Who is a courtesan and how is she different from a woman

Heteros, geishas, courtesans - these definitions are usually given to women who wanted and could make their own external appeal in combination with a high level of intelligence their profession, that is, a means of obtaining daily bread. The difference between them and ordinary prostitutes is to expand the range of services that they offer. An ordinary "fallen woman" can not (or does not want to) give the client anything other than her body. To understand who such a courtesan, you can only deepen the historical circumstances of the emergence of this complex craft, bordering at times with art.

Antique hetaera

In those old days courtesans also were, but they were called otherwise - hetera. Their duties included delivering, in addition to the bodily pleasures, spiritual pleasures as well. Among those there were also successful remarks during the arising philosophical discussions, thus replicas could be caustic. After all, the real sage has always been particularly pleased to have a woman witty and ironic. And Sophocles, and Plato, and Epicurus were not alien to these pleasures, combining a joint pastime with the honing of the minds of their wards, the contents, on which they did not stint in their bounties. The most famous in this field is Aspasia, who eventually achieved the fact that Pericles parted with his wife, whom he had lived with for many years, and married her. Her enlightenment was so high that Anaxagoras, Socrates and Euripides came to the philosophical lectures read by her, obviously not without benefit for themselves.

Japanese Geisha

To understand who a courtesan is, you can also use the example of a geisha. This respectable profession presupposes an irreproachable knowledge of etiquette, which in the Land of the Rising Sun successfully replaces the ability to conduct refined controversy, and in addition, a high intellectual level combined with an exquisite taste. Japanese wives, recognizing the superiority of geishas in these areas, do not object to such male weaknesses, treat them with understanding and can even boast of the presence of such an interesting friend in the spouse, however, with modesty characteristic of this people. After all, this fact shows not only the refinement of the worldview of her husband, but also his financial strength. Not every Japanese has a geisha, in the end!

Institute of Noble Courtesans

The greatest blossoming this phenomenon has received in France of the end of the XVIII and the beginning of the XIX century, at least, if you trust the classics of European literature. The Italian concept of Cortigiane in Russian transcription sounds like a "courtesan". The meaning of the word is "court", which hints at a certain privileged status. Such a woman lived at the expense of the patron with whom, as now they would say, she was "friendly". A man with sufficient means shared with her not only them. He believed the courtesan and his thoughts, hopes, aspirations. In response, a man could receive not only gratitude, sympathy and warmth, but less pleasant things, for example, treacherous betrayal or reproaches, but this only added to the severity of the relationship, and it was so lacking in satiated nobles.

In order not to be subjected to such humiliation, the wise Alexander Dumas, for example, voluntarily parted with his female Marie Duplessis, realizing that she was not "pulling" the burden of her "dear friend" expenses.

Paris, Paris ...

Parisian courtesans in general were a special sort of this "live goods", although they, in turn, were divided into two main subcategories. The main features that distinguish them, of course, were personal qualities. On how much such a woman knew, whether she was younger and prettier than others, depended also on the price that men were willing to pay for her benevolence. The originality of the role did not play. Moreover, the researchers of the era, who know who such a courtesan is firsthand, agree that most often such women were born in poor families, and everything, again expressed in modern language, "sought for themselves." A vivid example can serve as Celestine Venar, the daughter of a worker who at 14 years was already engaged in prostitution, but realizing the futility of this case (and having stayed in prison), she became first an actress, then a duke, and then a countess. Such is the career.

A modern courtesan. Photo of the model

Are there any courtesans today? Perhaps, in the original understanding of this word there. And it's not that there are no women in society who have sufficient personal qualities, such as beauty and intelligence, and who are ready to sacrifice certain moral principles for achieving material prosperity. Just the demand for them is difficult to call mass. In the colloquial language and the press this word is sometimes used in the context: "Here is the billionaire oligarch (imyarek), and next to him is his courtesan." A photo depicting a happy couple is attached. But what does the reader see? A kind of "modelka" with legs from molars, with a smile that you can tie a knot at the back of your neck, and almost complete lack of thought on a simple pretty face. Who is this? Courtesan? No, she was just a woman, she had no advice to ask her "sponsor" in the minute of a difficult choice, and she would never be a countess.