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THE HONEYMOON ROOM
The room is overwhelmed by the colour red and has quite a dark aspect. However, when the late afternoon sun hits the window pane,
on which a red sun with jealous green eyes has been painted and encrusted with glass, the room is suffused with an eerie glow.
According to various friends, this was the one bedroom Helen never slept in.
There is a large mirrored wardrobe, which contained clothes sent to her by her sister Alida, and two beds with red covers. Red light
pours in through a half-moon window inserted in the wall separating this room from the bedroom known as the long room.
On the wall hangs a cross-shaped mirror, an interesting juxtaposition considering that the room’s overall theme and the name given to
it by Helen herself strongly suggest carnality.
The colour red is traditionally associated with themes as diverse as the blood of Christ, romantic love and prostitution. The word 'red'
means 'beautiful' and 'colourful' in many different languages and the colour itself has very strong cultural symbolism, often being used
as part of religious rituals. In Christian iconography, Mary Magdalene, an associate of Christ believed in some traditions to have been
a former prostitute, is often depicted in red. In Revelation, the great harlot of Babylon is dressed in purple and scarlet and in the 19th
century, hanging red lamps in areas where prostitutes plied their trade was traditional.
Helen only gave names to three of the rooms in the house, the Honeymoon Room, the Lion’s Den and Bluebeard’s Chamber, indicating
that this room held symbolic significance to her. Originally the main bedroom in the house, it would likely have been where her parents
slept when the whole family lived together. Ironically, the suns painted on windows throughout the house blocked out the rays of the
real sun.
116 FOR THE LOVE OF LIGHT
FOR THE LOVE OF LIGHT 117