“In an Artist’s Studio” is a short Petrarchan sonnet written by Christina Rossetti in England during the year 1856. The sonnet encompasses the persona of the author who is watching an artist paint a portrait of a young woman. As the work progresses, the painter fails to capture the realistic beauty of his model, and begins fantasizing of the perfection she could be. Rossetti, being aware of gender inequality in this era, uses the subtle message of this sonnet to propose that the value of a woman in a patriarchal based society is overshadowed by their physical appearance.
Before analyzing the text, it is important to note the irony upon which this sonnet is written. Rossetti uses the Petrarchan rhyme scheme in accordance with medieval poetry …show more content…
“He feeds upon her face by day and night” likely suggests that despite the amount of time the artist may labor over her details, he is no closer to defining her due to his bias of appearance (ll 9). However, “she with true kind eyes looks back on him fair as the moon and joyful as the light”(ll 10-11). This is the first occurrence where a description of the woman is seen, and the audience is given the impression that she does not realize the difficulty the artist is having. Equally it may be argued that her serene demeanour is a self-realization that to capture her beauty he needs only to look inward to her untainted soul. Her features, being likened to the moon and sun, indicate a celestial separation of distance between the woman and man, and the uncharted “territory” that she defines to the male dominant society. Following this line is the conclusion wherein it states, “Not wan with waiting, not with sorrow dim; not as she is, but was when hope shone bright; not as she is, but as she fills his dream”. Again, the painter refuses to depict the woman as an ever-changing entity, and in doing so he is exerting a dominance and will to control her. This is the root issue that Rossetti wishes to define: women are not objects to be objectified based on their appearance, rather, they need to be valued for their complexity and treated with
Before analyzing the text, it is important to note the irony upon which this sonnet is written. Rossetti uses the Petrarchan rhyme scheme in accordance with medieval poetry …show more content…
“He feeds upon her face by day and night” likely suggests that despite the amount of time the artist may labor over her details, he is no closer to defining her due to his bias of appearance (ll 9). However, “she with true kind eyes looks back on him fair as the moon and joyful as the light”(ll 10-11). This is the first occurrence where a description of the woman is seen, and the audience is given the impression that she does not realize the difficulty the artist is having. Equally it may be argued that her serene demeanour is a self-realization that to capture her beauty he needs only to look inward to her untainted soul. Her features, being likened to the moon and sun, indicate a celestial separation of distance between the woman and man, and the uncharted “territory” that she defines to the male dominant society. Following this line is the conclusion wherein it states, “Not wan with waiting, not with sorrow dim; not as she is, but was when hope shone bright; not as she is, but as she fills his dream”. Again, the painter refuses to depict the woman as an ever-changing entity, and in doing so he is exerting a dominance and will to control her. This is the root issue that Rossetti wishes to define: women are not objects to be objectified based on their appearance, rather, they need to be valued for their complexity and treated with