The hooker with a heart of gold is a stock character involving a courtesan or prostitute who possesses virtues such as integrity, generosity and kindness.
The hooker with a heart of gold is a stock character involving a courtesan or prostitute who possesses virtues such as integrity, generosity and kindness.
The character type is defined by morally positive traits, which are contrasted with the character's employment as a prostitute. The narrative will often provide extenuating circumstances for the character's prostitution, and emphasize her personal decency. Sometimes, the character will be a foil for another female character who reflects negative stereotypes of uptight or frigid women. [1] Per Nell Damon Galles, the character is "the good girl who made one too many bad decisions—losing her virginity, becoming promiscuous, and eventually entering the dark world of prostitution." [2] The "hooker with a heart of gold" has also been described as a "modern 'secular' counterpart" of the medieval sinner-saint. [3]
Prostitutes appear in ancient Greek literature as far back as the Archaic period, such as in the work of Archilochus, though initially with little focus on their moral qualities. The good prostitute (or more specifically good hetaira, a type of high-end prostitute) emerged as a stereotype in middle ancient Greek comedy for example in Antiphanes's Hydria. The good prostitute appeared even more frequently in new ancient Greek comedy. The work of Menander has long been known for its treatment of the trope. Such as in a "much discussed" passage of Plutarch's Table talks where Plutarch commends Menander as suitable for use at Symposia, as the dramatist had his heroes break off relations with bad prostitutes, but sometimes marry them if they were good. [4] [5]
In classical Roman literature, the prostitute was commonly portrayed as especially selfish; the stereotypically bad woman against whom the femina bona (good woman, typically a loyal wife) was contrasted. This stigma against prostitutes largely persisted in Western society from Roman times until at least the start of the 21st century. Nevertheless, the prostitute with a heart of gold still appeared quite frequently in Roman writings from around the time of Terence; for example in Terence's Hecyra and in Livy's semi fictionalised account of Hispala Faecenia. The Roman prostitute with a heart of gold was however invariably portrayed as an exception to the norm for prostitutes to be selfish and greedy. Unlike the Greek "good hetaera", who could sometimes end up marrying elite men, the Roman prostitute with a heart of gold was expected to know her place at the margins of Roman society, though there were exceptions. [6]
Subsequent development of the stereotype may also have drawn inspiration from traditions surrounding the Biblical figures of Mary Magdalene and Rahab, [7] or to the ancient Indian theatrical tradition of Sanskrit drama where Śudraka's play Mṛcchakatika (The Little Clay Cart) featured a nagarvadhu (courtesan) with a heart of gold named Vasantasena. [8]
In French literature, early appearances of the hooker with the heart of gold occurred towards the end of the 18th century, including Rousseau's The Loves of Milord Edouard Bromston (1780). These 18th-century works generally had sad endings, showing that despite her heart of gold, the prostitute was typically unable to gain acceptance into mainstream society. Following the conclusion of the French Revolution in 1799, there were a few years where various minor novelists published happier tales for prostitutes with a heart of gold, in the then prevailing spirit of egalitarianism. This soon ended after Napoleon introduced various rules regulating prostitution from 1802 to 1804; few hooker with a heart of gold characters appeared over the next few decades. This began to change towards the middle of the 19th century, with various leading French authors including prostitutes with a heart of gold in their writings, such as Victor Hugo's play Marion de Lorme (1828) and novels like Eugène Sue's The Mysteries of Paris (1843) and Honoré de Balzac's Splendeurs et misères des courtisanes (1838-1847).
