Hell. Part 3

Note: This is the third and final of a three-part series. Find Part 1 here and Part 2 here.

Music has Charms to soothe a savage Breast and Hell has no fury like a woman scorned.*

We had it all on Saturday - savages, breasts, fury, a scorned woman, music, fury and a taste of Hell. Just the type of things a jungle lover would expect to find in New York City. And if you are going to enter the jungle smearing blood, you should be prepared for lions and tigers.

There is no way that you can come to this city, set up in Greenwich Village, sing gospel songs, preach sin and damnation and not expect a confrontation. The neighborhood is extremely liberal and very tolerant, except of being accused of sin and threatened with eternal damnation for their lifestyle.

The model, Abigayle, had been provoked - she had been told that she was wicked and had been warned five times. She climbed on the shoulders of a young man, also body painted, and they approached the Mennonite group. It was fair to say that this couple taunted the crowd of Mennonites and the preacher, who launched into a diatribe regarding nudity, hell and damnation while brandishing his bible. The man in body paint who had shouldered the model read and mocked parts of the leaflet, Boys and Girls & Fornication. See my video here.

Whether this confrontation on the part of the model and her supporter was justified was hotly debated. Some were infuriated and saw it as disrespectful and unnecessarily provocative. Others saw it as just desserts or as another circus act to be expected in the Village. At the end, the painted man reconciled with one of the visiting group and shook hands (photo lower right). Perhaps after all, The road to Hell is paved with good intentions :)

*Heaven hath no rage like love to hatred turned, Nor Hell a fury like a woman scorned. William Congreve from the Mourning Bride, 1697. Music has charms to soothe the savage breast is also from the same work (the word breast is often misquoted as beast.)