Rossetti's Jenny
A commentary on the social or cultural practices (habits, customs, traditions, privileges, hierarchies, ideologies, etc.) or constructed identity marks (gender, sexuality, race, ethnicity, class etc.) presented and elaborated in the text.
Dante Gabriel Rossetti’s “Jenny” is a literary piece that follows a man’s evening spent in the arms of a prostitute. The speaker in the poem spends the wealth of the night engaged in an activity he almost certainly did not anticipate; watching a prostitute, Jenny, sleep. Through the course of the late night and early morning, the speaker expresses a range of emotions towards Jenny, varying from embarrassment to tenderness, culminating in his decision to leave while she still dreams. The speaker’s attitude towards Jenny communicates and illustrates his own feelings that both are shared, and stand in conflict with those of the Victorian society in which he lives.
The speaker’s perceptions of Jenny and the conclusions that he comes to are very telling in their method. Without even so much as looking at the deductions he arrives at as he ponders Jenny’s life and fate, the simple fact that he reaches these conclusions without her participation is a remarkable statement. Jenny rests and sleeps in bed with her customer, completely unaware of his wide-eyed attention to her seemingly pathetic plight. The speaker sees Jenny as an object to which he may muse; a view not unusual in a society where women still had virtually no rights. He sees it as his due privilege to wax on the possible situations that Jenny may face, the men she may meet, and the way she may view the world she barely gets to see. While he mentions interest in the “lodestar of her reverie (21)”, it doesn’t seem to mean enough to him to actually constitute an intellectual inquiry.
The body language described between the speaker and Jenny also contributes to the feelings of self-entitlement that the speaker provokes. The speaker makes constant references to Jenny “resting upon [his] knee (66)”; an image that speaks to submissive behavior on her part. This vision of her being consistently below him speaks to both his impression of their relationship, and of society’s prejudices towards Jenny’s public position.
Despite his condescending attitude and behavior towards Jenny, the speaker does show some dismay at the realization that Jenny is not as different as his societal equals would have him believe. This epiphany comes when he realizes that Jenny sleeps “just as another woman sleeps! (177)”. He likens her to his cousin Nell, who sleeps just as she sleeps, and also has youth and sweet eyes. He appears to abhor the fact that despite their similarities, the society that he lives in would never accept them as equals. The world holds young women like Nell dear, and vows to “guard her well (192)”; yet, it ignores a girl like Jenny.
The speakers incessant switching between concern for Jenny’s well-being, and vicariously feeling shamed on her behalf, makes the discernment of his character more complicated. His conflicting feelings however, do appear to be somewhat inline with the confusing moral standards of his time. Victorian society, while maintaining some of the strictest moral codes in recent times, was that of a moving and growing civilization. It was during this time that new ideas about equality among genders, as well as reductions of the influence of class stratification were beginning to take form. The speaker in the poem recognizes many of the reasons why Jenny’s position in life is unjust, but his patronizing condescension and his eventual departure speak much louder than his whimsical midnight wanderings on the purity of her spirit.
Dante Gabriel Rossetti’s “Jenny” is a literary piece that follows a man’s evening spent in the arms of a prostitute. The speaker in the poem spends the wealth of the night engaged in an activity he almost certainly did not anticipate; watching a prostitute, Jenny, sleep. Through the course of the late night and early morning, the speaker expresses a range of emotions towards Jenny, varying from embarrassment to tenderness, culminating in his decision to leave while she still dreams. The speaker’s attitude towards Jenny communicates and illustrates his own feelings that both are shared, and stand in conflict with those of the Victorian society in which he lives.
The speaker’s perceptions of Jenny and the conclusions that he comes to are very telling in their method. Without even so much as looking at the deductions he arrives at as he ponders Jenny’s life and fate, the simple fact that he reaches these conclusions without her participation is a remarkable statement. Jenny rests and sleeps in bed with her customer, completely unaware of his wide-eyed attention to her seemingly pathetic plight. The speaker sees Jenny as an object to which he may muse; a view not unusual in a society where women still had virtually no rights. He sees it as his due privilege to wax on the possible situations that Jenny may face, the men she may meet, and the way she may view the world she barely gets to see. While he mentions interest in the “lodestar of her reverie (21)”, it doesn’t seem to mean enough to him to actually constitute an intellectual inquiry.
The body language described between the speaker and Jenny also contributes to the feelings of self-entitlement that the speaker provokes. The speaker makes constant references to Jenny “resting upon [his] knee (66)”; an image that speaks to submissive behavior on her part. This vision of her being consistently below him speaks to both his impression of their relationship, and of society’s prejudices towards Jenny’s public position.
Despite his condescending attitude and behavior towards Jenny, the speaker does show some dismay at the realization that Jenny is not as different as his societal equals would have him believe. This epiphany comes when he realizes that Jenny sleeps “just as another woman sleeps! (177)”. He likens her to his cousin Nell, who sleeps just as she sleeps, and also has youth and sweet eyes. He appears to abhor the fact that despite their similarities, the society that he lives in would never accept them as equals. The world holds young women like Nell dear, and vows to “guard her well (192)”; yet, it ignores a girl like Jenny.
The speakers incessant switching between concern for Jenny’s well-being, and vicariously feeling shamed on her behalf, makes the discernment of his character more complicated. His conflicting feelings however, do appear to be somewhat inline with the confusing moral standards of his time. Victorian society, while maintaining some of the strictest moral codes in recent times, was that of a moving and growing civilization. It was during this time that new ideas about equality among genders, as well as reductions of the influence of class stratification were beginning to take form. The speaker in the poem recognizes many of the reasons why Jenny’s position in life is unjust, but his patronizing condescension and his eventual departure speak much louder than his whimsical midnight wanderings on the purity of her spirit.
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