Pre-Raphaelite+Eros+and+Agape

The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, or more commonly Pre-Raphaelites, was a group of English painters, poets, and critics founded in 1848 by William Holman Hunt, John Everett Millais and Dante Gabriel Rossetti. The three founders were soon joined by William Michael Rossetti, James Collinson, Frederic George Stephens, and Thomas Woolner to form a seven-member “brotherhood”. Later, as their influence spread and the Brotherhood disbanded, the term Pre-Raphaelite persisted.

The group's intention was to reform art by rejecting what they considered to be a mechanistic approach adopted by the artists after Raphael. They believed that the classical poses and elegant compositions of Raphael had been corrupted by the influence of the academic teaching of art, hence the name “Pre-Raphaelite”. The Pre-Raphaelites have been considered the first avant-garde movement in art. One feature that defines their art and aesthetic values is their emphasis on the relationship between the concepts of //eros// and //agape.//

// Eros //, as the O.E.D. defines it, is the urge towards self-preservation and desire, especially that of sexual pleasure. //Agape//, also by the O.E.D. definition, is a Christian theological concept that is distinct from simple affection or erotic love. //Agape// is defined as Christian love or charity. A basic distinction between the two is that love which is selfless and caring is regarded as //agape,// while //eros// is a type of love that is considered self-seeking and appetitive.

Two prominent Pre-Raphaelite writers who used erotic and spiritual passions as their thematic focus were Dante Gabriel Rossetti and Christina Rossetti. Dante Gabriel Rossetti’s work, such as “The Blessed Damozel”, garnered much scrutiny and criticism after its publication. One example would be Robert Buchanan’s essay, “The Fleshly School of Poetry”, where he describes Rossetti’s poem as having “great merits of its own, and a few lines of real genius” (Buchanan, 1871). Buchanan argues that the poem does not in fact focus on the spiritual but on its own “fleshliness”, and that it is far too self-conscious and overly concerned of its own aesthetic. But Rossetti, in a letter to his aunt, describes the poem as “written in a kind of Gothic manner” (Rossetti 38). The word “Gothic” points to a medieval conception which Rossetti attempted to recreate. Bentley argues that the “Gothic” manner of the poem is a sign of its “fundamental raisons d’être” (Bentley 35): the imaginative recreation of Rossetti’s conception of a medieval “consciousness” and awareness. Rossetti believed that such a consciousness was the most important aspect of the Middle Ages, particularly the identification of flesh and spirit.

While Dante Gabriel Rossetti's use of religion as a sympathetic vehicle for his poetry may have arguably been only for artistic reasons in order to recreate a medieval consciousness, his sister, Christina Rossetti, was a devout Christian throughout her life and founded the highest inspiration in her faith and investing Anglican ideal of worship (Duguid). This can be seen in her poem “Goblin Market”//,// her usage of symbols carry much of the weight of Christian tradition. For example, the main heroine, Lizzie, resembles a transfigured Christ who redeems her sister by sacrificing herself to the malevolent goblins. Using Lizzie as a Christ-like figure, Rossetti instructs the readers in the dangers of succumbing to (sexual) temptation (Harrison 99). Significantly, Rossetti’s volume //Goblin Market and other Poems// (1862) is important as the first volume of Pre-Raphaelite poetry, and it gained a considerable amount of critical attention (Evans 156). Dante Gabriel Rossetti’s work had been published in obscure places such as //The Germ//, a periodical established by the Pre-Raphaelites to disseminate their ideas. It was not a success, only existing in four issues between January and April 1850. Feminist critics like Dorothy Mermin have credited the success of “Goblin Market” to Lizzie as being a pioneer of their movement who is earnestly determined to protect the sanctity of sisterhood against any form of patriarchal corruption (Mermin, 108). Other critics, like David B. Drake, determine Lizzie to be an epic heroine because her actions are not only valorous, but herculean in magnitude for she is a child and greatly outnumbered (Drake 23). Some of the most persuasive readings of “Goblin Market” have been those which renew that critical tradition in which this poem—in which Christina Rossetti’s work as a whole—is to be understood ultimately in religious terms. However, there are equally convincing readings that have a primarily secular focus and many argue that “Goblin Market” should be read in regards to it's presentation of gender and sexuality. There seems to be an irreconcilable tension in what position or perspective one should take in order to comprehend Christina Rossetti’s poem. However, Simon Humphries's essay “The Uncertainty of ‘Goblin Market’” argues that “Rossetti’s writing repeatedly pivots upon contradiction and obscurity, and that its intellectual rigor is nowhere more relevant in this determination to probe the uncertainties of Christian theology” (Humphries 391). To conclude, the relationship between //agape// and //eros// embedded within Christian theology creates tension, controversy, and contention, and Christina Rossetti’s poetry is a commentary on this tension.

