Death, Decay, and Beauty
It is no little known fact that Charles Baudelaire had some sort of thing for women. Throughout his poems in “The Flowers of Evil”, he spends time objectifying, praising, destroying, loving, hating, and trying his best to unravel women for the sake of a more thorough understanding. There are arguments out there that he had pretty heavy mommy issues, which is reasonable considering his anger towards her is expressed right at the beginning with the poem “Benediction” where he talks of how much his mother has hurt him by not believing in him (p. 11). Due to this obvious distaste towards a particular woman, Baudelaire’s feelings towards women in general are affected. Towards the beginning of the book, he often expresses the boundless beauty to be found in women, but later on gains a distasteful voice when talking about their beauty and – in some places, and quite often – becomes outright rude.
In the first section “Spleen and the Ideal”, Baudelaire expresses the beauty he will always find in his lady friend by describing a decaying body on the side of the road. “A Carcass” is a shocking piece to read, especially when one considers the fact that he’s comparing his lovely lady friend to that of a rotted body laying out in the sun, and then proceeds to declare both beautiful. Once a moment is taken to disregard the grotesque scene he places before us, the underlying message of the poem comes to light: no matter how aged and gross his partner becomes, he will always find beauty in her. Baudelaire reveals this thought with the start of the last few stanzas,
“–And you, in your turn, will be rotten as this:
Horrible, filthy, undone,
Oh sun of my nature and star of my eyes,
My passion, my angel in one!” (37-40)
The point of choosing such an off-putting image to describe in detail is so that she has no doubt in her heart that there is anything that could happen to her that would ever cause him to stop loving her. He loves her very dearly and has to be dramatic about expressing that in order to hammer his sincerity home. Still, some of his distaste towards women leaks into this piece. The second stanza describes the carcass’ position as;
“Her legs were spread out like a lecherous whore,
Sweating out poisonous fumes,
Who opened in slick invitational style,
Her stinking and festering womb,” (5-8)
He has an obvious dislike for whores here, otherwise he wouldn’t describe one as “lecherous” since the word itself airs on the side of being offensive. Furthermore, stating that her genitals are expelling poisonous fumes and inviting people (males more specifically) into her “stinking and festering womb”, is a rather disgusting way to describe a woman, simply because her occupation displeases you.
Baudelaire’s hidden distaste for women becomes even more apparent later on in his book within the section titled “The Waifs”. In his poem “The Monster or The Praise of a Macabre Nymph”, the poet spends the first half of the piece telling a lady that she has become old and useless, starting with “Old cauldron, boil away in you. / You are no longer fresh, my dear,” (4-5). Though he is rather blunt with this beginning statement and seems set on tearing the woman he’s speaking to apart, some of his love for her leaks into the piece as he goes along,
“My old infanta! None the less
Your antics, your mad caravans
Have cast the lustre over you
Of things that have been often used
But which seduce us none the less.” (6-10)
One could picture him sitting in an armchair with a glass of brandy, candidly telling his mate that he is done with her. As he is telling her why he’s done, his mind wanders to the still favourable parts of her, only to come back to his original statement that she’s old and they are through, “Your torrid skin, no longer sweet” (50). The more interesting part about this poem, is that Baudelaire uses the second half to give the woman a chance to retort to his remarks. The voice he gives her is one of anger and she calls him every harsh name she can think of before ending with, “Oh yes! Old monster, I love you!” (79). In doing this, he has commented on his treatment towards women as one that he knows is thoroughly unkind, and has called himself out on the terrible way he has treated those who love him. He allows the female to express all the affection she has for him and how she has always been there when he needed her (75-79). He is also aware that her aging is not her fault, as she tells him the parts of her body that have developed sickness out of her control (60-64). It doesn’t seem as though he actually wants to leave her, but for one reason or another, doesn’t have any other choice.
When comparing the thoughts and emotions expressed in these two pieces, Baudelaire becomes very ironic. In “A Carcass” he spends the page making sure his lady knows how much he will always love her, only to turn around later in “The Monster” and attempt to throw her away despite the attraction he so obviously still has for her. He even makes a reference to the first poem within the latter one, “Your carcass has its ornaments / And some particulars of grace;” acknowledging that he’s well aware that he’s gone back on what he told her previously. This makes the title “The Monster” all the more reasonable because he’s acting exactly like one. These poems are also intertwined in the way that his love and hate for women intermingle. “A Carcass” is aimed at expressing love but he still mentions the “lecherous whore,” showing his hidden disdain for females. While “The Monster” is set up to wholly explain his dislike for a woman, but he ends up spending the portion set up for his part of the argument complimenting and showing love for the lady instead. It is very apparent that due to the issues he’s had with his mother throughout his life, combined with the passionate and loving nature he was born with, that he is very torn between whether to adore or despise every woman he meets.
Although “The Flowers of Evil” is meant to be a collection of Romantic works, it is obvious that Baudelaire could not remove his personal struggle with love out of his poetry. He bounces back and forth, time and time again, on his feelings regarding romantic relationships. Going from loving women, to hating them. From being unable to keep his hands of them, to wanting absolutely nothing to do them. This blatant struggle he expresses is part of what made him known as one of the first Modern Romantic poets, because he didn’t stick solely to the lovey-dovey. Baudelaire shamelessly tells his readers that he has trouble with love, that much of it has to do with his mother, and that – though an artist in his craft – he is still human. In doing this he put himself on the same level as his readers. Making him much easier to relate to throughout the years, and increasing his name’s longevity tenfold.
Works Cited
Baudelaire, Charles, and James McGowan. “Spleen and the Ideal.” “The Waifs.” The Flowers of Evil. Oxford: Oxford UP, 1993. 59-63, 305-309. Print
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