In the works of Octave Mirbeau and Georges Bataille the role of woman appears as a determining force for the need for eroticism in terms of its use for man as the driving element in his pursuit of his object of desire, namely woman herself. From within this understanding of woman and eroticism, a contrast can also be made between Western and Oriental culture and the identification of eroticism in the structure of these cultures. Essentially, woman seems to occupy the role of destroyer for both Mirbeau and Bataille in the sense that she is responsible for the actions of men, since she is his desire. At the same time, in her own erotic desires, she also represents nature since she is reconnecting the primordial link between sex and death, which has been broken through the “progression” of civilized society. From here, the contrast between these two cultures can be made, which indicates that Western culture inhibits this natural connection whereas in the Oriental culture it remains intact. Woman, either way, represents a hero/anti-hero, as she is the deliberate (and sought-after) destructive force that ironically compels men to seek their own demise.