How Does John Donne Represent Love in “The Flea“

Original text: The Flea by John Donne
Date: 04/11/2024
Tags: #Poetry #CloseReading #Love #Donne

“The Flea” explores the theme of love through various methods which were commonplace among the metaphysical poet tradition. Donne represents love in “The Flea” by reducing its weight as a taboo and via lust through these two language techniques: imperative and allegory.

Donne writes: “Mark but this flee”. The imperative is vital to the poem as it establishes that the speaker holds the dominant role in the poem and implies that he is forceful. The allegory is also vital to the poem as it establishes that Donne will metaphorically represent love through the flea. Another meaning to the rationale of Donne using an allegory to represent love through a flea is that it has the image of a tiny creature. Implying that their love, in this instance lust, is tiny. Reinforcing the motif of this poem that love without restrictions has no reason to cause malaise with either party involved.

We as contemporary readers may interpret the forceful tone of the poem, via the imperative, as disturbing given it inherently objectifies the woman the poem is about. Attempting to remove her autonomy as an individual. However, a Renaissance English (R.E.) reader wouldn’t have that interpretation as it was the status quo for women’s individuality and choice to be revoked from them.

Donne’s use of a flea in “The Flea” is a reference to the Italian literary tradition of “amoretti”. This poetic style would use insects to represent love and in particular unity in marriage. Donne’s choice of an “amoretti” is interesting given the style of poem that was popular in Renaissance England was based on courtly love.

Therefore, Donne is arguing for the addressee of the poem to consider that they’re love (which is represented through lust) is a tiny matter – just like a flea biting them.

“The Flea” explores the theme of love through unity by way of various methods which were commonplace among the metaphysical tradition of poetry. Donne represents love through unity in these language techniques: fact, direct address, sexual punning and imagery.

Donne writes: “It sucked me first, and now sucks thee / […] flea our two bloods mingled be”. The use of a fact by Donne is important as it gives his conceit a theme of truth as the flea has indeed bit both him and the addressee. Donne reinforces this to the addressee with the use of direct address to emphasise that the flea has bit both of them, therefore unifying their blood. To conclude this triad of literary devices, Donne uses a sexual pun. Whilst “suck” is a reference to the flea sucking the blood of both parties, it can be a reference to the close physical relationship the speaker wishes to have with the addressee. The imagery of this excerpt has particular importance as it not only emphasises that the addresser and addressee are unified through blood, but also due to historical context.

Donne’s reference to the mingled blood is contextually relevance. This is due to the fact many in Renaissance England believed that, during sexual relations, the blood of the two individuals would be mixed (or rather, mingled). This meant the blood of the two people were unified through their intimate relations. Donne is therefore arguing that their blood has already been unified through the flea; so why should he be refused further relations with the addressee.

We as contemporary readers may interpret this rationale as being flawed given our greater knowledge of human biology. However, a R.E. reader would have found this logic very persuading given how prevalent this belief of mingling of blood was.

Therefore, Donne is claiming that the speaker and addressee are already unified as a consequence of the flea sucking their blood and thus mingling it. He does this through a convincing argument based in what was believed to be factual biology at the time. Resulting in a plausible conceit.

“The Flea” explores the theme of love through divinity by way of multiple methods which were prevalent among the metaphysical poetry. Donne represents love through divinity in these language techniques: pathos and liturgical tone – alongside an allegory.

Donne writes: “[…] sacrilege, three sins in killing three.” The pathos of this excerpt is relevant as it tries to take advantage of the addressee’s fear of damnation to Hell by referencing that if she refuses the speaker, she is committing sacrilege – effectively emotionally blackmailing her into the relationship. The tone is liturgical given its reference the immorality she is committing by acting in sin through killing not just the speaker, but also that of the flea and herself (via destroying the blood that is within the flea). This increases the level of her refusal of the speaker to that of refusing marriage given the connotation of the previous stanza of them being unified in a metaphorical temple. This becomes of paramount importance to the poem as the flea is an allegory for their unity. Meaning that if she does kill the flea, she is also “divorcing” herself from the speaker.

