In one of the closing lines of Oscar Wilde’s poem “The Harlot’s House” he summarizes the exact truth of prostitution; “The dead are dancing with the dead, The dust is whirling with the dust.” Wilde’s poem, along with works such as Christina Rossetti’s “Goblin Market” and Charles Baudelaire’s “Fleurs du mal,” or “Flowers of Evil,” demonstrate the beauty and allure of sin and in their close expose the imminent ruin that must come with such a lifestyle. These poems each convey a similar message; sin will draw you in with its lights and allure, but beneath that façade there is always ruin waiting.
In his poem “The Harlot’s House,” Oscar Wilde paints the image of a young couple who have come upon a house with light and music issuing from within. As the man observes it, “The dead are dancing with the dead, The dust is whirling with the dust” (lines 26- 27). In these lines, Wilde poetically conveys to the reader that though the people in the house are dancing, pantomiming a beautiful and joyous lifestyle, they are dead. Be it their soul, their integrity, or perhaps their pocketbook, they are depleted. The lady accompanying the man, however, “she–she heard the violin, And left my side, and entered in: Love passed into the house of lust” (28- 30). What Wilde then writes is the ending he believes inherent to sin such as prostitution; “Then suddenly the tune went false, The dancers wearied of the waltz, The shadows ceased to wheel and whirl.” (31-33) This unsuspecting young woman saw the beauty and heard the music of the house, and not thinking of the consequences of such an action, entered into this glamorous hole of destitution. The moment she does, it is exposed for what it is; the music ends, the dancers end their dance, and the house has lost its allure. Too late, however, as the lady has already entered in and presumably lost the man who loved her. Wilde once more conveys his idea of the people in the house, after likening them to the dead and to dust, in this thirty-third line referring to them as ‘shadows’. This man saw what his lady could not; a harlot house is still a harlot house; a house of sin and depravity of the soul, no matter the mask it wears.
Christina Rossetti’s poem “Goblin Market” is a much more subtle representation of prostitution. In this poem, two sisters face temptation in the form of a forbidden fruit. Like the two subjects of “The Harlot’s House,” the two sisters are divided, as one is tempted by the fruit and the other sees the truth of the trade. She must watch then as her sister succumbs to temptation and tastes the fruit, only to be ruined by the taste, cursed to never find it again. The message Rossetti conveys is very similar to that of Oscar Wilde; sin comes in many forms, but temptation, no matter how alluring, always masks ruin. Temptation does its best to ruin the sisters of “Goblin Market,” leaving one distraught over the loss of that seemingly perfect fruit, and causing the other, out of love for her sister, to return to the goblins in hopes of appeasing her sister, where “the goblins cuffed and caught her, Coaxed and fought her, Bullied and besought her… Lizzie uttered not a word… Lest they should cram a mouthful in” (stanza 22). In both Wilde’s poem and Rossetti’s there is a clear portrayal of right and wrong and in each a character clearly deceived by temptation and one who sees through the deception. Be it a harlot house or enticing piece of fruit, if one looks closely, they can see that what is beautiful is not always good, and what is not good will inevitably lead to ruin.
Charles Baudelaire’s “Fleurs du mal,” or as it is translated in English, “Flowers of Evil” expresses the observations of a man who ‘dreams’ one night of finding himself, “Leaning on my elbows, cold, silent, envying,” (line 16) in a gambling house, surrounded by prostitution and destitution resultant of gambling. This man, like the wise sister in “Goblin Market” and the man of “The Harlot’s House,” seems to see the place for what it is; a deliverer of ruin. In his second stanza he observes the men of the gaming tables, “faces without lips, Lips without color… Fingers convulsed with a hellborn fever Searching empty pockets and fluttering bosoms” (5-8). When he speaks of the prostitutes there, though he conveys them as jolly, they are aged, in “faded armchairs” (1). In a single line he expresses his opinion of these women; “The dismal merriment of those old prostitutes”(18). These lines, like many in “The Harlot’s House” and “Goblin Market,” convey, if not the speaker’s, at the very least the writer’s integral message; the beauty of ruin draws many in and keeps them there long after the initial allure has worn away.
These three poems each expose a different face of ruin: prostitution, temptation, destitution, desperation. Within each poem, the writer is conveying to the reader a simple fact; sin can oftentimes parade itself as beautiful, delicious, joyous or rewarding, but beneath the façade there is always ruin waiting.
Work Cited
Baudelaire, Charles. “Flowers of Evil.” Fleursdumal. Supervert. 2012. Web. 12 December 2012.
Rossetti, Christina. “Goblin Market.” The Victorian Web. 17 October 2005. Web. 12 December 2012.
Wilde, Oscar. “The Harlot’s House.” The Victorian Web. 27 April 2010. Web. 12 December 2012.
