The images presented below are all either closely related symbols of innocence,
or are commonly associated with it.
An Innocent Babe
Analysis: Children are often times very powerful symbols of innocence that many people connect with. One reason that so many people connect with this symbol of innocence is because a baby embodies several different definitions all within one persona, so people can see this as innocence from several different directions. Some examples of this overlap are that they are guiltless from moral wrong, but also naive, like a child usually is. Also, babies lack an understanding of the world around them, and additionally are harmless to the world around them. Of course, this can be taken and skewed several different ways to contort the meanings: for example, someone might say that babies are not harmless to the world around them because they influence it so much, and can cause havoc in a family setting.
Uploaded from: http://www2.hiren.info/desktopwallpapers/babies/absolutely-innocent-princess-baby-girl.jpg
An Sacrificial Lamb
Analysis: A lamb is often times associated with innocence, especially in Christian and religious settings. This is because Jesus is often equated to being the "Lamb of God," blameless. This is embodied in the idea that Jesus died for his people and because he was as innocent as a lamb, washed away the current and future sins of Christians. Additionally, before this time lambs were often directly sacrificed as to give a "clean" and "blameless" sacrifice to God, and led to this parallel.
Uploaded from: http://www.thedigitallearner.net/marccortez/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/the-sacrificial-lamb.jpg
Venus Bathing or Innocence
Analysis: This picture fully embodies the concept of innocence in multiple facets. First of all, as stated before, small children are often times associated with innocence because of all the different pieces of "innocence" that they embody. More importantly in this painting, Venus is in the nude. Though not directly correlated, non-sexual nudity is often times associated with innocence. The source of this context of innocence could be taken from the beginning of the bible where traditionally Adam and Eve are naked in the garden, and are innocent and naive of their nakedness. Traditionally, this naivete ends when they become evident of their nakedness, and this not innocent of it any longer. This re-interpretation of this subject edifies this concept very well.
Bougureau-Linnocence
Analysis: The significance of this painting is that it embodies several different aspects of the concept innocence. First, as previously stated, children are symbols of innocence because of their naivete to the world around them. The lamb in this picture also represents innocence because of its symbolic connection to Jesus and being a innocent and pure sacrifice. What I would like to focus on, however, would be the woman holding both of these things. Classically, another primary symbol of innocence is a virgin, often times wearing white. Virgins are pure and unblemished by society, and this embodies "innocence's" idea of being free from sin, or virtuous. In biblical times, celibacy until marriage was an idea that carried a lot of weight, for breaking this code could often times result in persecution or death. The color white is also symbolic because of its ease to stain or mar. In totality, this painting represent many different facets of innocence and what it has meant throughout time.
Courtroom Innocence
Analysis: The idea behind this painting is to represent, through a courtroom scene, to represent a different side to innocence: the physical sense. A different connotation, varying from the metaphorical and spiritual sense, is one in which a party is cleared of a crime or accusation: guiltless. Additionally, this specific painting shows a jury of peers, which allows some ambiguity to the sense, because innocence to one person may be slightly different than another, or that of the courtroom.
More analysis comparing the definition of legal innocence to the previous examples in the last picture so the argument builds on itself.
ReplyDeleteNate,
ReplyDeleteI believe these 5 pictures effectively represent the 3 definitions of innocence you were basing your blog off of; therefore, your pictures make your argument stronger, which is good. I like your analysis for the first 4 pictures, but maybe for the last picture (courtroom) you could say a little bit more about the "guiltless" aspect of innocence.
I really like the photos you chose. The first four are very similar in what aspect of innocence they express, but i also really like the physical innocence that is shown more in the court room although i do agree with Daniel and Rohini in that the last analysis could be a little clearer.
ReplyDelete