The reference to suicide, murder and implied reference to divorce has historic connotations. Renaissance England was experiencing a shift in religious denomination as it went from Catholicism to Protestantism. Donne himself was raised Catholic but later converted to Protestantism. Within Catholicism, suicide is considered a sin with no debate about. However, Protestant churches debate over whether suicide is a sin. Divorce is also banned outright by the Catholic church whereas it is permitted in the Protestant denomination. Murder being seen as sinful by both denominations of Christianity. This may have had influence over Donne as he references topics which were debated among Christians at the time.

As a contemporary reader we may interpret this reference to morality and sin as manipulative, using the addressee's fear of damnation to guilt-trip her into a relationship. This may cause discomfort for some contemporary readers given the means the speaker is attempting to use on the addressee. Whereas a Renaissance English reader may be interpreting Donne’s use of religious imagery as a sincere attempt to rationalise their relationship on a religious basis. This effecting the Renaissance reader in a positive manner. Opposed to the negative reaction of a contemporary reader.

Therefore, divinity is a central conceit to “The Flea” as Donne uses religious imagery and morality to justify, he and the addressee having a physical relationship. Donne does this by building on the previous conceits of the poem by referencing to how their blood has been mingled within the flea.

 “The Flea” has an ironic nature to it in its representation of love. This is due to how the speaker tries to use emotional persuasion through guilt and shame to have a relationship (typically based on love) with the addressee. Donne presents this ironic nature by employing the use of irony (via a pathos) and direct address.

Donne writes: “Cruel and sudden […] / Purpled thy nail, in blood of innocence?” The dramatic tone of these two lines through its diction increases the effect of the direct address as it elevates the gravity of the addressee’s killing of the flea. This worsens the feeling of guilt and shame felt by the addressee. The irony of this excerpt from “The Flea” is that the speaker attempts to claim he loves the addressee through various representations of love (such as lust, unity and divinity) yet he is trying to emotionally manipulate the addressee with a pathos into a relationship with him. This is ironic given the central theme of this poem is that of love. It also exemplifies the possibility that the speaker doesn’t wish for a genuine relationship with the addressee but rather to have a physical relationship and nothing else. This contradicts with the symbolism of unity and love used previously in “The Flea”. The use of the term “purple” to describe the blood is interesting given the connotations between purple and the monarchy. This is because the monarchy is believed to have a connection to the Christian God. This adds onto the religious imagery of “The Flea” in a subtle way. There is another realm of irony to this given how the monarchy is seen as noble, yet his intentions are unnoble.

Donne’s reference to purple is important given the historical symbolism that purple has. Purple was symbolic of royalty as it was expensive and hard to obtain. This was due to it only being possible to collect from a certain type of bug found in the new world. The monarchy is believed to have a connection to the Christian God. This was believed especially in the era of Renaissance England. In Renaissance England in particular, purple was worn predominantly by professors. Donne himself would be aware of this due to his experience in the University of Cambridge and Lincoln’s Inn, which was part of Thavies Inn - a legal school.

We as contemporary readers interpret the quotation as the speaker accusing the addressee of an unjustified murder despite the speaker hyperbolising the justified refusal to a physical relationship. This affects us by removing our sympathy for the speaker and perhaps a level of unease due to the lengths the speaker is going in order to have a short-term physical relationship. A Renaissance English reader is likely to be somewhat shocked by the violent imagery in a love poem and may have been more aware of the irony of using the colour purple in a poem that is unnoble in its nature. This is due to them being more conscious of the connection purple had with the monarchy.

The speaker is claiming his love is noble through his references to unity and divinity, but this part of the poem illustrates how unnoble they truly are. This is highlighted with the reference to purple. Direct address and hyperbolic diction being used to increase the power of this stanza is also used to illustrate the addressee’s refusal of a physical relationship.

In conclusion, John Donne presents love through lust, unity, divinity and even has an ironic representation of lust. He employs many metaphysical techniques to build up his conceits which, even to some contemporary readers, may still be convicting or otherwise romantic.