My Willing Mistress, written by Aphra Behn deals with the intimate relationship and personal sexual consummation between two lovers. The poem exposes the masculine and the feminine energy of intense passion embracing their sexual desires for each other. It describes the meeting of two lovers where the speaker possibly Amyntas and Silvia , his companion. They both goes inside the grove where the rays of sun cannot even expose them.
The poem is explicit with sexual images. The sexual images shows the masculine libidinal desire for a woman. In the poem, the image of “Bough” and “Sun” are used to increase the intensity of passionate desires of two lovers. The rays of sun though cannot expose these two lovers from the grove to “humane eyes” yet ironically the imagery of sun intensifies the heat of masculine and feminine sexual energies in the poem. The image also gives an explicit setting of danger through “Winds” that can bring attention to outsiders to invade their private space.
The poem clearly shows the need for private space for the two lovers. It has a feministic attitude where the intimate relationships in public space were considered taboos in earlier times. The sense of fear and danger is bit loosen under the “grove” and the darkness the trees and the shade provides yet the gentle flow of winds brings a sense of menaces to the privacy of the two lovers that can expose leading them to fit into certain social constraints. The expression of the two lovers making love away from the “humane faces” itself shows the feminist side of the speaker where social norms limits women to share their feminine experiences in the society.
Aphra Behn also embraces masculine experience and their sexualities as well. She makes a man to lead in the poem which is a typical masculine trait. The man brings her to the grove meaning it is the man who leads her into the grove and it is the man who began flirting and showing amorous “wanton tricks to play” with her. It means that she appreciates the masculine energy and the libidinal desires for Silvia. He kisses her to which she reciprocates back and the lover dares not to say anything perhaps to keep personal feelings to himself. The imagery in the poem reflects the intense personal intimacy and love making between a man and a woman embracing their libidinal desires for each other.
The poem also expresses the masculine feeling and the thoughts expressed of its intent. The speaker who is a man states that his eyes were filled with her and it was easy to win her heart over since she was already filled with a desire for her. The speaker ability to keep some thing private even in the poem shows the man’s masculine side to protect the dignity and integrity of a woman. It is evident where the speaker states that she lays down gently on the ground for him and he invites the readers what could have happened next meaning that he left the rest to the imagination of the readers and I’m he indirectly protects the dignity of Silvia.
Additionally, the poem perhaps is a social message to many men on how to treat a woman in the society and in their private spaces. Silvia embraces her feminine sexuality as well as the masculine sexuality to show her equal stand for both the genders. She expects an outcome from the man, in case the speaker, to treat her right in a respectful manner to which he obviously does by leaving some parts of the intimacy and sexual decorum for the readers to imagine to protect the chastity and image of a woman he loves.
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