The 1848 French novel by Alexandre Dumas fils, La Dame aux Camélias , later saw many translations and adaptations into plays and movies, in English under the name Camille , and Giuseppe Verdi's opera La Traviata (1853). The original work was based on a real life prostitute, Marie Duplessis, with whom Dumas had a relationship. According to Charles Bernheimer, a French work that most subverted the hooker with the heart of gold stereotype was Auguste Villiers de l'Isle-Adam's Contes cruels - there the prostitute was well regarded while she plied her trade in conventional fashion, but was derided once she fell in love. [9]
In American cinema, prostitutes were generally portrayed sympathetically even from the earliest films, though the hooker with a heart of gold was relatively rare until the 1980s. Some early examples of movies featuring a hooker with a heart of gold are the 1917 and 1918 versions of Camille, 1932's Shanghai Express with Marlene Dietrich and the 1939 movie Stagecoach . [10] [11] From European sources, mainstream portrayals were begun to be seen by the early 1960s in internationally-popular films such as Never on Sunday and Irma la Douce. The "hooker with a heart of gold" archetype became most prominent in American cinema during the 1980s, peaking with Pretty Woman . The development of the trope reflected a more lighthearted cultural attitude toward prostitution, which nonetheless overall condemned women for the social transgression of prostitution.
The character of Mona in The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas (1982) exemplifies the era's hooker with a heart of gold: a wonderful woman whose goodness is surprising and amusing because she is also a prostitute, and whose love interest berates her for prostitution. [1] These films have been criticized as akin to sexploitation films for the way they present a glamorized and male-dominated view of prostitution. [12] The hooker with a heart of gold has also been criticized as a "pathetic cliché". [11]
The character of Ophelia played by Jamie Lee Curtis in the 1983 comedy Trading Places also represents an example of a hooker with a heart of gold, according to some reviewers. [13]
Titus Maccius Plautus was a Roman playwright of the Old Latin period. His comedies are the earliest Latin literary works to have survived in their entirety. He wrote Palliata comoedia, the genre devised by Livius Andronicus, the innovator of Latin literature. The word Plautine refers to both Plautus's own works and works similar to or influenced by his.
Courtesan, in modern usage, is a euphemism for a kept mistress or prostitute, particularly one with wealthy, powerful, or influential clients. The term historically referred to a courtier, a person who attended the court of a monarch or other powerful person.
Menander was a Greek dramatist and the best-known representative of Athenian New Comedy. He wrote 108 comedies and took the prize at the Lenaia festival eight times. His record at the City Dionysia is unknown.
Aspasia was a metic woman in Classical Athens. Born in Miletus, she moved to Athens and began a relationship with the statesman Pericles, with whom she had a son, Pericles the Younger. According to the traditional historical narrative, she worked as a courtesan and was tried for asebeia (impiety), though modern scholars have questioned the factual basis for either of these claims, which both derive from ancient comedy. Though Aspasia is one of the best-attested women from the Greco-Roman world, and the most important woman in the history of fifth-century Athens, almost nothing is certain about her life.
A hetaira,, also hetaera,, was a type of courtesan or prostitute in ancient Greece, who served as an artist, entertainer and conversationalist in addition to providing sexual service. Custom excluded the wives and daughters of Athenian citizens from the symposium, but this prohibition did not extend to hetairai, who were often foreign born and could be highly educated. Other female entertainers made appearances in the otherwise male domain, but hetairai joined the male guests in their sexual joking, sometimes evidencing a wide knowledge of literature in their contributions.
Phryne was an ancient Greek hetaira (courtesan). From Thespiae in Boeotia, she was active in Athens, where she became one of the wealthiest women in Greece. She is best known for her trial for impiety, where she was defended by the orator Hypereides. According to legend, she was acquitted after baring her breasts to the jury, though the historical accuracy of this episode is doubtful. She also modeled for the artists Apelles and Praxiteles, and the Aphrodite of Knidos was based on her. Largely ignored during the renaissance, artistic interest in Phryne began to grow from the end of the eighteenth century; her trial was famously depicted by Jean-Léon Gérôme in the 1861 painting Phryne Before the Areopagus.
Gold digger is a term for a person, typically a woman, who engages in a type of transactional sexual relationship for money rather than love. If it turns into marriage, it is a type of marriage of convenience.
