Love as Power

As a result of negative experiences in her life, like her rape and her abusive marriage, Mata Hari sees love and sex as something she can use to control others, a means to get what she wants. She has affairs with rich and powerful men whom she pretends to love but really only uses them to boost her ego. When Madame Guimet sees Mata Hari is an independent woman, she warns her not to fall in love because she will lose her independence if she does. Despite the older’s woman’s advice, Mata Hari does fall in love with a Russian soldier injured in the war. It is a trip to nurse him that ultimately leads to her downfall.

Mata Hari’s first experience with sex, her rape, leaves her confused about the connection between love and sex. Her marriage does nothing to...