Analysis of 'The Lady's Dressing Room'

Swift had written many parodies regarding ideas and thoughts that were presented in the 18th century. In “The Lady’s Dressing Room,” Swift shows a whole other side of femininity, the more hidden and disgusting side and the poem demonstrates how the man’s reaction changes towards the woman once he goes snooping in the lady’s dressing room. The entirety of the poem is meant to come off as a satire for both men and women. For women it is to stop trying to reach men’s unrealistic expectations, by taking hours in the dressing room trying to look like a goddess and for men the satire is meant to make men not invade a woman’s private space because one might find things that they were not supposed to and it might trigger some emotions that turn a man into someone who sees ugliness and not beauty. examples are all meant for satire that women try to match up to men’s unrealistic expectations by going through all the trouble, to impress a man. In “The Lady’s Dressing Room,” we can see the humorous side of the 18th century; Jonathan Swift has a unique way of expressing problems of the 18th century through using a sense of humor and even more so, wit.

There are many different approaches to what Swift was arguing. One of the arguments that he could be making is the fact that women of higher society tend to be more generous with time when getting ready, because the more perfect you looked, the better or easier it was for suitors, husbands and lovers to choose a wife. Then, people of the lower classes or of the same society would notice that a woman was rich and should be treated in a more respected way. If Celia was to take less time getting ready, then she would think that she does not look appropriate for the class of her people and would find that she would be harshly judged because she does not look as good as her friends. Swift is mocking and satirizing the upper class through “In the Lady’s Dressing Room” it could be saying that all women in the upper class care about their looks more than the personality they share with others, which also ties in with the vanity of men as well.

Men in the 18th century would be looking for a woman who has money. One of the popular ways for women to show off money was to dress in jewels and clothing that were of higher end and more expensive. Women who cared about their looks were often most appreciated and had better service offered to them because people feared upper class people who had more money than them, often because if someone had money then it meant that they had power in a higher position and that could be seen as a threat to people of the lower class society. Men would come across as vain because the way that a woman presented herself was more effective if she was dressed in higher fashion and that’s what stood out to men. Men would want to marry someone of higher or equal status and themselves to keep their wealth and possible heirlooms in the family. This was one of the popular thoughts in the 18th century and Swift was criticizing their manners in form of a satiric poem.

One of the other ways to read the poem is that Swift was trying to convey that behind all the make-up and getting ready that upper class society people do is that they are all vain and only want to see the pretty and enchanting side of them and no one wants to see what happens behind the scenes. It could be that by writing this poem he had a deeper meaning such as that women and men of high class tend to be more about looks and money then the person. Underneath these masks of makeup and jewelry people are ugly, but all of that ugliness is hidden under everything that the people own.

In Swift’s poem, he talks about Celia, especially at the beginning of the poem he introduces her as someone who takes a long time getting ready to go out on a night on the town or a date with her husband; “Five hours(and who can do it less in?) by haughty Celia spent in dressing” (Swift line 1-2 2346), shows that it takes a woman such as Celia a ridiculous amount of effort to get ready. The poem even continues to describe Celia as someone inhumanly beautiful as Swift wrote that “The goddess from her chamber issues, Arrayed in lace, brocade, and tissues” (lines 3-4). The quote demonstrates that the amount of time that took her to get ready was worth it because of the elegant clothes she wears and how she is seen as godlike. There are arguments of what Swift is trying to convey such as if one wants a woman to be gorgeous she will need hours in the dressing room with a maid servant to help her or another argument could be, that Swift is trying to be witty by saying that men should never go snooping in places he should not be or he will be punished like Strephon was.

Later, Strephon becomes curious as to what goes on in the lady’s dressing room for so many hours. He learns a few things that he wishes he had not, and it proves that no man should go sneaking around in a lady’s dressing room because it reveals secrets the man wishes he never knew and it ruins the illusion of natural beauty. At first, the dressing room does not seem to bad...

“a dirty smock appeared,

Beneath the arm-pits well besmeared;

Strephon, the rogue, displayed it wide,

And turned it round on every side.

In such a case few words are best,

And Strephon bids us guess the rest;

But swears how damnably the men lie,

In calling Celia sweet and cleanly” (line 11-14),

Strephon comes across his first item, which was a dirty smock, which was not the worst object to find in the dressing room. He then believes that his friends are all liars, but Strephon himself believed she was beautiful and sweet until seeing the dressing room, it shows that Celia is more human than Strephon had thought that she takes a while to get ready, but has to do many things to be beautiful. He comes across more items such as her hair brushes that are filled with "dandruff, powder, sweat and lead”; which shows that Celia is willing to take the time to do everything right. However, Strephon sees it as horrible coming from a woman, because from a man he would expect a bathroom or dressing room to be filthy. He is mostly surprised that a woman can be disgusting before being pretty and cleaned up.

Then as the searching grows, he finds more things that come across as appalling to Strephon “Here alum flower to stop the steams, Exhaled from sour unsavory streams,” one can imagine the smells and the odours of what alum flower gives off as well as imagine the lady using it. Then when Strephon find these “Here gallypots and vials placed, Some filled with washes, some with paste, Some with pomatum, paints and slops, And ointments good for scabby chops.” it completely ruins an illusion for him that a woman is flawless and doesn’t need to cover up anything that can be portrayed as ugly. Women need to realize that men should not be looking for the looks of a lady, but rather the personality and see that women should not have to try and look so flawless for men, when men themselves have flaws and would prefer if a woman were to cover it up.

Then when he finally stops discovering her privacy Swift finishes off the poem that men should not snoop nor stick their nose in things where it does not belong. At the end of the poem, he gets punished by the goddess Vengeance.

“But Vengeance, goddess never sleeping,

Soon punished Strephon for his peeping.

His foul imagination links

Each dame he sees with all her stinks:

And if unsavoury odors fly,

Conceives a lady standing by:

All women his description fits, and both ideas jump like wits

By vicious fancy coupled fast, and still appearing in contrast.”

That now whenever he looks at a woman he is only seeing the terrible parts of her and not the lovely lady that Strephon would once see, and he can not see the beautiful things about women, he only sees the wrong in them. Everything he had discovered in the woman’s dressing room unmasks a woman for him and it makes women for him, personalized, and no longer objectified.

Work cited

Swift, Jonathan “The Lady’s Dressing Room”.Fourth Edition The Longman Anthology British Literature Volume 1 c The Restoration and 18th Century. Pearson Education Inc, 2010 New York. Print.