The painter has also assembled the figures of the
underworld around Dulle Griet (Mad Meg) (c. 1562), a
traditional figure in Flanders who - also known as "Gret
Sourpuss" - was always quarrelling with her husband or -
under the name of "Black Gret" - passed herself off as Queen
in the place of her mistress. Bruegel has depicted her as
the embodiment of aggressive miserliness. Sword in hand, she
is gathering up plates, pots and pans. The painter has
turned upside down all the rulesgoverning the pleasing
presentation of women: no smile touches her lips; no hair
plays about her brow; her skinappears dull; her toothless
mouth hangs open; her clothes are shabby; her armour does
not contribute to the elegance of her bust, but simply hangs
in front of her belly. And instead of turning gracefully
towards the observer, she is running past him with leaden
steps, seeking to bring her booty to a safe place.
Yet she remains a human; she is no demon. The same is
equally true of the women behind her. The devilish figures
in this picture, in those few cases where their sex can be
identified at all, are male. Their visors lowered, they are
coming out from under the bridge, and are being tied by the
women to cushions. "To tie a devil to a pillow" means to
cope with the devil in question, or with a man.
Everything in the picture is the opposite of what it should
be. The head which serves as the entrance to Hell has a
board as its eyelid; its skin is made up of stones; a tree
is growing out of its ear - the painter is repeatedly
blending plant, animal, human, organic and inorganic
elements. The mouth of Hell is part of a living creature and
simultaneously an enclosed space; the crown on the forehead
of Hell is simultaneously a wall with battlements; the
eyebrows are comprised of jugs. It is a topsy-turvy world.
The Divine order has no validity here. A hellish wall of
fire blazes on the horizon.
Bruegel's first biographer, while providing us with
information regarding the traditional figure, gives us no
hint as to whether the painter was seeking to comment upon
woman's position in contemporary society. From today's point
of view, she was underprivileged. Her father and husband
decided what was to be done with her property, while she was
ousted from one of her most important occupational fields,
that of popular medicine, by the university medicine
practised by men. Only too often were midwives and "wise
women" the victims of witch trials. Women were also
underprivileged with respect to the Church, which expected
them to be silent and considered them less perfect than man
(who had been created first) and burdened by Eve's legacy as
the eternal temptress. Though the women in this picture are
stronger than the male half-beasts, they neither triumph nor
exactly attract the observer's sympathy. It is unlikely that
Bruegel intended any more than the creation of an
aggressive, demonic environment for a traditional figure.
