Coming undone

[Rodney Patterson]

Martha Sherwood's note concerning the reasons for a woman's hair
being "undone" is mostly correct, I believe, but misses a more common
reason: proper women normally undid their hair before going to bed at home,
every night. Such "undoing" usually had nothing to do with licentiousness or
rape, but the idea of it fired male imaginations, the way the rustle of long
peticoats under long dresses did.  Sometimes (I think an example can be
found in Tolstoi's work), loosening the hair was a signal that a woman might
consider interesting developments in a relationship, or was wavering about
what to do next with a man.  When Ljuba Blok undid her hair in a hotel room
during a heart-to-heart with Bugaev, she was indicating a willingness to
consider carnal relations that would lead to abiding love, but not
licentiousness.  Rape, of course, was out of the question with Bugaev.

Rodney L. Patterson, SUNY

Martha Sherwood wrote:
The primary reference is probably to women's hair, which was,
until 1920
>or so, kept in braids or a bun; undone hair being a symbol
either of
>sexual licentiousness or of having been raped, as in the
now-obsolete
>expression, I am undone. -Martha Sherwood-
Albany
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