The Waste Land and Sexuality PDF

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Emily Gorski ENG 350 The Waste Land and Sexuality In T.S. Eliot’s widely known poem “The Waste Land,” all hope for any sliver of happiness, and all hope in general, seems to be completely lost. Quite literally a wasteland, the universe of Eliot’s piece is desolate, upsetting, grotesque, and incapable of allowing any sort of life to really thrive. Due to the state of the world in the poem, and because of the evil forces at work in it, it is impossible for sexuality and love to flourish, or even develop at all as a positive entity. The first image that hints at this damnation of sexuality is the lilac, which is shown to the audience right away in the opening stanza of the poem. Eliot writes, “April is the cruelest month, breeding lilacs out of the dead land, mixing memory and desire” (Eliot 1-3). T.S. Eliot is notoriously deliberate in his diction, and paired with some knowledge on flower language and plant symbolism, it is beneficial to note that purple lilacs are typically symbolic of the early introductory feelings associated with falling in love, and that white lilacs symbolize specifically innocence. In the context of this stanza of the poem, Eliot claims that the month of April is “cruel” for breeding these lilacs, and, having read the rest of the poem, it is easy to follow his logic. Here Eliot portrays the image of a manifestation of the purest and most genuine emotions, which have absolutely no chance at survival in the eerie dead land of The Wasteland. As April, through the lilacs, is said to be “mixing memory and desire,” it is insinuated that there is no use for memory or desire in The Wasteland, and no place for falling in love or innocence either. Therefore, the lilacs are doomed to wilt before they have even bloomed, much like the memories and desires of the Wasteland’s inhabitants, and they stand as a reminder that things like sex and love simply do not work here.

Emily Gorski ENG 350 The Waste Land and Sexuality This tainting of love and sexuality in “The Waste Land” is carried over into the second section of the poem, entitled “A Game of Chess,” as the reader is provided with the description of a cluttered, ornate room, presumed to belong to a man and woman. Although the room is a bit grotesque and strange to begin with, one of the most unsettling images given by Eliot comes in the 98th line, “Above the antique mantel was displayed as though a window gave upon the sylvan scene the change of Philomel, by the barbarous king so rudely forced” (Eliot 98-99). Here Eliot is referring to the story of Philomel, who was raped by her king, who subsequently cut out her tongue in order to ensure that she would not tell anyone of his sickening crime. Eliot’s use of this particular legend is crucial, as it stands as a sort of red flag in a seemingly nonthreatening, while eerie, environment, and his description of the depiction as “sylvan,” contrasts the severity of the painting, while also qualifying it as mild and not unusual within the world of The Waste Land. Philomel most certainly functions as a sort of symbol that represents every inhabitant who lives in The Waste Land, doomed to a life of sexual violence and danger, and powerless to alter their station or do really anything to escape the horrors. As Eliot continues to paint an increasingly gloomy and dismal picture through “The Waste Land,” his readers are introduced to Lil and Albert, a married couple, in the second section of the poem, who show even further how the concepts of sex and sexuality are tainted and made unattainable in this world. This stanza of the poem contains a commentary given by a third party narrator about the seemingly homely Lil and her husband Albert, who has evidently just returned from the war. This narrator’s primary concern, in discussing the couple, seems to be Albert’s chances of having sex with Lil, which seem slim. His intense, almost obsessive fixation on Lil and Albert’s sexual

Emily Gorski ENG 350 The Waste Land and Sexuality relationship, and the casualty with which he speaks about it to, presumably, other random men at the bar where he sits, creates an air of extreme discomfort in the reader, and partners the idea of sex with things like gossip, seedy night scenes, and crassness. He iterates, “He’s been in the army four years, he wants a good time, and if you don’t give it him, there’s others will,” (Eliot 148-149). This statement in particular is jarring, as it devalues sex entirely, naming the act as something casual that functions only to give Albert pleasure. The narrator also implies, in this quote, that Albert can obtain this pleasure and sexual activity without his wife Lil, depreciating the sanctity of monogamy and showing the reader that this infidelity is not foreign or uncommon in the world of “The Waste Land.” Lil and Albert will never find true intimacy or sexuality, because the environment in which they live has stifled the possibility of loyalty, trust, respect, or empathy, all things that a positive sexual relationship cannot exist without. Perhaps the most blatant indication that sexuality can not exist in a positive way in the Waste Land is the presence of Tiresias, and the scene that he plays silent witness to in the third section of the poem called “The Fire Sermon.” Tiresias, a figure in Greek mythology often named as the first major transgender figure, symbolizes the confusion and turmoil surrounding sexuality in the Waste Land, implying that things will forever be unclear for its unlucky inhabitants. Tiresias views quite possibly one of the most discombobulating and disturbing scenes in all of English poetry, as a young, male house agent’s clerk rapes a female typist in her home. Tiresias describes the darkest moments of the heinous incident, “endeavours to engage her in caresses which still are unreproved, if undesired. Flushed and decided, he assaults at once; exploring hands encounter no defence; his vanity requires no response, and makes a welcome of indifference (And I Tiresias have foresuffered all enacted on

