“A woman who wears fur, then,” exclaimed Wanda, “is nothing more than a big cat…” (35). Wanda then, in Sacher-Masoch's “Venus in Furs”, does not do extraordinarily well in becoming a domesticated cat. Readers are presented with a sadomasochistic relationship. Yet this is not a relationship in which the narrator is dominated and abused by a powerful widow. By eliminating the male voice in the story, the reader realizes that it is not Severin who is the victim, but Wanda herself. She is subjugated and oppressed by a strongly patriarchal world, she is controlled by three men; by her dead husband, her lover and, above all, her slave. Like the Venus Severin dreamed of, Wanda is slowly sculpted and molded into a statuette. Its main use is similar to that of a domestic cat, namely to please its owner. This is strikingly depicted through Sacher-Masoch's association of women with light and green. The statue of Venus's natural environment is described as a “desert,” a “meadow” where “deer graze peacefully,” and Wanda herself resides in a private sphere of “green creepers” (11). The use of adjectives that suggest calm implies a sense of freedom, generosity and growth. Yet Severin sees Venus come alive at night, in the "moonlight" (15); a type of light that distorts people's perception, a surreal atmosphere of deception and disguise, an oppressive light that forces Wanda to hide her true self to become the dominatrix Severin desires. Similarly, Wanda's “light morning dress”(16), (a garment that suggests fluidity of movement) is replaced, at Severin's suggestion, with furs. The furs become a metaphor for Severin's expectations of women and become a repressive force in Wanda's life which...... half of the paper ......tive presents a pure, confessional tone, similar to that of the woman at the beginning of the narrative. “I loved you deeply,” he says, a love that was “suffocated…by your fantastic devotion and your mad passion” (120). His language is powerful as he expresses his submission, and his choice of adjectives in describing Severin's love conveys his imprisonment in a fantasy that conflicted with his inner self. Therefore, through Sacher-Masoch's presentation and style, it is easy for readers to ignore Wanda's struggle. against the ideal imposed on her by her 'slave', it is easy to ignore the fact that to express her love for Severin she must become the goddess he idealized. In fact, he is easy in his jokes: “are you done with your ideal now? Are you satisfied with me?" (112) dissipate under the prejudiced and masculine voice of the selfish narrator.