Three Sins in Killing Three

February 8, 2013
“Three Sins in Killing Three”

The seventeenth century saw the creation of the anti-Petrarchan poem. Its purpose was used in a satirical way to make fun of another popular poetic style of the era, the Petrarchan poem. The Petrarchan poem is notorious for glorifying women and portraying them as unrealistic, goddess-like creatures; and so the anti-Petrarchan poem did quite the opposite. “The Flea”, written by John Doe is a perfect example of an anti-Petrarchan poem. “The Flea” is filled with intellectual metaphors, unexpected conceits, and most importantly, sexual imagery (that would never be found in any Petrarchan poem) that compares an unusual subject, a flea, to a sacred act of marriage, and union in the marriage bed. Throughout the poem, it is obvious that the persona wants to get this woman into bed and engage in premarital sex and will stop at nothing to accomplish this feat. He continuously compares the flea to their sexual union while simultaneously attempting to stop the woman from killing the flea.
The persona uses the flea as a conceit for sexual intercourse. He tells her, “It sucked me first and now sucks thee, and in this flea our two bloods mingled be.” That since the flea has bitten both of them; they were, in a sense, united. He then goes on to tell her that there is no sin, shame, or loss in the mixing of his or her blood. Today, the idea of their blood mixing can easily be seen as a metaphor for the mixing of two lover’s bodily fluids during sexual intercourse, when in fact, in the seventeenth century it was a wide spread belief that blood was exchanged during sexual intercourse.
In the second stanza, he even goes as far as to compare the flea to a marriage bed. This shows the humor of the poem by comparing a gruesome pest to a sacred, pure marriage bed. He says, “This flea is you and I, and this our marriage bed and temple is.” This technique of comparing the most unlikely object into an elaborate symbol of love is commonly used in many anti-Petrarchan poems.
Towards the end of the poem the woman finally kills the blood sucking flea with her fingernail. The persona describes the horrific event with the words, “cruel and sudden, hast thou since purpled thy nail in blood of innocence.” She has not only killed their only tie to a holy union, his life, hers, and that of the flea. One would think at this time that his argument has been squashed as well, but of course he turns the tables. When the persona’s first attempt to get his lady into bed fails, he wastes no time in finding a new approach. His next approach is logical. He tell her that the flea is gone; just as she has no fear of the flea, she should have no fear in giving herself and her virginity to him. He says, “Then learn how false fears be: just so much honor, when thou yeield’st to me.”
The persona in “The Flea” deeply yearns to have sexual intercourse and since the woman expected to be wooed, he flamboyantly achieves such a thing in the most humorous way. So much so, that he uses different techniques to get his way. He uses logic, cunning, and wit, unlike the personas of Petrarchan poems, who use mushy, romantic hyperboles to define their love; the persona in this anti-Petrarchan masterpiece uses one of the world’s most despised pests, the flea. Thereby poking fun towards the Petrarchan style and stating that even the most absurd object can be prettily disguised to achieve the goal of getting a woman into bed.