Ancient Greek comedy was one of the final three principal dramatic forms in the theatre of classical Greece. Athenian comedy is conventionally divided into three periods: Old Comedy, Middle Comedy, and New Comedy. Old Comedy survives today largely in the form of the eleven surviving plays of Aristophanes; Middle Comedy is largely lost, i.e. preserved only in relatively short fragments by authors such as Athenaeus of Naucratis; and New Comedy is known primarily from the substantial papyrus fragments of Menander.
The mina is an ancient Near Eastern unit of weight for silver or gold, equivalent to approximately 1.25 pounds (0.57 kg), which was divided into 60 shekels. The mina, like the shekel, eventually also became a unit of currency.
Prostitution was a common aspect of ancient Greece. In the more important cities, and particularly the many ports, it employed a significant number of people and represented a notable part of economic activity. It was far from being clandestine; cities did not condemn brothels, but rather only instituted regulations on them.
The male prostitute or hustler is a frequent stereotype in literature and movies in the West from the 1960s on, and especially in movies and books with a gay perspective in which he may be considered a stock character. He also appears occasionally in popular music, some contemporary fashion advertising, and the visual arts.
Leaena is a pseudo-historical figure, supposedly a hetaera and, according to a later tradition, the mistress of Aristogeiton the Tyrannicide.
Prostitution in ancient Rome was legal and licensed. Men of any social status were free to engage prostitutes of either sex without incurring moral disapproval, as long as they demonstrated self-control and moderation in the frequency and enjoyment of sex. Brothels were part of the culture of ancient Rome, as popular places of entertainment for Roman men.
Prostitution has been practiced throughout ancient and modern cultures. Prostitution has been described as "the world's oldest profession"..
Perikeiromene (Greek: Περικειρομένη, translated as The Girl with her Hair Cut Short, is a comedy by Menander that is only partially preserved on papyrus. Of an estimated total of between 1030 and 1091 lines, about 450 lines survive. Most acts lack their beginning and end, except that the transition between act I and II is still extant. The play may have been first performed in 314/13 BC or not much later.
Chandramukhi is one of the pivotal characters in the 1917 Bengali novel Devdas by Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay. Her character was inspired by the Hindu mystical singer Meera, who devoted her life to Lord Krishna; similarly Chandramukhi devoted her life to Devdas. Chandramukhi is portrayed as a tawaif in the novel and its film adaptations. Chandramukhi means "moon faced" or "as beautiful as the moon" in Sanskrit.
Imperia Cognati, was a Roman courtesan. She has been considered the first celebrity of the class of courtesans, which was created in Rome in the late 15th century.
A Lorette is a type of 19th-century French prostitute. They stood between the kept women (courtesans) and the grisettes. A grisette had other employment and worked part-time as a prostitute whereas a Lorette supported herself exclusively from prostitution. The lorette shared her favours among several lovers; the Lorette's "Arthurs", as they called them, were not financially able or too fickle to have exclusivity.
Filmic representations of women have developed in tandem with changing historical and socio-cultural influences. Italian neorealism was a movement that, through art and film, attempted to "[recover] the reality of Italy" for an Italian society that was disillusioned by the propaganda of fascism. Representations of women in this era were influenced heavily by the suffrage movement and changing socio-political awareness of gender rights. The tension of this transitional era created a spectrum of female representation in film, where female characters were written to acquiesce, or more commonly reject, the societal standards imposed on the women of the age. Italian neorealists, with their characteristic use of realism and thematic-driven narrative, used their medium to explore these established ideals of gender and produce a number of filmic representations of women.
the term "good hetaerae", as defined in a much-discussed passage in Plutarch's 'Table Talks'
The Roman whore was conceptualized as a particularly selfish individual... Since the Roman era, this concept has served as a general troped in the discourse about the characters and morals of prostitutes in Western society. ... "The "heart-of-gold" prostitute is always depicted as an exception to the stereotype
She may be the original hooker with the heart of gold