Clothing and Body Language in Literary Works and Art

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Clothing and Body Language in Literary Works and Art

Throughout life, clothing and body language are often utilized as

sources of emotional expression. These emotions can also be portrayed in

literaray works and artisitic displays, such as those of Poe, Baudelaire, Manet,

and Warhol. In Poe's “Man of the Crowd,” there are several descriptions of

different types of people based on their appearances, but one particular man is

focused on by the narrator due to his unique appearance. Baudelaire's “The

Painter of Modern Life” emphasizes the emotional expressions of beauty and

fashion expressed in art. Manet is an artist who paints scenes to his liking.

All of his works were done in his studio and set up the way that he wanted them.

He holds a particular focus on men and women and the relationship between them.

The positions and clothing that the men and women are set up in hold strong

emotional implications about their feelings towards one another and the emotions

involved in the social setting.

The opening of “The Man of the Crowd,” describes the emotions involved

in untold secrets and the deepest of crimes; there are internal conflicts,

struggles, anxieties, and agonous results due to the horror of the unsolvable

crimes. The possibility of these crimes is introduced through the man of the

crowd through his unseemingly unidentifiable expression The narrator describes

his thoughts of this man as:

There arose confusedly and paradoxically within my mind, the ideas of vast

mental power, of caution, of penuriousness, of avarice, of coolness, of malice,

of blood-thirtstiness, of triumph, of merriment, of excessive terror, of intense

- of supreme despair. I felt singularly aroused, startled, fascinated. “How

wild a history,” I said to myself, “is written within that bosom!”

Although the narrator had never spoken to this man of the crowd, he was

compelled to follow him based on his expression that had never been viewed by

the narrator. He continued to follow the man of the crowd, noticing his

patterns of following people by the mass and his shambled cloting and he

concluded that he “[was] the type and genious of deep crime. He refuses to be

alone.”

Prior to viewing the man of the crowd, the narrator observed several

different types of people, all of which were able to be “read” through their

outward appearances...

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...p is not meant to be applied naturally

and should be used as a method of exhibition of their beauty. Although Baudelaire

does not describe the actions of women in the section of makeup, he clearly

praises women who wear makeup because of their holy nature and uncriticalness.

Monet is able to express several emotions through his paintings,

particularly through the arrangement and the depiction of the subjects in his

work. In In The Conservatory, Manet focuses on the relationship between the man

and the woman. The woman is properly dressed with buttons vertically lined up

through her dress, thus constricting her presense. She has a fixed gaze and is

not looking at the man. Although she is sitting comfortably, the woman has a

rigid appearance. The man is leaning over towards her and is dressed like a

dandy. The expressions on their faces and the way the man is leaning over the

woman and looking at her appears as though he is pleading for forgiveness or

attention. The rims of her eyes are red adding the possibility of her crying

and an emphasis is placed upon their hands, which both contain wedding rings,

suggesting that they are a married couple with problems.

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