Even after over two hundred years the roles of //agape// and //eros// have been proven to be contentious issues and major concerns for twentieth-century Christian ethicists. In the Western world, the dominant ethical position has stressed a regard for others instead of oneself, often to a point of great personal sacrifice. Feminist ethicists are now criticizing an exclusive emphasis on other-regard. Instead, they are stressing the need for a healthy self-regard and hence they are exploring mutuality as the most appropriate image of Christian love (Andolsen 69). //Agape// as self-sacrifice has been rooted in Christology that concentrates upon Jesus’ self-immolation upon the Cross. The work which sets the agenda for the twentieth-century debate about the meaning of //agape// as a norm for Christian ethics is Anders Nygren’s //Agape and Eros//. In his book, Nygren defines //eros// as “desire, egocentric love, for which man occupies the dominant position as both starting-point and goal” (19); hence a love motivated by personal reward is an unchristian love. Despite this, scholars and historians will continue to debate the vexed tensions between eros and agape, which the Pre-Raphaelites so compellingly (and controversially) explored.

HM/Engl386/Fall2012/UVic


 * Works Cited **

“Agape, n.”. OED Online. September 2012. Oxford University Press. 23 October 2012

Andolsen, Barbara Hilkert. “Agape in Feminist Ethics”. //The Journal of Religious Ethics//. Vol. 9, No.1. 1981. pp. 69-83.

Bentley, D.M.R. “’The Blessed Damozel’: A Young Man’s Fantasy”. //Victorian Poetry//. Vol. 20, No. ¾. pp. 31-43. 1982.

Buchanan, Robert. “The Fleshly School of Poetry: Mr. D. G. Rossetti”. //The Contemporary Review//. Vol. 18. 1871. Print.

Dorothy, Mermin. “Heroic Sisterhood in ‘Goblin Market’”. //Victorian Poetry//. Vol. 21, No. 2. 1983. pp. 107-118.

Duguid, Lindsay. “ Rossetti, Christina Georgina (1830–1894) .” //Oxford Dictionary of National Biography//. Ed. H. C. G. Matthew and Brian Harrison. Oxford: OUP, 2004. Online ed. Ed. Lawrence Goldman. Jan. 2009. 30 Nov. 2012. Web. <http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/24139.

Drake, David B. “Rossetti’s ‘Goblin Market’”. //Explicator//. Vol. 51 No.1. 1992. pp.22

“Eros, n.”. OED Online. September 2012. Oxford University Press. 23 October 2012

Evans, B. Ifor. “The Sources of Christina Rossetti’s ‘Goblin Market’”. //The Modern Language Review//. Vol. 28, No. 2. 1933. pp. 156-165.

Harrison, Anthony H. //Christina Rossetti in Context//. The University of North Carolina Press. 1988. pp 99.

Humphries, Simon. “The Uncertainty of ‘Goblin Market’”. //Victorian Poetry//. Vol. 45. No. 4. 2007. pp. 391-413

Nygren, Anders. //Agape and Eros: The History of the Christian Idea of Love//. Vol. 1 pt. 2. New York: MacMillan Company. 1938. Print.

Rossetti, William Michael. //Dante Gabriel Rossetti: His Family Letters with a Memoir//. Vol 2. AMS Press. 1970. pp. 38. http://www.rossettiarchive.org/docs/pr5246.a43.vol2.rad.html