30 pages • 1 hour read
Christopher MarloweHero and Leander
Fiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 1598A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Symbols & Motifs
Symbols of Love
Both Venus and Cupid are symbols of love. Venus does not appear as an actual character in the poem but is frequently referred to by Hero, who wishes to serve her as a chaste nun. This actually runs counter to the design Hero wears on the sleeve of her gown, in which an amorous Venus tries to attract the attention of a reluctant Adonis (Lines 11-14). Seemingly oblivious of the implications of this, Hero believes herself to be “Venus’ nun” (Line 45) and presides over Venus’s temple. Leander, however, argues for the other side of Venus’s nature as the goddess of sensual love. He tries to persuade Hero to:
Abandon fruitless cold virginity,
The gentle queen of Love’s sole enemy.
Then shall you most resemble Venus’ nun,
When Venus’ sweet rites are performed and done (Lines 317-20).
Venus is thus the symbol of love, around which swirls, in effect, a debate (or disagreement) between Hero and Leander about what type of love she actually symbolizes. Leander seems to get the better of the argument.
Cupid, on the other hand, appears as an actual character who has an influence on events. He is mentioned many times and is an unambiguous symbol of erotic, romantic, and sexual love. Moreover, when Cupid fires his arrow, Hero is helpless to resist. The symbolism suggests that when it comes to love, humans have little control over their emotions and actions—love is an external force that no one can resist.
Comedy
The comic element is a recurring motif that shows up in various forms. One element is exaggeration, which can be seen right at the beginning, with the description of Hero’s clothing and her beauty. Her breath, for example, creates such a “sweet smell” (Line 21) that “there for honey, bees have sought in vain / And, beat from hence, have lighted there again” (Line 23-24). This satire of the romantic notion of the heavenly beauty of the mistress is part of the set-up for Marlowe’s running jokes about the rituals of romantic love—the mutual dance of courtship, the pratfalls, and eventually the knockabout “slapstick” of the scene in which the lovers finally consummate their love. In that scene, clumsiness and embarrassment somehow coexist with ecstatic desire and fulfillment.
The narrative basically has two running gags. The first plays on the traditional trope of the woman who plays “hard to get.” Although Hero’s devotion to Venus is genuine, when Leander starts to pursue her, she becomes torn between her desire to uphold her former vow and succumbing to her new desire for Leander. As the chase gets going, the sparring lovers take two steps forward and one step backward. Hero’s delaying tactics are carefully calibrated so as not to discourage Leander too much, while still buying herself time to decide.
The second running joke is the contrast between Leander’s impressive eloquence as he tries to persuade Hero to abandon her chaste devotion to Venus and his utter naivety when it comes to the actual courting routines and to sex itself. For example, he completely misses Hero’s cue when she deliberately drops her fan and expects him to pick it up and run after her. Similarly, when it comes to sex, he is initially clueless about what to do, although he does, eventually, succeed in consummating the relationship.
Misogyny
Although this is a story of love between two young people, it is also tinged with the misogynist attitudes of the male narrator, which function as a recurring motif. The asides offer moments of detachment from the main narrative, in which the narrator usually expresses a low opinion of women. He does this as if he is merely presenting the conventional wisdom about the way women behave in love. Although they are often prompted by Hero’s actions, they are also usually generalized comments, meaning that Hero is only behaving in the way all women purportedly do, using well-established wiles and stratagems to thwart the desires of men or to attain their own desires. These cutting asides reflect many of the feminine stereotypes common in both classical literature and in Marlowe’s own time.
An example occurs in the tale about Mercury’s attempt to seduce a country maid. Mercury is determined to have his way with her, and eventually, she is flattered by his attentions. However, she will neither accept nor reject his overtures. Instead, she uses delaying tactics “as women use” (Line 426). This is only the first of the disapproving comments of the narrator. The maid is also determined to take advantage of the situation, since “(All women are ambitious naturally)” (Line 428), and she sees a chance, because she is dealing with a god, of attaining immortality. She therefore requests something from Mercury that not only should he not do, but she has no right to ask (Line 429)—a draught of Jove’s nectar. Keen to fulfill the maid’s request, Mercury steals the nectar and gives it to her, but when Jove finds out, he throws Mercury out of heaven. Thus, in the eyes of the narrator, the poor country maid does four things wrong in the space of a mere four lines—she delays, is ambitious, makes an inappropriate request, gets Mercury into serious trouble.
As for Mercury, who has pursued the maid relentlessly and caused her much distress, the narrator offers only the mildest of rebukes early in the story that also carries an element of admiration: Mercury is “like an insolent commanding lover” (Line 409). In this way, the narrator’s cynical aside commentary stands in contrast to the earnest love story between Hero and Leander, creating a running motif between the idealism of young love and the cynicism of the narrator’s worldly experience.
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