Emily Gorski ENG 350 The Waste Land and Sexuality this same divan or bed; I who have sat by Thebes below the wall and walked among the lowest of the dead.) Bestows one final patronizing kiss, and gropes his way, finding the stairs unlit…” (Eliot 239-247). Without a doubt, the scene described is that of a rape, or the forcing of one person by another into performing nonconsensual sex, as the typist explicitly does not consent to the intimacy. When the clerk makes it obvious that the typist’s indifference is not an obstacle to his action, but rather a catalyst for it, it becomes clear that the situation is more than simply two people having sex, and that something much more sinister is going on. The final line of this stanza only attaches more darkness to the scene, as the clerk’s lack of hesitation to simply get up and leave the house after the rape is over reveals his true indifference toward the typist, yet again commenting on the lack of emphasis on fidelity and overall acceptance of negative sexual action that exists in the poem. Additionally, when Tiresias tells the audience that he has also been through these horrors, the idea that this violence and sinfulness is capable of reaching all people in the Waste Land, whether they are male, female, or any sort of divine, is introduced. Tiresias represents all of these identities and more, and works in the poem as a truly direct connection to each member of the Waste Land’s community. Much like how Philomel represents the powerlessness of each person who lives in the desolate world, Tiresias stands for each citizen’s complete and innate vulnerability, and implies that no matter the identity, marital status, station in life, or really any characteristic that the characters in the Waste Land may posses, everyone in the Waste Land is in danger of oppression, and is completely unable to hope for a positive sexual relationship. In the world of “The Waste Land,” this scene of intense sexual violence is not shocking, as it has already been proven that sex and love do not

Emily Gorski ENG 350 The Waste Land and Sexuality work here, and Tiresias’ lack of action or really any reaction at all emphasizes that this rape is not a foreign occurrence. Unfortunately for the doomed inhabitants of the Waste Land, there do not seem to be many chances for redemption or improvement of sexuality or sexual experience. Each section brings more misery than the one before, and each new scene furthers the audience’s glimpse into this place where positive sexual encounters and true, legitimate love are simply not possible. As the poem concludes, Eliot includes the somewhat puzzling line, “Why then Ile fit you. Hieronymo’s mad againe” (Eliot 431). However, by taking a glance at the footnotes provided by Eliot himself, it is explained that this statement refers to a character in a play, who executes the murder of a number of people as revenge for the murder of his son. This immediate turn to extreme violence, in what is supposedly a moment of peace, and the inclusion of this line directly juxtaposes the Hindu chants that follow it. Because this violence and savagery is present all the way to the end of the poem, the reader can imagine that it will only continue in this twisted world once the text finishes, and that the dead land’s inhabitants are damned to be forever plagued by acts of violence, aggression, and evil, banning all possibility of healthy sexual experience. In T.S. Eliot’s “The Waste Land,” Eliot makes use of a sundry of vivid images and deliberate allusions and metaphors to portray the legitimacy of this world’s tragic state, which does not allow for human relationships, or sex, to develop or flourish in a positive way. Each citizen of the Waste Land is, in some way, trapped and saturated in an environment of filth, desperation, violence, and tragedy, which suffocates even the small beginnings of love or really any positive interpersonal relationship, let alone a sexual

Emily Gorski ENG 350 The Waste Land and Sexuality relationship. The characters in each section, however, do not fight back against these sinister forces, but are merely complacent, seemingly content and accepting about what is happening to them, assuming that they are not the ones who willingly partake in the dastardly actions that occur throughout the poem. This combination of assailants who are ruthless, unforgiving, and truly unaware of any other method of living, and victims who do not fight back against the shocking injuries that are committed against them, banishes any hope of the development of a positive relationship, and any sort of clarity or positive feeling through sexual activity is absolutely impossible. In the world of “The Waste Land,” human emotion is truly a plaything of the world in which it exists, and there is no chance for sexuality or love....