God hates sex. At least, that is what most people take Christian teachings to mean. Keep your legs crossed until your finger is safely bound by a wedding ring. Don't commit adultery, that's on the top ten lists of things NOT to do. Yet should we really be keeping the two things apart? In his poem, "To His Coy Mistress", Andrew Marvell tries to coax sex out of his lady love by using religion, proving that perhaps the sex and Christianity shouldn't be kept at arm's length.
At the beginning of the poem, the narrator quickly attacks the idea that sex is a sin, albeit indirectly. Rather then challenge his mistress's idea that sex is something she should avoid on religious grounds, he instead makes a statement against her chastity. "Had we but world enough, and time, / This coyness, Lady, were no crime", he tells her. He draws a line between right and wronbg, and puts her "coyness", or her reluctance to have sex and her desire to be virtuous, on the same side of that line as breaking the law. He then moves quickly to the religious references with his talk of the rubies found along the Ganges. He identifies his mistress with that location and then speaks of finding rubies there. There is an implication that the mistress herself is the ruby, the precious jewel, which can be found by the river, which bears a special significance. According to Henry A. Christian, at that time period rubies were believes to keep away evil and "even signifies Christ and paradise" (33). By identifying his lady with the ruby, his desire to possess her moves beyond the mere physical desire for her body. By being with her, he will find paradise, heaven.
Also significant are his references to the end of time. The narrator says that, if they had endless time, then his mistress could feel free to "refuse / Til the conversion of the Jews". The conversion of the Jews was something which would not anticipated to happen for a very long time - it will occur just being the Apocalypse. When emphasizing the fact that they will in fact not live forever and thus be able to wait until the Jews convert, the narrator again brings to the forefront the idea of the end of time. He that "yonder all before us lie / deserts of vast eternity". This reference to the afterlife is meant to emphasize the fact that they are alive NOW and must take advantage of it. John J. Carroll expands upon this idea, stating the the deserts are meant to "lie beyond time" and that "as the threat of eternity, the annihilation of time, increases desire for her beauty, so the danger presents urgently and immediately an argument for the granting of her riches". The narrator is using the Christian mythology regarding the end of the world and the fact that eventually, we all die and are brought into the "deserts of vast eternity" (in other words, the afterlife". He uses this Christian dogma in order to reinforce the idea that the "coy mistress" needs to stop being coy and get down to business with him.
A small reference is found near the end of the poem. The narrator says that he and the mistress should be joined as one in their lovemaking in order to "tear our pleasures with rough strife / through the iron gates of life". Considering the fact that he has been speaking of death and eternity and the afterlife throughout the poem, calling to mind "iron gates" brings to mind the gates of heaven. The narrator intends to crash through those gates into heaven and eternal life by joining together with his mistress. Rather than their sexual actions causing them to be damned to hell, they will instead find access to heaven by joining "all our strength and all / our sweetness up into one ball".
The last two lines of the poem are yet again a Christian reference, this time directly Biblical. According to the Bible, God made the sun stand still in the sky in order to enable Joshua to defeat his enemies. The narrator says that although they are not as powerful as God and "cannot make our sun / stand still", he implies that they do have some sort of spiritual or otherworldly power as they will have an effect on the sun and time: "we will make him run". Although he does not go so far as to imply they are on the same level as God, he elevates the power that they can possess if they join together sexually onto a divine level. God changes the sun, so shall they. He created Heaven, and they will crash through the gate and gain access.
Although Marvell is frequently circumspect in his references, the Christian overtones of this poem are difficult to ignore. Completely impossible to ignore is the fact that he is trying to convince his mistress to have sex with him. By using these Christian references, Marvell puts the narrators desire for sex on a higher platform. Rather then something to damn a person, it is something to empower them to find Christ, Heaven, and divinity. Maybe sex and Christianity shouldn't be so estranged, we wonder. Besides, if God really hated sex, then why did he make it necessary to keep his children around generation after generation?
Carroll, John J. "The Sun and the Lovers in 'To His Coy Mistress'". Modern Language Studies, Vol. 74, No. 1, pp. 4-7. JSTOR. Web. 10 February 2010.
Christian, Henry A. "Marvell's Mistress' Rubies". Modern Language Studies, Vol. 11, No. 1, pp. 33-37. JSTOR. Web. 10 February 2010.
Smith, Phillip. "To His Coy Mistress". 100 Best-Loved Poems. Dover Publications: New York. 1995. Print.
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