In Charles Baudelaire’s Gambling many interesting topics are discussed but one that I feel is the most interesting is the author’s awareness of his own jealousy of the fallen, and his shame at this jealousy.
“My heart took fright at its envy of so many
Wretches running fiercely to the yawning chasm,”
I think that this is interesting because I am sure this is a feeling that many people have had at one point or another. Someone who is generally not “ruined” could look at people who are and want to be that loose with their morals. It often looks like way more fun to be immoral. But when you catch yourself feeling jealous of people who you know are “sinners” it often makes you feel guilty like you are committing the sins yourself. Another reason there is that twinge of the heart is because you know exactly where these people are bound.
“Wretches running fiercely to the yawning chasm,
Who, drunk with their own blood, would prefer, in a word,
Suffering to death and hell to nothingness!”
With every religious view of the world, sinners are punished for what they have done in life. And the author clearly feels that this is the fate of these gamblers.
By portraying the people as less than human or not human at all, we get a feeling of physical disfigurement also by their ruined state, or possibly that their humanity has left them.
“Around the gaming tables faces without lips,
Lips without color and jaws without teeth,
Fingers convulsed with a hellborn fever
Searching empty pockets and fluttering bosoms;”
By being addicted and giving over all they have, they give over themselves to this obsession and action. When you have nothing left physically, all that’s left are the things that truly matter and are worth something. Such as a man’s honor or a woman’s beauty. You know you’ve truly fallen when you sell over yourself over to these actions.
“All blithely selling right before my eyes,
One his ancient honor, another her beauty!”
Something I found very interesting in this poem is the lines:
Who, drunk with their own blood, would prefer, in a word,
Suffering to death and hell to nothingness!
The fact that the author calls in “drunk with their own blood” makes it sound as if their own sin keeps them going and gives them the “buzz” they need. He is exclaiming that rather than kill their habits; they’d rather suffer. He also explains how these addicts would choose hell over anything. They love what they take part in, whether it be morally wrong or not. They probably suffer through their addictions; yet love the luxuries and feelings it gives. Its not worth it to overcome these addictions to them.
