Love
“Love for another often hides a greater love for oneself” By a close comparison of your two texts, discuss the representation of sex and seduction.
In both Milton’s ‘Paradise Lost’ and Ford’s ‘Tis Pity She’s a Whore’ sex is represented as a catalyst for sin. The love which is promised by many of the central characters in the poem and the play often has a falsehood and is used as a facade for the character’s true egotistic needs within.
One can see a falsehood in Giovanni’s admitted love for Annabella which conceals a simply lustful desire for his sister. When demonstrating his love for Annabella, Giovanni focuses solely on her aesthetics, a love that T.S Elliot believed to be merely a “carnal infatuation”. This can be seen in his attempted pursue of Annabella admitting that she was “very fair” and compares her to the goddess Juno who’s “forehead did exceed all other goddesses” believing that Annabelle’s forehead “exceeds hers”. This false love can be also be seen in Milton’s ‘Paradise Lost’ in Adam’s motivation when he first fell in love with Eve, his physical attraction to her. In book 8 Raphael tells Adam that his love for Eve must transcend her sexual attractiveness. It is “in her looks” that “time infused sweetness into… [his].. heart and “her air” that “inspired the spirit of love and amorous delight”. Adam is overcome with Eve’s “female charm”. However, it is not until after the couple’s fall from innocence that we see Adam’s “Carnal desire inflaming” when “he on Eve began to cast lascivious eyes”. There is a physical emphasis on Adam’s lust towards Eve which is created by the transferred epithet, thus emphasising his change of feelings towards his female partner.
Giovanni’s attempts to make the inexplicable explicable ultimately present a falseness to them, hidden behind his promised love for his sister. A prime example of this can be found in Act 2 scene 5 which consists of a debate between the friar and Giovanni soon after he has seduced his
In both Milton’s ‘Paradise Lost’ and Ford’s ‘Tis Pity She’s a Whore’ sex is represented as a catalyst for sin. The love which is promised by many of the central characters in the poem and the play often has a falsehood and is used as a facade for the character’s true egotistic needs within.
One can see a falsehood in Giovanni’s admitted love for Annabella which conceals a simply lustful desire for his sister. When demonstrating his love for Annabella, Giovanni focuses solely on her aesthetics, a love that T.S Elliot believed to be merely a “carnal infatuation”. This can be seen in his attempted pursue of Annabella admitting that she was “very fair” and compares her to the goddess Juno who’s “forehead did exceed all other goddesses” believing that Annabelle’s forehead “exceeds hers”. This false love can be also be seen in Milton’s ‘Paradise Lost’ in Adam’s motivation when he first fell in love with Eve, his physical attraction to her. In book 8 Raphael tells Adam that his love for Eve must transcend her sexual attractiveness. It is “in her looks” that “time infused sweetness into… [his].. heart and “her air” that “inspired the spirit of love and amorous delight”. Adam is overcome with Eve’s “female charm”. However, it is not until after the couple’s fall from innocence that we see Adam’s “Carnal desire inflaming” when “he on Eve began to cast lascivious eyes”. There is a physical emphasis on Adam’s lust towards Eve which is created by the transferred epithet, thus emphasising his change of feelings towards his female partner.
Giovanni’s attempts to make the inexplicable explicable ultimately present a falseness to them, hidden behind his promised love for his sister. A prime example of this can be found in Act 2 scene 5 which consists of a debate between the friar and Giovanni soon after he has seduced his