At first I was totally confused by this short story, and still am unsure if I have the right idea. In the beginning it was difficult to tell if the narrator was a male or female. When the narrator is finally revealed as a male, I got the feeling that the woman model had power over him. Throughout the short story, the female had the power over the male artist. The model was constantly talking down to the narrator, or criticizing him saying things like "you should be artistic, not artificial" (274), or referring to him as a "charming phrase-maker" (283). I thought the scene where the model has the narrator put on the Greek clothing and laughs at him especially showed her power. After beginning to see the pattern of her authority over him, I thought I felt I had the right idea because in the ending the artist describes the model as "a free woman, a new creature, and a source of inspiration the like of which no man hitherto has even imaged in art or literature" (287).
It's strange how so much literature, art, and music throughout history has been claimed to be inspired by the so-called female muses. Rarely does it seem that female artists of all sorts claim inspiration from a male muse... but perhaps it is just not voiced as often.
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