I think it's also useful to consider the idea of gender throughout the poem - "A sin, nor shame, nor loss of maidenhead." Shame is linked to gender here because she is a woman and is rejecting his obvious advances for sex. This could therefore be Donne's personal criticism of men's manipulation to women
About the explanation flast lines of the 3rd stanza - considering that at that time the opposite ought to be true - John Donne might be symbolically criticising men's cruelty to women
@@MissHannaLovesGrammar Actually after reading the poem again, there is no way I can tell for sure whether the lover - who killed the flea - is a woman. If so then the woman might be telling the man that: "You killed the flea which is our minor symbol of our combination, what would you do to baby who is the major one?"
Could it be? oh, could it be, a child born of wedlock were the flea and if in doubt lets choose this route oh how medea protects her child's freedom then and freedom now. Not marriage creed a spouse, rather House. a broken house.
i think this poem is regarding abortion. In gist of it -the woman asks for abortion ,we see the man explain her how illicit it is to kill the "flea" inside the womb. In the third stanza we see the aftermath of the abortion. Criticizing the hypocrisy of "abortion". should my interpretation be considered???
