Seductive / persuasive language Flashcards
P watches, no doubt,
Watches, no doubt, with greedy hope to find his wish and best advantage”
predatory language. Compels the reader as satan greedily waits for Eve.
P Fearless unfeared
Fearless unfeared he slept: in at his mouth
“fearless unfeared” is a traductio. grotesque trochaic line. sexual, rapist connotations. spondee on “his mouth”. caesura adds suspense. possibly foreshadowing his sexual appetite for eve.
P wanton
“wanton growth” - “wanton ringlets” in book 4. Suggests sexual promiscuity. Christopher Ricks ‘anti-pun’. Milton is aware that his fallen readers will read wanton as suggestive, so possibly foreshadowing her fallen character? manipulating our view of her?
P fondly overcome
fondly overcome with female charm
adams sexual appetite results in his destruction. suggests he is foolish to yield to this manipulative ‘charm’
P in lust
in lust they burn
burn is a reference to hell, showing how their sexual appetite is to result in their inevitable destruction.
V Let me kiss
Let me kiss, with adoration, thee
setting moral tone of the play. Volpone has almost sexual appetite for his gold. erotic language
V a beauty ripe
A beauty ripe as harvest…a soft lip, would tempt you to an eternity of kissing! and flesh that melteth in the touch of blood! bright as your gold!
Erotic language. sexual use of ‘flesh’. “ripe” suggests virginity
V i feel a whimsy
i feel a whimsy i’my blood. i know not how success hath made me wanton
sexual language is comical. Mosca’s sexual appetite is drawn from self-adoration.
V this band
This band shows not my neck enough
promsicious lady. Reference to “a retina” who writes erotic and obscene poems
V i cannot be taken
i cannot be taken by these sensual baits
Celia as embodiment of virtue. unlike Eve, she cannot be taken as she is aware of language being used as a tool for manipulation. Eve is unfilled and so is not aware of these vice attributes.
V Yield, or ill force thee
contrast to previous wooing words. first time Volpone’s villainous acts actually harm someone.
P the hand of Eve;
the hand of eve, spot more delicious than the gardens
P sep fair virgin pass
step fair virgin pass, what pleasing seemed
Epic simile
P Into her heart
“into her heart. to easy entrance won”
Pray you, sir, use me.
Pray you, sir, use me. In faith,
The more you see me, the more I shall conceive
You have forgot our quarrel.
Renaissance theatre
Renaissance theatre was caught between the sexualised slapstick humour of Aristotelian comedy and the more reserved moral codes of the times.
Volpone use of flame imagery
flame imagery to describe his ‘seduction’ by celia
“ambitious fire” “flaming arrow” “burns inside me”
Fire was synonymous with passion and lust.
LINK para d fire imagery “burning passion” and “firey glances” containing lustful desires of adam and eve postlapsarian sex
heads of parrots
heads of parrots, tongues of nightingales, brains of peacocks
iambic verse gives his language a poetic and romantic feel
Volpone wants to “act ovids
“act Ovid’s tales”
these sexualised stories suggest a desire for physical rather emotional pleasure. hedonistic pleasures can also be seen through the sensual synaesthetic language about the pearl - dissolve and drink em.
Hazlitt contrasting adam and eve sex
Pre-Postlapsarian book 4 to book 9: “hidden to emphasise the inescapable sin”
unlike volpone to celia, this act of seduction in book 9 is mutual. a contemporary audience would arguably see both acts as sinful due to lust being one of the Seven Deadly sins. In contrast, a reading after the 1960’s sexual revolution would be more likely to view the seduction of Adam and eve in a more receptive light.
1920’s feminist movement - more accepting of Eve’s lustful movements.
