Jenny's Role
Elissa Finlayson
English 200C
Dr. Leonard Shlensky
September 25 2006
In Dante Gabriel Rossetti’s poem “Jenny” the speaker has come to the rooms of the prostitute Jenny as a potential customer. Instead he spends the night with Jenny sleeping at his knee and finds himself confronted with the possibility that she is more than the role that she plays.
The speaker struggles throughout the poem between condescending pity towards Jenny and an attraction and sympathy for her as demonstrated by his alternation of addressing her in terms of being unfortunate, such as “poor Jenny”(Rossetti 172), and in affectionate, possessive terms, such as “my Jenny”(22). He acknowledges that he ought to feel guilty for the way he feels towards her and repeatedly tries to turn his thoughts away from his ponderings but he says that he is “ashamed of [his] own shame”(381) implying that he desires to be above what is expected.
There is a confusion throughout the poem between Jenny’s role as a whore and who she is as a person. This perplexity is demonstrated in a line where the speaker describes Jenny as “shameful”(18) but also as “full of grace”(18) a phrase commonly associated with the Virgin Mary. Perhaps the speaker is forced to look at Jenny in a different light due to the unconventional behavior Jenny displays to her customer. Asleep at his knee (symbolic of innocence and passivity, both admirable, womanly virtues to the Victorian mind) she becomes not Jenny the prostitute, but Jenny the woman. The speaker recoils at the realization that she is fundamentally no different from any other woman and says that it is “enough to throw one’s thoughts in heaps/ of doubt and horror”(188-189). He finds himself comparing Jenny to his cousin, Nell, one “so pure”(217) the other “so fallen”(217), to “two sister vessels”(185) molded “of the same lump”(182) of clay.
He ponders her state in society as a fallen woman and the loneliness and shame that accompanies that state. Everyone, even children, know “her look”(158) and have seen her “lifted silken skirt/ Advertise dainties through the dirt”(146-147). He alludes to her impurity when he asks “what, Jenny, are your lilies dead?”(111) and again when he compares her to a dead rose shut within a book “in which pure women may not look”(254). Her impurity objectifies her in the Victorian mind, especially in the eyes of her customers “Who, having used you at [their] will/ Thrust you aside”(186-187). As one rejects food once satisfaction is obtained so do men discard Jenny once she has served her purpose. He knows that she is objectified by men, but does he recognize that he is complicitous in this attitude? He has come with the purpose of using her; it is merely circumstantial that consummation of his intentions has not taken place. If he does realize his guilt he seems to regret it as he laments Jenny’s fate and declares that man’s actions have doomed her to a “lifelong hell”(245) and asks how can there be expiation for “this which man has done”(243).
English 200C
Dr. Leonard Shlensky
September 25 2006
In Dante Gabriel Rossetti’s poem “Jenny” the speaker has come to the rooms of the prostitute Jenny as a potential customer. Instead he spends the night with Jenny sleeping at his knee and finds himself confronted with the possibility that she is more than the role that she plays.
The speaker struggles throughout the poem between condescending pity towards Jenny and an attraction and sympathy for her as demonstrated by his alternation of addressing her in terms of being unfortunate, such as “poor Jenny”(Rossetti 172), and in affectionate, possessive terms, such as “my Jenny”(22). He acknowledges that he ought to feel guilty for the way he feels towards her and repeatedly tries to turn his thoughts away from his ponderings but he says that he is “ashamed of [his] own shame”(381) implying that he desires to be above what is expected.
There is a confusion throughout the poem between Jenny’s role as a whore and who she is as a person. This perplexity is demonstrated in a line where the speaker describes Jenny as “shameful”(18) but also as “full of grace”(18) a phrase commonly associated with the Virgin Mary. Perhaps the speaker is forced to look at Jenny in a different light due to the unconventional behavior Jenny displays to her customer. Asleep at his knee (symbolic of innocence and passivity, both admirable, womanly virtues to the Victorian mind) she becomes not Jenny the prostitute, but Jenny the woman. The speaker recoils at the realization that she is fundamentally no different from any other woman and says that it is “enough to throw one’s thoughts in heaps/ of doubt and horror”(188-189). He finds himself comparing Jenny to his cousin, Nell, one “so pure”(217) the other “so fallen”(217), to “two sister vessels”(185) molded “of the same lump”(182) of clay.
He ponders her state in society as a fallen woman and the loneliness and shame that accompanies that state. Everyone, even children, know “her look”(158) and have seen her “lifted silken skirt/ Advertise dainties through the dirt”(146-147). He alludes to her impurity when he asks “what, Jenny, are your lilies dead?”(111) and again when he compares her to a dead rose shut within a book “in which pure women may not look”(254). Her impurity objectifies her in the Victorian mind, especially in the eyes of her customers “Who, having used you at [their] will/ Thrust you aside”(186-187). As one rejects food once satisfaction is obtained so do men discard Jenny once she has served her purpose. He knows that she is objectified by men, but does he recognize that he is complicitous in this attitude? He has come with the purpose of using her; it is merely circumstantial that consummation of his intentions has not taken place. If he does realize his guilt he seems to regret it as he laments Jenny’s fate and declares that man’s actions have doomed her to a “lifelong hell”(245) and asks how can there be expiation for “this which man has done”(243).
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