Compare and Contrast the Ways Philip Sidney's Astrophil and Stella and Milton's Comus explore Gender and Sexuality.

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Introduction
In the late sixteenth and the seventeenth century, new ideas and motives in arts, inspired by the past but concerned with new concepts, appeared. Building on a courtly love, some writers and poets attempted to discuss the nature of love by commenting on gender issues and sexuality (MacArthur, 1989). Thus, love conventions, based on a passion or an unrequited love, would change, challenging social norms and discussing male and female sexualities. On the one hand, the authors explore male sexualities and a desire for a woman. Phillip Sidney's narrator is a lustful, musing about his chosen woman, her body and a sexual intercourse. Milton's character Comus resembles a similar character when attempting to seduce the Lady, and failing to do so because of her reason and virtue. On the other hand, the two works introduce new and progressive views on women, and their new role in the society. Both Sidney's and Milton's heroines are no longer passive feminine receivers of affections. They determine what happens to them by using reason rather than emotions. Hence, Sidney and Milton exemplify progressive views of their periods, attempting to see gender and sexuality in a new light.

Sexuality and desire
Philip Sidney: Astrophil and Stella (c. 1591)
Sidney's Astrophil and Stella, a compilation of 108 sonnets and 11 songs, describes a desire of a poet for his muse, inspired by Petrarch. It is a variation of his rhyme, and a motive Petrarch exploited: the poet's love and want for a woman. In these sonnets, Astrophil, the star lover, presents new attitudes on an idea of a sexual desire, and its ambiguity. His relationship to Stella, his star, is lustful, and the poet, the speaker, is physically rather than emotionally aroused when ...

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...uous, and morally and intellectually strong. Thus, Sidney and Milton reconsider gender of early modern English arts, pushing social boundaries of the period. Consequently, Astrophil and Stella and Comus can be viewed as socially progressive, considering tensions between genders in a modern liberal way.

Works Cited

Milton, J. (1634). Comus, A Mask presented at Ludlow Castle. [online] Available through: [Accessed 18 April 2014]. (C)
Sidney, P. (c. 1591). Astrophil and Stella. [online] Available through: [Accessed 18 April 2014]. (AS)
Secondary sources:
Kimbrough, R. (1971). Sir Philip Sidney. New York: Twayne.
MacArthur, J.H. (1989). Critical Contexts of Sidney’s Astrophil and Stella and Spenser’s Amoretti. Victoria: University of Victoria.

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