Beloved Body. Physical Aspects of the Image of Barbara Radziwiłł in the Novel by Magdalena Niedźwiecka

Abstract This text analyzes the physical aspects of Barbara Radziwiłł’s portrayal in Magdalena Niedźwiecka’s novel Barbara Radziwiłł. The author examines how the writer constructs Barbara’s image based on her physical characteristics, which constituted a fundamental determinant in the creation of a female image during the Renaissance. This image is primarily shaped by appearance, which in Barbara’s case played a key role. The protagonist is portrayed in the novel primarily through the prism of her physical attractiveness, which deprives her character of expressiveness and depth. This, in turn, leads Niedźwiecka’s novel to perpetuate stereotypes of Barbara as a beautiful woman lacking intelligence and good manners, and to reduce August’s love to blind lust.