Lady\'s Dressing Room by Jonathan Swift

Swift

'The Lady's Dressing Room" is an offhanded ode to women by Jonathan Swift and narrated by the Queen of Love. The poem basically describes the dressing room of Celia, seen through the spying eyes of her lover Strephon. Strephon has so idealized his beloved -- and all other women -- that when he realizes that she is a mere human being, he wretches. Finally he realizes, "Oh! Celia, Celia, Celia shits!" Swift's poem is not, as a casual reading would suggest, disparaging toward women. Rather, Swift points out that while Celia may be vain and self-conscious, obsessed with her appearance, she is nevertheless a human being. Strephon has failed to acknowledge Celia's humanity and so when he sees stains on her stockings and smells her bodily discharges, he is turned off to all women. The Queen of Love laments Strephon's attitude in the final stanza of the poem: "I pity wretched Strephon blind to all the Charms of Female Kind." For Swift, women's roles do resemble Celia's: she spends five hours dressing and is as a result "haughty." However, these roles are not positive for either gender. Celia has fallen into a trap of vanity, defining herself solely through her appearance. Similarly, Strephon has "blinded" himself to women's innate beauty because he believes in an unattainable ideal of perfection. Written almost three centuries ago, "The Lady's Dressing Room" adequately describes an almost universal role of women: their self-perception and their perception by others.

'The Lady's Dressing Room" describes the women known to Swift, in eighteenth century England. However, the poem equally applies to modern females, which is why the verses are funny and relevant today. Any casual glance at television or print advertisements will prove that women are perpetually obsessed with makeup, hair, and body shape, just as Celia is in "The Lady's Dressing Room." Her spending five hours at a time getting dressed might be an exaggeration in Swift's characteristic style, but modern women are also known for taking a long time preparing themselves for a night on the town. Swift is not necessarily saying that paying attention to appearance is a detriment. In fact, through his humorous descriptions of body odors and discharges, he is drawing attention to the essential ugliness of human bodily functions. Rather, the poet is simply commenting on an unbalanced approach to vanity. Celia is obsessed with putting on appearances, making herself into a perfect doll. As a result, Strephon expects Celia to always look and smell like a doll. When he realizes that it takes a slew of ointments, mysterious potions, and garments to mask human odors and unsightly pimples, Strephon is appalled.

The idealized image of women, promoted equally as strong in Swift's day as in ours, causes problems for both genders. Women become self-absorbed, and men develop unrealistic notions of what women should be like. Through clever wit, satire and sarcasm, Swift points out the problems with unrealistic expectations in his poem. For example, from the "Paste of Composition rare," to the "Ointments good for scabby Chops," the cosmetics of Swift's day largely resemble those in the modern world. Women are the primary consumers of these beauty products. Swift notes, through Strephon's shocked eyes, that women spend an inordinate amount of time using beauty products when beneath it all they are normal, sweaty, stinky human beings. Women have somehow been socialized to expect to be perfect. Moreover, cosmetics are one of the biggest most booming industries in the world today. The industry shows no sign of lagging, which is why Swift's poem appeals equally as well in his time as in ours, and could very well appeal to the future.

Men blind themselves to the innate physical appeal of the female figure and form when they expect not a human being but a porcelain doll. Strephon depicts women as being "haughty," vain and obsessed with their appearance. He is therefore appalled when he peeks into Celia's dressing room. He observes, "here she spits, and here she spues." Through is eyes, women are best when they cut themselves off from their humanity, when they conform to the image of perfection imposed on them from the demands and expectations of the outside world and by their egos. However, the Queen of Love declares that Celia is a glorious human being that Strephan cannot recognize due to his unfortunate socialization. "When Celia in her Glory shows, / If Strephon would but stop his Nose ... He soon would learn to think like me, / And bless his ravisht sight to see / Such Order from Confusion sprung." The Queen of Love, who is definitively a better judge of character and truth than the deluded Strephan, lauds the female sex.