Analysis of Flea by John Donne :: essays research papers

The FleaThe narrator in The Flea is a youthful piece trying to change a young woman to give her virginity to him. He tries to do this by comparing their relationship to a flea that is in the room. The flea bites them twain and Donne explains to her that this is symbolic of both of their worlds combining into one. He says that the flea is now the realm of love, lust, and marriage. At first this metrical composition seems to be just about love, commitment from a mannish to a female, who says no his lustful desires. However, a deeper look than just the superficial reveals that the male in this poem is actually revealing a valid oral sex to his gentlewoman that the loss of innocence, such as her virginity, does not constitute a loss of her honor. At first, this poem seems to be simply about a young, sexually hungry man who is trying to convince a little girl to give into his sexual wishes. She denies the ?wanna be? lover because she believes that the act of chat ahead marriage is a dishonorable sin in the eyes of the church. The lady ends up killing the flea and symbolically killing the false world the man had constructed in the flea. She then says that neither of them are any worse by killing the flea, which the male agrees with. The man concludes his point by granting that the death of the flea does not really have any consequences, just like her fears to loose her respectability and honor. His main point in all his talk about the flea is to introduce her that her honor will not be ruined if she yields to him.John Donne?s poem connects flesh and spirit, worldly and religious ideas in a charming way between seemingly unrelated topics. He compares sexual intercourse to a bite of a flea and says that now their blood has mixed inwardly the flea. He also compares the inside of the tiny flea to the entire world, including the couple.