Why I Love Aphra Behn's "The Disappointment"

Aphra Behn’s “The Disappointment” remains one of my favorite poems. Both the writer and the piece capture my attention. Aphra Behn achieved a career that men and women of the time period could only dream of: she was a paid writer. Behn wrote Oroonoko, or, The Royal Slave, which earned her the possible title of the first major novelist in English. Having read a part of Oroonoko, I highly recommend it, but not before I would recommend “The Disappointment.”

Behn’s piece, “The Disappointment” details the sexual activity of Lysander and Cloris, a shepherd and maid. In stanzas 1 through four, Lysander works for the object of his “desire” (25). In stanza 3, Behn mocks women’s attempt to hide their lusting nature, as seen in line 26, “Or I’ll call out--What would you do?” Cloris threatens Lysander, but at the same time, invites his fantasies by asking, “what would you do?” in her disheveled position. However, Lysander is unable to answer this question with any action; therefore disappointing Cloris.

On the surface, “The Disappointment” is about the sexual desires of men and women. Delving deeper, however, this poem is about the pressure men put on themselves, as well as the pressures of society and women. One can see this comparison in stanza 14,

“The nymph's resentments none but I

Can well imagine or condole:

But none can guess Lysander's soul,

But those who swayed his destiny.

His silent griefs swell up to storms,

And not one god his fury spares;

He cursed his birth, his fate, his stars

But more the shepherdess's charms,

Whose soft bewitching influence

Had damned him to the hell of impotence.”

Behn’s use of the word “swayed” exemplifies her understanding of the man complex. She understands the high levels of pressure that men put on themselves. Behn compares sex to responsibility. Men were responsible for keeping a home and living, keeping a clean image in society, and satisfying their wives. With all of these responsibilities, men would fail or fall into a sickness.

Behn's complex attitude toward men, sex, and society aids my adoration for her as a writer and "The Disappointment" as a piece of literature.