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Obscenity in Rochester's Work
"Rage at last confirms me impotent" (Rochester). How far is obscenity in Rochester's work motivated by disquiet with the world at large, and how successful is Rochester's ribaldry in fulfilling its satiric purpose?
Rochester's poetry has been denounced by many as obscene and immoral. Samuel Johnson condemned his work and said that he lived and wrote "with an avowed contempt of decency and order, a total disregard to every moral, and a resolute denial of every religious observation." However, he is not without his admirers. Hazlitt respected his work, and remarked that "his contempt for everything that others respect almost amounts to sublimity". It is true that Rochester's work contains voluminous amounts of obscene language and metaphor. But this is not without reason, and does not mean his poetry is a light hearted and rude collection by a man who cared greatly for a debauched lifestyle. Frequently, the poetry contains an often very dark view of life in the Court (despite Rochester's active participation in the courtly way of living), and some extremely clever and appropriate satire on King Charles II and the members of his court. The obscenity could be viewed as simply that - obscenity for the sake of it, but this may not be the case. There seems to be underlying feelings beneath the surface of the language, which reflect a dissatisfied soul observing the events around him. The question of the success of his ribaldry is one that requires a good deal of thought, as it is not always the bawdy poems that convey best the satire that Rochester aims for.
One of Rochester's poems - a Song about Cloris - at first seems to be merely a poem about simple virtues, with humble characters found in th...
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...mple of this comes out in A Letter From Artemisia in the Town to Chloe in the Country, where he talks about the vanity of women and their "silly sex!" who "turn gypsies for a meaner liberty". However, because of the way he deals with the poem about Cloris for example, it is not easy to interpret it as a satirical parody on the epic, as it lends itself more towards being simply a rude poem about a woman who takes care of pigs. This is not entirely successful, but the poems can be taken for what they are if the lewd contents are accepted as part of Rochester's style, and the poems are read taking that into account.
Bibliography:
Rochester's poetry (Selected photocopies)
The speaker begins the poem an ethereal tone masking the violent nature of her subject matter. The poem is set in the Elysian Fields, a paradise where the souls of the heroic and virtuous were sent (cite). Through her use of the words “dreamed”, “sweet women”, “blossoms” and
Therefore, Oliver’s incorporation of imagery, setting, and mood to control the perspective of her own poem, as well as to further build the contrast she establishes through the speaker, serves a critical role in creating the lesson of the work. Oliver’s poem essentially gives the poet an ultimatum; either he can go to the “cave behind all that / jubilation” (10-11) produced by a waterfall to “drip with despair” (14) without disturbing the world with his misery, or, instead, he can mimic the thrush who sings its poetry from a “green branch” (15) on which the “passing foil of the water” (16) gently brushes its feathers. The contrast between these two images is quite pronounced, and the intention of such description is to persuade the audience by setting their mood towards the two poets to match that of the speaker. The most apparent difference between these two depictions is the gracelessness of the first versus the gracefulness of the second. Within the poem’s content, the setting has been skillfully intertwined with both imagery and mood to create an understanding of the two poets, whose surroundings characterize them. The poet stands alone in a cave “to cry aloud for [his] / mistakes” while the thrush shares its beautiful and lovely music with the world (1-2). As such, the overall function of these three elements within the poem is to portray the
...ment and realization that he has lost Jane to another man in the following dialogue between them, “’I know where your heart turns, and to what it clings. The interest you cherish is lawless and unconsecrated. Long since you ought to have crushed it: now you should blush to allude to it. You think of Mr. Rochester?’ It was true. I confessed it by silence. ‘Are you going t seek Mr. Rochester?’ ‘I must find out what is become of him.’ ‘It remains for me, then,’ he said, ‘to remember you in my prayers; and to entreat God for you, in all earnestness, that you may not indeed become a castaway. I had thought I recognized in you one of the chose. But God sees not as man sees: His will be done.’” (Bronte 436) Though Jane Eyre’s stay at Moor House and Morton were crucial for her recovery to stability of her life, she yearned to be at Thornfield and wedded to Mr. Rochester.
When reading Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre, I find myself cheering for Rochester. After finishing the book, I ask myself why Jane chooses Rochester over St. John. After all, Rochester has a "mad" wife, Bertha Mason, locked in the attic of Thornfield Hall at the same time that he is proposing marriage to Jane. He has a ward living with him, possibly the offspring of an illicit affair with a French dancer. He is arrogant, pushy, and basically ill-tempered. St. John, on the other hand, is well mannered, respected, and has a promising future. To answer my own question, then, it is essential to look at how each man fits the idea of masculinity in Victorian society, at how each man relates to Jane, and at why Bronte creates her two leading men to be such extreme opposites.
Poems, Poets, Poetry: An Introduction and Anthology. 3rd ed. Ed. Helen Vendler. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s,
Jane Eyre, a conscientious young governess, tells her master, Mr. Rochester, that she dislikes speaking nonsense. Mr. Rochester tells her quite frankly, "If you did, it would be in such a grave, quiet manner, I should mistake it for sense...I see you laugh rarely; but you can laugh very merrily: believe me, you are not naturally austere" (141). In this way is the inner struggle between feelings and judgment recognized and revealed. In Charlotte Brontë's novel, Jane Eyre, Mr. Rochester, St. John Rivers, and Jane Eyre all struggle with feelings versus judgment.
