Deviance as Desirable: A Conversation Between Mona Caird’s “The Yellow Drawing Room” and William Lazenby’s “The Pleasures of Love”

In my previous blog post, I suggested that Mona Caird, through the depiction of Mr. St. Vincent and Vanora Haydon’s contentious relationship, indicated that patriarchal social structures must be dismantled in order for men and women to be able to participate in equitable romantic and platonic partnerships. Now, I will revisit a moment from Caird’s short story, “The Yellow Drawing Room,” and put it in conversation with “The Pleasures of Love,” a poem found in William Lazenby’s erotic periodical, The Pearl (1879). Before doing so, however, I think it is important to address what deviant sexuality meant in the late nineteenth century.

Jane Ward defines normal sexuality, stating that many “influential European sexologists . . . asserted that normal sexuality was motivated by an instinct to procreate, and therefore any sex acts that did not result in procreation were unhealthy and in need of medical correction—including many kinds of heterosexual sex” (113). Anything that did not involve penetration for the sake of procreation was considered a medical perversion (Ward 113). Things like anal sex, oral sex, and genital touching were considered sexually deviant (Ward 113). Opposite-sex monogamy between married individuals who were trying to produce children became the basis for normal sexual behavior.

In Caird’s short story, St. Vincent is physically attracted to Vanora, however, he does not think that she behaves in the way that a “sweet” woman should (Caird 108). Vanora, demarcated as a New Woman, has no patience for St. Vincent’s poor treatment of her, and she tells him as much. Yet, before they have their final heated argument, St. Vincent imagines the ways that he can get Vanora to change. He repeatedly tells himself that “[Vanora] shall love [him], and she shall learn, through love, the sweet lesson of womanly submission” (Caird 108). St. Vincent believes that he can coerce Vanora into loving him and then use that love to manipulate her into believing that she should submit herself to him. St. Vincent is only concerned about his own desires; Vanora’s consent means nothing to him. Still, the relationship that St. Vincent describes for himself and Vanora is the stereotypical Victorian ideal: a man and woman enter into a marriage, where the man is the head of the household, and the woman abides by his dictates. Since they are unmarried, Vanora and St. Vincent never engage with each other physically and act according to Victorian moral standards.

Conversely, the speaker and beloved in “The Pleasures of Love” openly transgress sexually and socially. The beloved in this poem is a man, as they are referred to as “him” and “my lord” by the speaker (l. 2). Interestingly, the speaker’s gender identity remains ambiguous. Now, that said, a Victorian reader might presume that the speaker is a woman; still, there is no way to know for certain based only on the text presented in the poem. Regardless of the beloved’s gender identity, it is clear that they have agency and have consented to engage in sexual intercourse with their beloved. The speaker and beloved’s mutual pleasure is shown when the speaker says, “Around my form his pliant limbs entwined, / Love’s seat of bliss to him I then resigned!” (l. 11-12) By using the word “pliant” to describe the beloved’s arms, the speaker suggests that they have the ability to bend or manipulate them physically. The beloved, who is the man, is not totally in control of the situation. Instead, both the speaker and beloved share their power, giving and taking as needed. The speaker’s choice to “resign” to their beloved indicates that they are not being coerced; instead they want to submit themselves to their partner sexually because it will bring them “bliss.” Therefore, there is a clear difference between the relationship that this speaker has with their beloved and the relationship that Vanora and St. Vincent have with each other. St. Vincent wants to control Vanora; the speaker and beloved want to bring each other mutual pleasure.

The speaker and beloved are attentive to each other’s needs throughout the poem. Before they “[yield] to the luscious game” of love (i.e. participate in sexual intercourse) the speaker and their beloved engage in “am’rous play,” or foreplay (l. 6-7). By taking the time to engage in foreplay, the speaker and their beloved demonstrate their desire to make the pleasure last as long as possible. However, based on the Victorian definition of normal sexuality, the speaker and their beloved seem to transgress sexually, as their primary aim in this moment is not to produce children, but rather to experience sexual gratification. (Additionally, it is never made clear if the speaker and beloved are married to each other. If they are not, they would transgress in that way, too.)

Despite appearing to deviate from normal sexual behavior, the speaker and beloved are able to “taste Elysian bliss” (l. 16). I argue that the reason they are able to experience this otherworldly bliss is because both the speaker and beloved are active participants in this sexual relationship. After completing a count, I noted that the word “we” is used nine times in the poem; the word “our” is used four times. By using this language, the speaker emphasizes the importance of reciprocal attraction and desire. Thus, it seems to me, that deviant sexuality might not be so bad after all, as it promotes sexual liberation and exploration, which is quite unlike the “correct” and decidedly more problematic type of relationship that St. Vincent longs for with Vanora.

Work Cited

Ward, Jane. “Heterosexuality.” Keywords for Gender and Sexuality Studies, edited by The Keywords Feminist Editorial Collective, New York University Press, 2021, pp. 113-116.