FREE ESSAY ON THE FLEA BY JOHN DONNE

THE FLEA BY JOHN DONNE

Poem: The Flea by John Donne
The Norton Anthology of English Literature defines the conceits of poetics as
metaphors that are intricately woven into the verse, often used to express satire, puns,
or deeper meanings within the poem, and to display the poet's own cunning with words.
The conceits of John Donne are said to leap continually in a restless orbit from the
personal to the cosmic and back again. The outward nature of Donne's poem The Flea
appears
to be a love poem; dedication from a male suitor to his lady of honor, who refuses to
yield to his
lustful desires. A closer look at the poem reveals that this suitor is actually arguing a
point to his
lady: that the loss of innocence does not constitute a loss of honor. The poet begins his
argument
by condemning the act of intercourse as a shameful sin. He also belittles it, claiming
that if the
same effects can be realized within the body of a tiny flea, then the act itself cannot
hold
tremendous importance. In any case, the act is out of the question in the realm of
reality, since the
two people in the poem do not appear to be married, so sexual union can only be
committed
symbolically. The argument then shifts to a different position, where the flea suddenly
becomes
the entire world of the lovers; the symbolic becomes reality. The act of intercourse
loses its
importance as the subject in question, and now the loss of all innocence is addressed.
There is
obviously some action taken by the poet's mistress between the second and third stanzas,
as the
next segment seems to be a judgment on those actions. The woman has killed the mysterious
flea,
casting away her innocence and proving his argument for passion through the use of her
own
words. 
The poet asks his mistress to notice only this flea, to forget everything else as he
delivers his
argument. The flea has bitten them both, and their bloods mix within its body. The
attention paid
to the qualities of blood may be noted here and later in the poem (when the woman
suddenly
gains a stature of royalty [purpling her nail]). This mixing of bloods is somewhat of an
insult to
the lady, if she is of royal blood and he is not. The description of the swelling of the
insect with
one blood made of two is suggestive of surrogate pregnancy, a perversion of motherhood.
Such
an allusion is definitely not a pleasant nor natural one, and it would be natural for the
lady to kill
the flea out of disgust after hearing these lines. The word suck in this context would
be
equivalent to the experience of passion or lust, which leads to the loss of innocence.
The man
admits that the flea sucked him first, so he has lost his innocence, but he still finds
himself
honorable, so here he bases his own point of view. 
The flea becomes ultimately a symbol of the world in which the lovers' desires are
realized, this
our marriage bed and marriage temple is. Marriage and consummation is a past issue,
since
within the flea their blood is already mingled and the child of their union grows. The
flea is now
the realm of marriage, all-encompassing the lovers and excluding any parents or
patriarchal
sanction. The walls of this realm are jet black, indicating that something sinister or
evil is to occur
here. This could be a reference to the illicit marriage, or the forbidden mixing of royal
and
common blood, or perhaps only the impiety of the poet's comparison that loss of
innocence
should be so trivial as the life of a flea. The lady's significance is reduced to that of
a black widow
spider at this point, where the poet says she is apt to kill him after this consummation
of a
non-existent marriage. With this metaphor of the spider, who is also jet in color, the
object of the
man's love is reduced to the position of the flea. If the flea is pregnant with their
blood-child, then
she (the lady) may as well be pregnant too. Now that this tie has been established
between the
blood of the woman and the flea, if the woman were to kill the flea, it would be a form
of suicide.
So to kill this flea, the woman would have to commit murder (of the symbolic marriage
realm and
the child within), suicide (killing of her own blood), and sacrilege (which suicide is).
Apparently
the woman kills the flea anyway, since the death of the flea and her own corruption is
addressed
next.
By killing the flea whom the poet has given such strange attributes, the woman squashes
the
symbolic world the man has constructed and brought them both back to reality. By
murdering the
innocent flea, the lady has purpled her nail, a color assigned to the clothing of
royalty. She
now becomes a monarch (a pun; she is a autonomous ruler and an insect, the butterfly),
gaining
her position through the death of the flea. She has committed the sins that destroy the
union of
their blood, so she triumphs. She says that neither of them are any worse for the loss of
blood
caused by the pest, which the poet confirms to be the truth. This comment suggests that
the lady
has just admitted her loss of innocence by implying that the flea really didn't do
anything to
deserve death. The poet finalizes his argument for his cause by granting that the death
of the flea
is really of no consequence, as are her fears for her honor. Her honor will not waste
when she gives
in to him.
The hopeful suitor that addresses his honorable lady in The Flea argues ingeniously
throughout
the verses, shifting the limits of a tiny insect to entire world encompassing the couple.
He
recognizes sexual relationships out of marriage as a sin, and as a shameful act even
when
legitimate. Thus the act could only be committed symbolically, within the body of a flea.
If such a
union of the suitor and his lady can be realized in the flea, then let the flea become
the entire
world, so that their love can be a reality. As the poet relates his vision of their love
in a clandestine
world, the lady denies him by smashing the flea. Her reasons may be that she is a noble
and he is
not, so the suggestion that they mix blood is highly insulting, or that the entire
subject he is
discussing is not modest enough for a maiden. Upon her smashing of his poetic world of
marriage
and love, the man assures her that what she has done is of no consequence. He compares
her fear
for her honor to the importance of the now dead flea, which is nothing.