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Part Response of the Mistress My dearest suitor. Although you seek to charm you ultimately fail. You seek not to hold me but to possess me. While you profess to marvel at my body you reveal that I don’t sleep with you, I shall alas become a ugly lonely shrew destined to die a lonely death. I wonder why it is that I should be forced to compromise my virtue to you without any promises of loyalty in return. You who promise to worship each part of my landscape for years to come assumes that the landscape is only to be admired by you and you alone.
What about me? Where am I during those times that you are not with me? Am I to sit here in a single room waiting to be graced by your presence? Shall I sit and wait for you to take me out or am I to be hidden away until you aren’t interested in me? I think not dear one. How am I to amuse myself as you live the other part of your life? Certainly visions of rolling about with you cannot be what you expect me to substitute for an honest relationship. As you aptly recognize death, you must also realize that life, before I become a rotting carcass, must be lived and enjoyed.
Thus, in your next correspondence do write as passionately of my financial protection as you do of consummation and then you will find yourself in the garden of eden.Part II – Peer Review I interpret this piece as rather typical. It is the basic mating dance that men engage in when they are trying to entice a woman to go to bed with them. It is clear that he is governed by lust which is understandable. Oftentimes, that which we cannot obtain becomes irresistible and we pine after it. It should be noted that it is not that he wants “her”.
He merely wants her body. His desire is akin to the desire that anyone feel when they want something. This can apply to a sexual dalliance or obtaining a video game. One can play a video game for hours when they first obtain it. Likewise, one can enjoy sexual relations for hours at a time as well. This does not mean that there is an actual love exists. Any chance that the suitor has of getting his mistress to actually go to bed with him is substantially diminished by the fact that he explains to her that if she doesn’t, she will wind up old and unworshipped.
It is actually amusing because in today’s society, he would not have made it past the second verse of his poem. The tone and diction of the speaker remind me of one who is spoiled and accustomed to having their way. I would presume that the speaker was rather unattractive because he only speaks of her beauty and with his arrogance would certainly relate his own attractiveness if it existed. The poor girl listening to this poem would do best to close her ears and walk away because she is being offered nothing more than a one night stand.
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