Tomorrow we'll be following up our discussion of Aphra Behn's Oroonoko with a discussion of her poem, "The Disappointment," a response to Rochester's "The Imperfect Enjoyment" which we looked at briefly in class last week. You should bring both the handout with the Behn poems AND the Longman anthology to class tomorrow.
What remaining questions do you have about Oroonoko?
What differences do you see in how Behn and Rochester depict an unfulfilling sexual encounter?
What strikes you as particularly significant or noteworthy about Behn's poem?
Deadline: Wednesday (4/20), start of class.
6 comments:
John Rochester's "The Imperfect Enjoyment" suggest just the lack of a pleasant time; the absence of the female orgasm and the male's failure. Aphra Behn's "The Disappointment" implies that this scenario is more heartfelt, that there are aspirations, on both sides, present for something deeper.
The male figures in each poem, at times, seem to be opposites of one another. It takes only sixteen lines for Rochester's unnamed protagonist to "dissolve all o'er, / Melt into sperm, and spend at every pore" (Rochester 15-16). He goes onto proclaim that "A touch from any part of her had done't: / Her hand, her foot, her very look's a cunt" (Rochester 17-18). This is a character who is clearly certain that the blame for his dilemma be put entirely on this woman, who, in hindsight, has done nothing but embrace her sexuality.
Rochester's man’s vulnerability and self-loathing is displayed when he is declared a "Trembling, confused, despairing, limber, dry, / A wishing, weak, unmoving lump" (Rochester 35-36). Behn's Lysander, contrarily, seems to be altogether consumed by fraility and weakness. Before the actual engagement occurs, the outcome is all but sealed when Behn writes "the o'er-ravished shepherd lies / Unable to perform the sacrifice" (Behn 69-70). Lysander is set up to fail in his own mind and it is only a matter of time until the actual instance occurs
One of the ways that Behn signals a shift in the poem’s action is a transition from martial to pastoral imagery. Prior to Lysander’s inability to “perform the sacrifice,” (vii) the sexual encounter is portrayed as a military campaign. Cloris is described as “the enemy” whose “spoils and trophies” (iv) Lysander intends to conquer. Indeed, the image of his advancement “By swift degrees” (v) toward Cloris’s “unguarded beauties” (iv) suggests that Lysander is an aggressor whose conquest entails consummating his desires. As a martial figure, Lysander occupies the dominant position in this situation. He is “much unused to fear,” and the speaker indicates that any resistance by Cloris “’tis in vain” (ii). Although Cloris and Lysander are willing participants, they engage in a struggle that Behn conveys through a metaphoric battle.
However, after Lysander cannot consummate his sexual desire, he is no longer a martial figure, but rather an “o’er-ravished shepherd” (vii). Vivian notes in her post that Lysander is portrayed as powerless after his failure, and Behn’s use of pastoral imagery reflects this depiction. Instead of the “awful fires” he exhibited as a metaphorical conqueror, Lysander is now “cold as flowers bathed in morning dew” (xi). The martial imagery is replaced by less threatening descriptions of flowers. Likewise, Cloris is described as a “young shepherdess,” who finds “beneath the verdant leaves a snake” (xi). She is no longer helpless against Lysander’s advances and assumes a position of power by expressing her disdain and “Leaving him fainting on the gloomy bed” (xii).
“The Disappointment” raises additional questions about the nature of power in sexual encounters. Even though the military imagery makes Lysander appear to occupy a position of power, is he actually powerful given his inability to control his sexual urges? Or if he does retain some or all power in sexual situations, what factors determine the degree of control he exercises?
What I found interesting about Behn's poem was her expression of emotions of both the female and male characters in her poems. In Rochester's poem, we only get the view point of the male and how angry and disappointed he becomes with the woman he sleeps with. Thus, the readers feel more sympathetic towards the speaker rather than the woman who leaves him. In Behn's poem, although Lysander forces himself upon Cloris, we still feel sympathetic for the both of them. For Cloris, we are emotionally stirred by her frailty as an innocent young woman who is raped by a man who is supposed to have ultimate power over her. But ironically, he has no sexual power to do what he wants. We feel sympathy for Lysander because of his impotence and his failure as a male. There are two sides to this story while there is only one side to Rochester's.
I thought Rochester's "The Imperfect Enjoyment” and Behn’s “The Disappointment” were different in regards to the severity of the poems. I read Rochester’s poem as similar to Vivian’s statement that it is “just the lack of a pleasant time” and the preferred result for the female during her sexual encounter with the male did not go as desired. However, I read Behn’s poem as much more serious because Cloris endures being raped by a powerful and ruthless Lysander. Cloris is stripped of her innocence during the rape. Her pride, honor, and ultimately virginity is unrightfully taken from her unlike in the previous poem.
Aphra Behn take on a forced situation was unique. The situation that she is writing about is almost rape but it seems more sensual and more directly connected to a deeper emotion than rape. The way that she describes the encounter closely resembles a relationship that has been going on for a while that finally gets lost in other desires. It is easy to read the emotion that Cloris may feel but as for the male figure we are not able understand what may be going through his head as he forces himself upon this innocent virgin.
Behn's poem ascribes a fated quality to the male character's impotence. Lysander cannot call forth his sexual ability at the crux of his encounter with Cloris, and the gods and nature seemingly conspire to snatch his vigor at the crucial moment. Unlike Rochester's poem, his body's failure is not directly cursed, but rather the circumstances that culminate into impotency. Cloris and the gods are more the objects of fury than his sexual organ. "None can guess Lysander's soul, But those who swayed his destiny" (xiv) the poem says, suggesting influences behind his failure. Everything that could have possibly coalesced to determine his failure meets his heated scorn. "He cursed his fate, his birth, his stars," (xiv) not blaming himself directly but rather the aspects out of his control that combined to make up his self and brought him to the point of defeat. He curses fate itself, a fate that, when seeing Cloris's "soft bewitching influence Had damned him to the hell of impotence."
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