The Ambivalent Phenomena Of Patriarchy In John Donne’s Poetry

John Donne is a great poet of the English Renaissance and known as the founder of the metaphysical school. Living in a patriarchal society, Donne shows his deep-rooted patriarchal ideology. In his poems, there are many negative descriptions of women, and through the depicting of women images Donne expresses his desire of domination. However, it should be noticed that Donne also shows his thoughts which are inconsistent with patriarchy and indicate his pursuit of the harmonious relationship between men and women. The contradictory phenomena of patriarchy are the reflection of his contradictory thoughts towards patriarchy which are influenced by his age and also go beyond his age. The thesis is composed of three chapters:Chapter one explores that patriarchy is the cause of Donne’s negative description of women in which women are considered as enchantresses and objects. In patriarchal society, women are depicted and distorted randomly, losing their original appearances.Chapter two analyzes that patriarchy reflects Donne’s desire to dominate women. The images of fickleness show men’s desire to criticize the inconstancy of women; the images of faithfulness indicate men’s desire to possess women’s purity in love; the images of silence are a peculiar expression of men’s control of women.Chapter three shows some of Donne’s thoughts are contrary to patriarchy. In some poems, he describes the harmonious relationship between men and women and shows his praise and respect for women, from which his expectation of the equality and harmony between male and female can be seen. Those anti-patriarchal thoughts go beyond his age.By analyzing patriarchal phenomena from the perspective of feminism, the thesis aims to reach the conclusion that the contradictory phenomena of patriarchy exist in his poems and his attitude towards patriarchy is contradictory, which is inseparably linked with the social background and his personal experience.