Nigella Lawson, the fallen woman and the 10 swords....a Scapegoat for a lost empire.

The Pre-Raphaelite society would have loved the recent coverage of the vilification of Nigella Lawson. In fact everything about about the case smacked of retributive Victoriana. Every day we were blasted with Nigella's sad face emblazoned across the usual witch burning tabloids, my head became a tumble of the symbolism of the Pre Raphs, William Holman Hunt's Scapegoat leaped into view, adding clout to my tut-tutting as I passed the newsagents. It crossed my mind that there was something subliminal going on, we women were meant to glimpse (often) that angst ridden face, a stark reminder that we might be a Goddess in the kitchen, but err and the powers that be ( in Nigella's case a husband so rich that it is almost perverted AND who appears to be a Roman Emperor in disguise) and you can forget any success or good that you might have done in the world or for yourself. I feel for her, I really do, she has been made an example of.

The Scape Goat. William Holman Hunt.

This country has a history of patriarchy conditioning its women, scary stuff, especially when you consider that Ghandi said 'You can tell a nation by how it treats its Women and Animals'. It appears that even in the UK, buried deep in the psyche, there is no real difference between the two. Both live out a life of servitude to men. It is not all that long ago that there really was a law that a man could beat his wife with a stick as long as it was no bigger than his thumb.
In Victoria's rule, when the Empire was the jewel in the crown of great Britain, when the Industrial revolution was priming us up for what was to become a globalisation of our skills and assets, women represented the strength and beauty of this fair isle. John Ruskin in his lecture, 'Sesame and Lillies' opined romantically that woman full of grace, even the flowers nod as she walks by. Particularly if you come from the right side of town.

Naughty Nigella, she strayed from the path. She became the fallen woman. In Rosetti's painting of the same name we can see the miserable wretch clinging to the wall, forlorn and wasted. ( In Nigella's case, literally!!)
She is being saved from herself by whom, Saatchi? Victim support? A society that cherishes survivors? In the background we see the Lamb, albeit sacrificial but it strayed from the flock and is now saved never to stray again as it is now netted and suitably restrained.
What Saatchi and the tabloids didn't bank on is actually people are sometimes more lovable when they are at their more wretched and vulnerable. Ok, so everyone's moral compass may not agree with her hijinx(!?) but in this day and age it is rare to find someone who has not flirted with a stimulant of some kind, frankly,the whole world gets off on something!
Let's not forget that Nigella made exceedingly good cakes and put sex appeal back into the kitchen, there is a strange irony that she is iconic of what is historically a woman's domain and one wonders if she is paying for not being ugly and troutish nor barefoot and pregnant and tied to the kitchen sink, Saatchi made sure of that.....it doesn't escape me that he has a foothold in the world of advertising and here we are playing out an archetypal cultural drama where gender specifics are  the cheer leaders. Venus and Mars.
I feel this supposed evil matriarch will come good....in time. One truly hopes that she will bounce back and trounce her oppressors; not to eat cake but their words. She is not a self destructive narcissist but a winner. What we have learnt since the days of Victoria that we can overcome.

Saatchi, it seems wanted some kind of revenge.I have to confess that I have forgotten the whole point of why he took her to court in the first place but he was out to get her with as many swords as possible. For the rest of us it might be worth bearing in mind that there is some fictitious empire, perhaps it is like the spiritual Jerusalem and resides in another realm but what ever it is beware you don't bring shame on the good name of it's patriarchal representatives.

Nigella Lawson would do well to take the lesson form the influence of the 10 Swords. Everything passes, very soon she will be a different person and this whole sorry incident will no longer be of relevance. Yes, she has had sorrow and loss, yes this can shape our thinking. She may have chosen a difficult path for herself but she is promised a new dawn, an awakening of conscience to oneself and the realisation that she has a lot to offer the world and the world has a lot to offer her.