The Man Is The Flea

The Man is the Flea Sex and life are components of a symbiotic relationship – without one the other will inevitably seize to exist. Artists of all sorts have devoted centuries to portraying the beauty of this union, with the essence of their work relating directly to love, lust and infatuation. Such emotions are simple to illustrate with the aid of symbolism. For instance, a red rose is generally used to express the beauty of love; the dainty petals represent vulnerability to touch, and red color signifies deep passion. John Donne, however, takes a divergent approach from this ancient art in his poem, The Flea. Rather than utilizing the standard emblems of love and lust, Donne brilliantly uses symbolism to transform the implausible image of
The situation of the poem involves a man attempting to seduce a woman through the notion of being bitten by a flea. This is seen early in the first stanza, “It sucked me first, and now sucks thee, / And in the flea our two bloods mingled be” (Donne 3-4). Here, the symbolism first arises; the mixing of their blood within the flea’s body is an insinuation to sex. His message is even more obvious as he attempts to pursue the woman by insisting:
Thou know’st that this cannot be said a sin, nor shame, nor loss of maidenhead. Yes this enjoys before it woo, and pampered swells with one blood made of two, and this, alas, is more than we would do. (Donne 5-9).
The voice of the speaker in this stanza appears to be boyish and immature by complaining about how the flea did not have to woo the woman before biting her. As the lines proceed, the notion of the flea symbolizing intercourse becomes more and more conspicuous. When referring to the flea ‘swelling’ Donne is indirectly mentioning the male anatomy, which also swells with blood when aroused. Understanding what the flea symbolizes is critical to comprehending this poem, seeing that the entire narration is an allegory and that Donne never outwardly states the real