retaining its feces. Freud also believes that children exhibit an almost sexual

drive towards their parents.

By Freud’s standards, there are three types of repressed sexual psyche each with a

different name we have the Normal, Pervert, and Neurotic. We will be focusing on the Pervert

and the Neurotic. The Neurotic is this individual who has a built-up libido due to constant

societal repression. The Neurotic will occasionally give way and release these urges in an

uncontrolled manner. The Pervert, on the other hand, has less restraint, isn’t oppressed, are

shameless, and fearless when it comes to sexual actions. These two different but necessary

sexual Psyche are important because they are both the same libido the only difference being the

amount of repression the individual faces; furthermore, Freud believes that the sexuality of most

men contains an element of aggression and the desire to subjugate. Lastly, Sexual Deviance is

when an individual gains sexual gratification through perverse, atypical acts such as

exhibitionism and masochism.

Throughout the novel we the reader notices how Severin’s actions coincide with Freud’s theory

of infantile sexuality, the two out of three forms of the repressed sexual psyche, and

sexual deviance.
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Severin demonstrates infantile sexuality on many occasions almost to the point of him

embodying a child. “Even in my cradle, so mother has told me, I was super sensual. I scorned the

healthy breast of my nurse and had to be brought up on goats' milk.” (41) Freud's theory on

infantile sexuality would infer that since Severin was not raised from the mothers nourishing

breast he did not develop an intimate relationship that would aid in the creation of a sexually

normal individual this makes it so Severin would not be sexually attracted to his mother or want

to fight for her love; this made it so Severin wouldn’t be sexually intimidated by his father that

would allow him to be a dominant male. This has allowed him to become “mysteriously shy

before women, which really was only an expression of an inordinate interest in them.” (42)

Severin’s obsession with fur can be backtracked to his interaction with “The kiss of the

enamored little cat ran through me like a shudder.” (42) This is why Severin feels connected to

fur and later in the novel “The torrid zone produces more passionate characters, a heated

atmosphere stimulation. Likewise, with electricity. This is the reason why the presence of cats

exercises such a magic influence upon highly-organized men of intellect” (45), and "A woman

wearing furs, then," cried Wanda, "is nothing else than a large cat, an augmented electric

battery?" (45). Lastly, Severin’s passion towards leather and domination can be tied to his aunt

and the maltreatment she put him through “Now you understand the supersensual fool! Under the

lash of a beautiful woman, my senses first realized the meaning of woman. In her fur, she

seemed to me like a wrathful queen, and from then on my aunt became the most desirable

woman on God's earth.” (42). Therefore, Severin so desperately searches for a woman who can

dominate him. We see that Severin was oppressed sexually in the beginning of the novel not
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having anyone who could who could fulfill his sexual desire until he meets Wanda who liberated

him and allowed him to express his sexuality without shame, this converting him from the

neurotic to pervert. Severin’s sexual deviance is noticeable when looking towards his interest in

the world of masochism.

The reader can see that Severin’s childhood trauma had made him crave pain and

dominance, as well as the gentle warmth of a cat that made him long for fur; the actions that took

hold in his childhood have reflected onto his adulthood and produce the slave of a man. The

Neurotic behavior that took hold in his life before meeting Wanda was societal pressure to be

dominate, and not submit to a woman. In conclusion, Leopold Von Sacher-Masoch’s Venus in

Furs ties into Freudian theory and definitively proves that Severin’s actions and sexual desires

correlate with infantile sexuality, neurotic and perverse behavior, and sexual deviance.