Male Masochism in the Religious Lyrics of Donne and Crashaw Essay

Stemming from Aphrodite of Cnidus, the female nude became much more common in the later Hellenistic period. During the Middle Ages, female nude reappeared in Italy in the 15th century. Later, eroticism became more emphatic in paintings such as Giorgione’s Sleeping Venus, Titan’s Venus of Urbino, Manet’s Olympia, and many others. The paintings are similar to the same stance of covering the women’s pubic area as Praxiteles’ Aphrodite and Venus. These works inspired countless reclining female nudes for centuries afterwards Venus. The female nude is a matter of containing sexuality; in the case of the classical art history. This is about idealization and de-emphasis of overt sexuality, while the modern view recognizes that the human body is messy, unbounded, and problematical.‪ (Nead, Part I - Theorizing the Female Nude) If a virtuous woman is dependent and weak, as was assumed by the images in classical art, then a strong, independent woman could not be portrayed as virtuous. ((need to

Author Lee Maracle’s 1993 novel Ravensong doesn’t centre around queerness or lesbian sexuality or two-spirit identity in the way that you might expect in a book reviewed here. It’s a beautiful and powerful novel about settler and Indigenous relations regardless, but its main character Stacey, a young Salish woman living on a reserve in the 1950s, isn’t explicitly or implicity queer (although she is potentially queer, I would say, given Maracle’s take on sexuality). There is, however, a lesbian couple who feature as secondary characters in Ravensong, and I think their inclusion is really significant, for a few reasons. Mostly, I find the way that the novel deals with queer sexuality in relation to its politics of decolonization fascinating. In fact, I think honing in on how the novel deals with queerness is a great way to understand what it’s trying to do in terms of decolonizing. The absence in Ravensong of an explicit assertion of queerness, the fact that it doesn’t “come out,” as it were, as a queer text, is no failure at all but rather indicates an entirely different method of interrogating issues of queer sexuality. Let me explain:

Castration, crime, evil, heretics, all those terms used to be linked with sexuality in the past centuries. Humans achieved their sexual liberty only in the 70’s with a sexual revolution based on the progression of medias and the regression of a restricting presence known as religion. Before that, especially in the first half of the 20th century, there were differences in the expression of sexuality between genders. The Stone Diaries, by Carol Shields, illustrates the life of Daisy Goodwill, daughter of Cuyler and Mercy Goodwill, from her creation to her death. In the first chapter “Birth 1905”, Shields portrays the differences between men and women in society by looking at differences between Cuyler’s raging sexuality and Mercy’s repressed sexuality. There is certainly a contrast in their sexual needs and the author uses imagery to show how Mercy is seen as an object in Cuyler intense sexuality.

From as early as the 1760’s, prostitution has been referred to by different names. French philosophers used the word fetichisme, which loosely translated to mean “primitive” religion. Later, according to Anne McClintock, Marx, in 1887, used the term commodity fetish which was believed to mean “primitive” magic to express the idea of an economic side to the fetish, thus claiming it to be an industry. McClintock goes on to explain that Freud evolved fetishism in to sexuality and finally into what is known as erotic perversions. Later, religion combined the term sexuality and money, therefore removing the “primitive” idea, making prostitution a racial and sexual degeneration (McClintock, 1992). It is believed by certain scholars, however,

The sources are not as free range and are usually from the perspective of one party which can hinder how much you can take in about the topic. Therefore, plenty of the sources Karras engages with are poems, stories, paintings, and letters written by men. As a result, Karras cannot exactly provide a definitive answer as to what certain pieces of art or literature exactly mean, or how medieval people viewed them, or even if they carried a sexual meaning or not. However, Karras uses this interpretative aspect to strengthen her argument that medieval sexuality is deserving of a place in academic study—showing that the topic medieval sexuality is not cut and dry, or that you can modern views on sexuality and simply apply them to the Middle Ages. Rather, it illustrates that medieval sexuality is more complex and complicated than what some individuals might

Another institution in society has influenced and promoted the Madonna/Whore complex; art. Artists of female nudes staged their models in submissive, neutral positions in order to please the eye of every male viewer. A significant attribute to the Madonna/Whore complex of women is placed on them by their male counterpart. As long ago as the medieval times, women were objects of viewing and manipulation. The women appeared to be ready for sex at any moment, yet there demeanor and expression coveys an innocent and angelic presence. As per the church, men are the ones whom are allowed to control a women’s sexuality. This was the beginning to the widespread expectation of the Madonna/Whore complex outside of the Christian realm. John Berger, a British art historian conducts research on this phenomenon. He comes to certain conclusions on the viewings of women in not just art, but everyday life. He says, “Women are depicted in quite a different way than men--- not because the feminine is different from the masculine—but because the ‘ideal’ spectator is always assumed to be male and the image of the woman is designed to flatter him” (64, Berger). Berger makes the point that a straight women’s goal in life is to attract a male. This goal goes back to the bible and its ideal of the man having control over the women. One could argue that the Madonna/Whore complex perpetuates because of its appeal to

The Greek goddess Aphrodite calls to mind ideas of sex, love, pleasure, and beauty. In the Greek language her name has generated the expression ta aphrodisia. The semantic field of this word points to what is called "sexuality"—that is, the set practices and imagery associated with sex. Aphrodite is the only Greek divinity whose name generates a word that designates her sphere of intervention. Two fields have to be investigated to understand this divine representation of sexuality: Greek literature carrying myths on the one hand and Greek cult practice on the other.

