Babylon The Great and The World- temptation:
In both ‘The World’ and ‘Babylon The Great’, Rossetti presents the
falsehood of temptation, which appears alluring but is deceitful and
inherently corrupt in reality. In ‘The World’, Rossetti describes the
seductive appearance of the female subject to present temptation as
seemingly inviting in describing her as ‘soft, exceeding fair’. Here, the
woman seems akin to a paragon of virtue, with the ‘soft’ and ‘fair’
qualities painting her as an angelic figure, mirroring the Victorian female
ideal of the ‘angel in the house’. The poem’s form of a Petrarchan sonnet
emphasises this idealistic portrayal of the female subject given its
association with Romanticism. However, Rossetti subverts this angelic
depiction with the stark contrast of ‘but through the night, a beast she
grins at me’. This undermines the perceived virtue of the female subject,
as she is likened to Satan in being a ‘beast’, emphasising the notion of
temptation masking its true nature. The monstrous reality of temptation is
furthered by the grotesque description of this female temptress as
‘loathsome and foul with hideous leprosy’. Here, Rossetti utilises the
imagery of disease in ‘leprosy’ to portray the corrupting consequence of
giving into temptation. Similarly, in ‘Babylon the Great’, Rossetti presents
temptation as grand in appearance yet morally corrupt and destructive at
its core. As she does in ‘The World’, Rossetti attributes the grotesque to
the true nature of temptation through grotesque, saying, ‘No wine is in her
cup, but filth is there /Unutterable, with plagues hid out of view.’ Given
that cup and wine are often synonymous in the Bible, the ‘cup’ here
serves as a symbol of indulgence and luxury. This is juxtaposed by its
contents of 'filth’ and ‘plagues’, mirroring Babylon herself in her opulent
appearance of ‘scarlet vest’, under which her true corruption is similarly
‘hid out of view’. The conflation of indulgence with the moral
contamination of ‘filth’ reflects Rossetti’s Tractarian belief that material
excess leads to spiritual downfall and serves as her warning against
chasing earthly desires.
In both ‘The World’ and ‘Babylon the Great’, Rossetti personifies
temptation as a female figure embodying both seduction and destruction,
reflecting anxieties in the Victorian era regarding female sexuality. This is
immediately apparent in ‘Babylon the Great’ given the biblical allusion to
Revelations 17, in which Babylon is described as ‘the great whore…with
whom the many kings of the earth have committed fornication’, linking
sexual immorality with the poem from the off and presenting female
sexuality as a temptation. Rossetti describes the female subject of
Babylon as ‘Foul is she and ill-favoured, set askew’, establishing her moral
corruption as ‘foul’, as well as her physical othering in being ‘set askew’,
which is linguistically isolated in itself to mirror this. Rossetti presents the
In both ‘The World’ and ‘Babylon The Great’, Rossetti presents the
falsehood of temptation, which appears alluring but is deceitful and
inherently corrupt in reality. In ‘The World’, Rossetti describes the
seductive appearance of the female subject to present temptation as
seemingly inviting in describing her as ‘soft, exceeding fair’. Here, the
woman seems akin to a paragon of virtue, with the ‘soft’ and ‘fair’
qualities painting her as an angelic figure, mirroring the Victorian female
ideal of the ‘angel in the house’. The poem’s form of a Petrarchan sonnet
emphasises this idealistic portrayal of the female subject given its
association with Romanticism. However, Rossetti subverts this angelic
depiction with the stark contrast of ‘but through the night, a beast she
grins at me’. This undermines the perceived virtue of the female subject,
as she is likened to Satan in being a ‘beast’, emphasising the notion of
temptation masking its true nature. The monstrous reality of temptation is
furthered by the grotesque description of this female temptress as
‘loathsome and foul with hideous leprosy’. Here, Rossetti utilises the
imagery of disease in ‘leprosy’ to portray the corrupting consequence of
giving into temptation. Similarly, in ‘Babylon the Great’, Rossetti presents
temptation as grand in appearance yet morally corrupt and destructive at
its core. As she does in ‘The World’, Rossetti attributes the grotesque to
the true nature of temptation through grotesque, saying, ‘No wine is in her
cup, but filth is there /Unutterable, with plagues hid out of view.’ Given
that cup and wine are often synonymous in the Bible, the ‘cup’ here
serves as a symbol of indulgence and luxury. This is juxtaposed by its
contents of 'filth’ and ‘plagues’, mirroring Babylon herself in her opulent
appearance of ‘scarlet vest’, under which her true corruption is similarly
‘hid out of view’. The conflation of indulgence with the moral
contamination of ‘filth’ reflects Rossetti’s Tractarian belief that material
excess leads to spiritual downfall and serves as her warning against
chasing earthly desires.
In both ‘The World’ and ‘Babylon the Great’, Rossetti personifies
temptation as a female figure embodying both seduction and destruction,
reflecting anxieties in the Victorian era regarding female sexuality. This is
immediately apparent in ‘Babylon the Great’ given the biblical allusion to
Revelations 17, in which Babylon is described as ‘the great whore…with
whom the many kings of the earth have committed fornication’, linking
sexual immorality with the poem from the off and presenting female
sexuality as a temptation. Rossetti describes the female subject of
Babylon as ‘Foul is she and ill-favoured, set askew’, establishing her moral
corruption as ‘foul’, as well as her physical othering in being ‘set askew’,
which is linguistically isolated in itself to mirror this. Rossetti presents the
