Idolatry of Perfection: From Narcissism to Drowning Ivory
Controlling | Objectifying | Twisted
By Schieloh Wolfe, M.S.
“You are too beautiful, too perfect, for their sinful eyes. Only I know your true essence.” — Pygmalion
“Though she breathed, it was but to serve Pygmalion’s twisted ideal of womanhood.” — Narrator
The sculptor Pygmalion resided in a lavish villa overlooking the sun-kissed Mediterranean port city of Cyprus. While the adoring populace appreciated his magnificent marble sculptures, they worried for the reclusive artist who shunned female companionship.
“The fair maidens of Cyprus are but swine garbed in silk,” Pygmalion lamented to his apprentice. “Their gilded exteriors shelter blackened hearts and feeble minds.”
Instead, Pygmalion envisioned perfection personified — a flawless womanly form uncorrupted by mortal failings. She haunted his restless dreams and consumed his waking thoughts until he carved her likeness in ivory.
As his chisel birthed her sensuous curves from rigid stone and ivory, Pygmalion’s passion ignited. Her skin was unsullied alabaster, her tresses onyx cascades. When complete, she arrested the breath in his throat.