Indeed, keeping with the gothic theme of the novel Edward Rochester is a dark, mysterious, blunt man whose confidence can often be mistaken for arrogance. Rochester’s traits award him Byronic status. Merja Makien confirms this point by saying, “in appearance, Rochester is a typical gothic hero, dark and brooding with ‘granite-hewn features’ and ‘great, dark eyes’’’. Furthermore, “you think me handsome” and “retain my hand” does not only show that Rochester wants Jane’s approval but displays an intimate and flirtatious relationship between them. Likewise, the Master of Bly in the Turn of the Screw is a distant and mysterious man who is attractive to the governess. We begin to understand the governess’ intentions when she describes the situation at Bly as a “magnificent opportunity” to impress the master. Moreover, Rochester appears to Jane, the reader and himself as a pillar of physical power and makes no apologies for the way he is; “I cannot alter my habits”. Not only does this confession have undertones of self loathing but it is almost a cry of help aimed at Jane to cure his metaphorical illness. Like all great Byronic figures in literature Rochester needs to go on a road to redemption. We begin to see this path form when both Jane and the reader’s feeling of pathos for Rochester is heightened when they find out about his past “family troubles” as well as the fact that he “lost his elder brother”. Both Jane and the ...
...nd the re-union of Mr. Rochester and Jane Mr. Rochester can finally be in the relationship he always desired, but at the cost of his hand and eyesight; adding even more to his suffering, but at least now he has his true love to be by his side.
...d Rochester. All of whom who showed some sort of established power and control over her. One way or the other, they tried to overpower and take complete dominance over her, however, she never allowed such an act to take place. She followed her heart and the faith she had in God. She strived to maintain a position in life, regards the debts of others. Jane followed her own path and stood up for justice and women equality. Therefore, the struggles in Charlotte's life, foreshadowed strengths in her novel to depict the moral values and principles of all women during the Victorian Era and after. As Charlotte's novel served as a model and opened up the eyes of many. The novel had become a turning point, as her true and genuine piece of literature, created a legacy for the women and their right to be independent and fairly equal to the men of society.
“Satire is a literary genre that has irony, sarcasm, ridicule or the like in exposing, denouncing, or deriding vice.” The issue at hand is that women compared to men did not have the same fundamental rights and freedoms. Therefore, they could not have the same jobs or be completely independent. During the 18th century when the poem was written, sexism was common and a satirical poem became hard to comprehend due to the many biased views. Women thought of this as an attack against them further establishing that they were superior to men and men thought of this as a reason to keep status quo.
Edward “Fairfax” Rochester is set to be portrayed as an innocent individual. An innocent individual, who doesn’t initially feel contempt with his life or even free. Although he is a character who is wealthy, he has been described as having strong features that haven’t necessarily accredited him to being the most handsome soul. Furthermore, his own family, the Rochester, have been a prominent factor in his horrific life. Because of the late Mr. Rochester, the father of Edward wrote his will in favor of Edward’s brother, he wanted to make sure that both of his sons are protected. Nonetheless, Edward young and “blind” was allegedly forced to marry a Creole woman, who had a family background of mental illness. To his dismay, his wife, Bertha Mason,
...scene and the misogynistic views of such as Iago, 'How if she be black and witty'' with the later scene of Act IV Scne iii and Desdemona's refusal to say the word 'whore', 'I cannot say whore/It does abhor me', then the dark baseness of the male world is seen in opposition and dark contrast to the innocence and naivety of Desdemona.
In the plays female sexuality is not expressed variously through courtship, pregnancy, childbearing, and remarriage, as it is in the period. Instead it is narrowly defined and contained by the conventions of Petrarchan love and cuckoldry. The first idealizes women as a catalyst to male virtue, insisting on their absolute purity. The second fears and mistrusts them for their (usually fantasized) infidelity, an infidelity that requires their actual or temporary elimination from the world of men, which then re-forms [sic] itself around the certainty of men’s shared victimization (Neely 127).
...ed to a bigger controversy. Instead he wrote about it and made everyone noticed the unfairness of the punitions in the prison life. The repetition in the poem is seen to show the harsh labor in the Reading Gaol. It is evident that Oscar Wilde hated the Victorian era and was against the cruelty of their morality.
Guss, by contrast, argues that “His imitations depart from Petrarch chiefly in denouncing the lady, in clamouring for sexual reward, and in introducing derogatory descriptions of feminine beauty and rural charm.” To some extent, Guss can be alleged to be correct, particularly when discussing poems such as ‘They flee from me’. Ostriker, also, only appears to agree with Guss to some extent, claiming “he never once, in all his lyrics, praises a lady. He describes a lady on only three occasions.” This suggests that Wyatt’s interest is not so much in the beauty of the lady, but in her manner and person. This is often shown by Wyatt as a revealing final couplet, as in ‘They flee from me’, as the speaker proclaims “But since that I so kindly am served / I would fain to know what she hath deserved.” (LXXX, ll. 20-21) These final lines demonstrate the actual anger and bitterness that the speaker feels towards his departed lady, indicated by his use of the word ‘deserved’, as though she deserves to be punished for her treatment of him. Furthermore, the fact that he suggests he was ‘kindly’ served his end not only suggests once more the gentleness of the lady, whilst also implying she only acts this way in accordance to her ‘kind’, the female. Therefore, despite ‘clamouring’ for sexual reward Wyatt also seems to be demoing women for their sexual nature, leaving his speakers in a frustrated position. A similar frustration is depicted in ‘I find no peace’, as the speaker