2019 Year 12 IB Extended Essays

the 17 th century society proclaims. The woman (cognisant of 17 th century mores) is aware of her own honour being diminished and the mockery she would face, whilst the man is open in his desires, using outrageous examples to convey this. In the second stanza the narrator argues for the life of the flea, as the woman has attempted to kill it. He holds the flea as a holy object: “This flea is you and I, and this/Our marriage bed, and marriage temple is”. This is also a reference to the Christian concept of "three lives in one", suggesting that a spiritual union already exists, (the human body being a temple of the Holy Spirit according to Paul in The Bible, Corinthians 1) ‘although unlike a spiritual marriage in a "marriage temple," the third being in the trio is not God but a flea’ (spacey, 2019). Besides arguing for the sanctity of the flea’s life, the speaker is also arguing that he and the lady have already bypassed the usual vows of fidelity and ceremony of marriage; thus, pushing his point that the two of them have already been joined as one in the flea, so there is no harm in joining their bodies in sexual love. This use of hyperbole exemplified Donne’s critical and modern view that he had on the traditional concepts of 17 th century love. This theory, depicts Donne as a satirical feminist, heavily criticizing the guilt being placed on the woman and the man’s mannerisms. However, speaking out about this topic in Donne’s time was extremely rare, displaying how Donne was truly ahead of his time, by showcasing another perspective, however, it could simply be a playful satire on the conventions of love and sex; the differentiation of gender and their respective views on and around sex. Overall, throughout Donne’s playfully intellectual tone and the narrator’s illogical arguments, ‘The Flea’, through one interpretation, is a poem criticizing the philandering and misogynistic tendencies of men in his era, despite appearing only as sexual humour.

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