After telling the sun to go away, and failing, the persona then compromises by telling the sun the worth of his lover. The persona’s arrogance is also seen through his confidence in his position. He states that the sun’s “beames, so reverend, and strong” can be eclipsed and clouded “with a winke”. This is blatant arrogance from the persona, claiming that he can dissipate the sun’s great light with just a wink. His reason for not doing this, however is because he will not “lose her sight so long”, as if his lover is the prettiest sight there is. The persona also claims that the “India’s of spice and Myne” lie within his lover, owning the most precious of goods during Donne’s time.
The dramatic start with the sun being chided by the persona has subsided and the persona now shows the value of his love. By being able to eradicate the power of the sun with just a wink, the persona shows some of the love’s power that he is boasting about. This idea is the beginning of the idea carried into the last verse, where all the precious wealth in the world is with him and his lover and with the wealth comes great power.
The persona continues this outburst of audacity by comparing his lover to royal images:
“She’is all States, and all Princes, I,
Nothing else is.”
Here the persona claims that his lover is all the land and because he owns her, he is all the princes who own the land. There is nothing else of importance compared to this. He progresses to say that compared to his love, “All honor’s mimique; All wealth alchimie”, making all the honour and wealth in the world of no value. This shows how confident the persona is of having the best luxury in the world, his lover. His love is that of the highest importance and highest value and nothing can compare to it. The dramatic situation is still at its peak with a clear image of the persona boasting to the sun both the value of his love and his lover.
After chiding the sun and then boasting how the sun is not greater than what he has, the persona for a second pities the sun and says that he will make the sun’s work easier because “Shine here to us, and thou art everywhere”. The arrogance of the persona has persevered and he claims that his bedroom is in fact the whole world. The description of the worth of his love has been wiped away and instead of being specific elements of value, the persona claims that he and his lover are everything. This climax is made through the use of a metaphor between the persona’s love and the universe. The dramatic situation ends with the persona exclaiming that his love is not only the most important issue but it is everything in the universe.
The poem ‘The Flea’ is also based on a dramatic situation, that of a man trying to seduce a woman. The drama of the situation is that the persona bases a rather comprehensive argument based on the smallest of insects, a flea. Like ‘The Sunne Rising’, the poem begins ‘in media res’ and it is clear that the woman has denied the persona’s desire. The persona begins the argument by stating that the bloods of the persona and the woman are mingled in the flea and this “cannot be said/A sinne, or shame, or loss of maidenhead”. The persona’s argument is that because the bloods intertwining inside the flea has not caused any harm to the woman’s honour, neither will sex. The first image shown by the poem is that of a persona trying to seduce a woman into sex through the use of a spurious argument involving a mere flea. This situation is dramatic in the sense that it is not often that a man tries to seduce a woman using a flea as the basis of an argument. The audacity of the argument is more humorous to the reader than serious, causing the drama of the situation to be rather amusing.
We are able to see that the woman is quick to reply to the persona by attempting to kill the flea: “Oh stay, three lives in one flea spare”. The persona argues that the flea is their “mariage bed, and mariage temple is”, so she would be breaking their foundation of their marriage by killing the flea. Not only this but killing the flea would also mean “sacrilege, three sinnes in killing three”. This shows the religious sin of spilling holy blood and not only of one but of three, being trinity. At this point, the persona’s argument has become quite ludicrous. The drama of the situation lies in the flea, being such a small object, being also so important to the lives of the persona and the woman, to the extent that killing it will spill holy blood. This religious metaphor adds to the outrageous argument already laid and consequently adds to the drama of the situation.
After such pleas from the persona, the woman still kills the flea, a definite answer to the seduction attempts by the persona. The persona accepts that he is wrong about the sacrilege after exclaiming that the flea was only guilty from “that drop which it suckt from thee” and killing it was inhumane. Once his main argument is countered, the persona is quick to create a new argument for a last chance at seducing the woman: “Learne how false feares bee:/Just so much honor, when thou yeeld’st to mee”. The persona is stating that there is so little honour lost when she indulges in sex with him, it will not affect her life at all anyway. This last argument is the peak of the ludicrous statements given by the persona. The woman’s honour is obviously not as insignificant as the persona says it is, making his argument a desperate last plea to score with the woman. The dramatic situation in ‘The Flea’ ends with a clear answer to the dramatic pleas issued by the persona. The poem creates a clear image of a situation where there is a lover trying to seduce a woman through the use of the flea. The argument leads the situation to be dramatic in the sense that is quite amusing for both the woman and the reader witnessing a detailed argument using a mere flea.
The dramatic situations created by Donne may only the basis of an argument, in ‘The Flea’, or an illustration, in ‘The Sunne Rising’. This is due to the events illustrated as rather fictitious and not exactly prominent in people’s lives. It is clear then, that Donne is using the situations in the poems as vehicles for other purposes, such as the ways men try and take advantage of women in ‘The Flea’ or the ultimate value of perfect love in ‘The Sunne Rising’. The dramatic situations in both these poems not only give new insight into what Donne is trying to express but also create a dramatic situation that entertains the poem’s reader.
