The flea by John Donne is a persuasive poem, in which the speaker is trying to convince his love interest to have a sexual relationship with him. The speaker’s, love interest rejects his request of intimacy because it is hinted that the female lover is a proper lady, and does not believe in premarital sex. John Donne represents the sexual union of the speaker and lover, with the use of imagery, rhythm, and the conceit of a flea. The flea is utilized as a metaphor to represent the relationship between them, and to further persuade his love interest into sleeping with him.
The speaker claims that if his love interest are united in the flea, then they would also be united in lovemaking. The speaker’s main objective is to have a sexual relationship with his love interest, so strangely enough he begins by arguing that the act of having a sexual relationship with him is of very little importance. He says” It sucked me first, and now sucks thee, / And in this flea our two bloods mingled be;” (3-4). This means that since the flea has bitten both of them, they are joined by the blood that is mixed together within the flea.
He argues that having a sexual relationship with him is an act that doesn’t hold much importance, due to the fact that they are already joined together within the flea since both of them have been bitten. His lover will not give in to sexual desires because it is suggested she does not feel it is right, so the speaker compares their union to a flea, and attempts to convince her that her honor will not be lost and that there is no shame in having a sexual relationship.
He then goes on to say “Yet this enjoys before it woo” (7), this is used by the speaker to provoke guilt within his lover because this states that the flea bit her without any sort of wooing. Through his choice of words, the speaker argues that just as the flea is allowed to bite and enjoy her without any wooing, so should he because he has made an effort to woo her unlike the flea, the flea represent the speaker’s desires and his objective which is his lover. The speaker created an image of pregnancy when he stated that “And pampered swells with one blood made of two, /And this, alas, is more than we would do. (8-9), because a baby has the blood of both parents and a woman swells up when she is pregnant. This imagery was done with the intention to further persuade his lover into his sexual desires.
Further into the poem the word marriage is used various times with the purpose to make having sex with him sound more desirable, and to arouse fear within his lover at the same time. He says”. Oh stay, three lives in one flea spare, / Where we almost, nay more than married are. This flea is you and I, and this/ Our mariage bed, and marriage temple is;” (10-13). Here he implies that if she were to give in to his lustful desires their relationship, would be more serious and closer to marriage. He uses the word marriage because he wants her really bad so to become more appealing he brings up this word with the intension of making her give in, but at the same time provokes fear in her because if she does not give in then he will not consider marrying her because they will have a closeness and connection.
He then carries on to say that she has committed worse sins then premarital sex, so committing this act would not really make a difference in her life. He points out that since the two were bitten then they are already married within the flea, he also suggests that there is spiritual union between them when he said there were three lives in one flea spare. After that he explains to his love interest that even if she does not want to be joined with him, the flea has already cloistered them together regardless of what she wants.
Later as his lover apts in killing the flea he says that she should not, because she would be guilty of killing three lives because there are three lives within the flea. Although he tries to persuade her not to, she ends up killing the flea when she “Purpled thy nail, in blood of innocence? “(20). After this act she rebuttals, his entire argument by stating that even though the flea holds a special bond between the two of them, when the flea is gone nothing is ever lost or changed.
She says this to prove that there is no reason to give in to his sexual desires because killing the flea didn’t make her weaker or stronger. Although she makes a good point describing that nothing changes when the flea is gone, the speaker does not give up but further establishes his point of having intimacy with her by saying “Tis true; then learn how false, fears be:/Just so much honor, when thou yield’st to me, / Will waste, as this flea’s death took life from thee. “(26-28).
Here he says that the fears his lover has of having intimacy are just as small as the flea she killed, and with this he also reinstates his main point that just like the flea bite caused no harm, having intimacy with him will be harmless as well. In the poem the speaker’s main objective is having intimacy with his lover, so through use of a metaphor, language, imagery, and intelligence he demonstrated and argued his lustful desire for his lover, and at the same time provoked different emotions in her in order to get his point across such as fear.
Overall the speaker wanted her to understand that having premarital sex is harmless, thoughtless, and just as simple as killing the flea, which was representative of the special bond between them. The flea was important in that it showed metaphors that revealed how the speaker, used sexual desire and thoughts to formulate a strong argument in which to convince his lover to having intimacy with him.