His vigorous use of similes and metaphors in this work repeatedly strike readers with the idea of an eradication of joy associated with religion. This is further evidenced by the numerous cases of juxtaposition Hughes utilizes to stigmatize the Church. Examples include when he refers to how the Church darkened the sun or when he tells of how holy eyes were convicting. He implies that the churchgoers seem to have “little concern with spiritual fulfillment”, but instead focus on strictly conforming to the dogmas set by by their religion (Wormald, Roberts, & Gifford 12). He employs similes to create imagery referring to the women as “bleak as Sunday rose-gardens” and the mens’ eyes being fixed like that of a bird hanging to die; one can imagine that would present blank and imploring stares. His relentless use of alliteration using carefully chosen words such as “convicting”, “convulsed”, “crumpling”, and “cowed” are harsh to the ear and accusatory--further demonstrating the fear and subjection he underwent throughout his childhood concerning the chapel. These countless techniques and more discredit any belief that a childhood next to a chapel would result in an avid Christian, because in Hughes’ case, it resulted in a scarred

Suffering performs a significant function in numerous religions, concerning situations like: consolation or relief; moral behavior, spiritual development through life difficulties or through self-enforced trials, and final destiny. It is supplemented in the Hebrew Bible by the verses found in the Book of Isaiah and the Book of Jeremiah. They detail the emotional and physical suffering of a defeated nation with its vanquished residents compelled into the suffering of expulsion and confinement in a foreign nation. In the New Testament, suffering is depicted in the life of Jesus, which recounts the suffering of the crucifixion, and in the Easter story. The suffering connected with punishment is additionally depicted in the Apocalypse of John where suffering at the setting of the Last Judgment is portrayed as the just compensation for sin and unlawful activity. Pope John Paul II wrote "On the Christian Meaning of Human Suffering." This article focuses on the idea of redemptive suffering. “The parable of the Good Samaritan belongs to the Gospel of suffering. For it indicates what the relationship of each of us must be towards our suffering neighbour…This is the meaning of suffering, which is truly supernatural and at the same time human. It is supernatural because it is rooted in the Divine mystery of the Redemption of the world…deeply human, because in it the person discovers himself, his own humanity, his own dignity, his own mission.”

After my interest in becoming a Forensic Psychologist grew, I began to learn more and more about the odd mental disabilities some people have. One of the most interesting ones that I have chose to write about as well as, something that stands out to me is: What is the desire of Necrophilia? Also known as thanatophilia, in correlation to Thanatos, the Greek demon personification of death, necrophilia is described as an erotic attraction to corpses, (Webster’s New Dictionary 199). In recordings as early as ancient Egypt, the rare disorder has appeared amongst the human race, “According to Herodotus,' the ancient Egyptians took precautions against necrophilia by prohibiting the corpses of the wives of men of rank from being

Pornography during the Renaissance positioned itself within an arena of sin; it emphasised lust and encouraged sexual pleasure, placing itself in

Spontaneously, the man’s stamina strangely diminished; like a befuddled soul in a fog. Then speaking rather bewildering he replied, “Once again, just how can I visualize that?” Drastically, my pulse raced, as a nauseating wave enveloped over my body, and the anticipation of having a heart attack felt probable. Although, I knew what I needed to communicate, my responses preformed petrified! Calculatingly, without hesitation, Kent supposed impudently, “The majority of people do not relate to God as sexual, nobody does, and this may not be doctrinally sound and possibly strays away from Biblical teachings; which may cause an enormous amount of anxiety for folks.” Visions of furious, red-faced, Christian preachers entangled before my eyes, with “Abomination” being shrieked, (with Billy Graham there waving a pair of my faded bloomers)! Moreover, it sounded evident this once inspiring conference with Kent, somehow developed into a ‘witch burning’ and he arose as being emotionally annoyed enough to ignite the

(Davis p. xix). The purpose of this paper is to critique Davis's claim and to

Anne Bradstreet conflates sexual feeling with her personal religious devotion. First there is, of course, the constant personification of God as a man. But more than that, she also participates in the same Romantic language when talking about God, reveling in the sublimity of her religion like she expressed toward nature. In “Contemplations” she describes her desire to “magnify” the work of God (8.94) and wishes to be able to offer him “lays” (9.63). “Lays” could signify lyric poems or songs of devotion, but also prostration. Though not necessarily specifically sexual, the imagery of

Skepticism surrounding John Donne’s “Sappho to Philaenis” relates to the fact that the societal structure at the time the poem was written was one dominated by heterosexual, misogynistic men, suggesting that Donne’s treatment of female homosexuality was geared towards the satiation of these heterosexual males’ desires, these men being his primary audience at the time. However, the significance of Donne’s poem must be explored on another level. In contrast to the view that the piece was meant to represent a male dominant society, an alternate view is that the poem originates from a place of protofeminism and a pioneering sexual outlook on Donne’s part. In “Sappho to Philaenis,” the purity and secrecy of the two women’s sexuality functions as a significant argument for the validity of same-sex relationships; Donne makes the invisible the erotic, thereby defining a discourse for lesbianism.