Ben Jonson’s View on Female Fashion

“Still to Be Neat” (Page 1434) is a poem that was sang and taken from Ben Jonson’s most capitalized works of literature, Epicene, a drama that was published in 1609. The poem which was written to be sung captures the voice of the speaker in the poem. The voice of the poem can be interpreted differently, but is very descriptive in describing women. “Neat” deals with fashion and how women during the time period wore makeup, dressed nice, and wore perfume they made themselves appear to be adulterous. This is a bold statement and a generalization that Jonson had of all women and not all women could possibly be adulterous if they wanted to look nice. Although, this is a generalization that Jonson derives from the women in the last line he simply states that, “they strike mine eyes, but not my heart” (Line 12) expressing that he is not looking for a female companion who can look nice on the outside he wishes to see the inner beauty. The inner beauty that Jonson desires is the lesson to be learned from Jonson.

The voice of “Neat” shifts as the poem progresses making a vivid statement. At first, Jonson appears to be saying that women are all adulterous if they make themselves look nice this bold generalization can be demeaning of women. However, the voice of the poem and the shifts allows readers to understand the reasoning behind Jonson’s generalization. The shift in voice comes in line 5, “Lady, it is to be presumed” the choice of presumed makes the shift. This allows readers to interpret something else is happening beneath the surface, though the woman appears to be a lady in appearance what else is going on? When this was written in the 1600s many diseases were rapidly spreading and were wide spread across England. Line 6 which states “All is not sweet, all is not sound” suggests that there is something being covered up by the makeup. Women were wearing more makeup that normal, in order to cover up illnesses such as: small pox, venereal diseases, and syphilis. Jonson while he seems to be degrading women, who wears makeup, is actually looking after his own health.

While most of the poem is self explanatory when dealing with syntax the one word that stands out is “adulteries” (Line 11). This word makes a bold statement; the meaning behind the term is not the issue. The issue derives from the context of the poem, nothing within the poem itself gives the readers the interpretation that all women are adulterous, but the background of the time period helps to give meaning to the word usage. Since the majority of the diseases being spread during the time period were spread during sexual acts, and the fact that prostitutes are nice in appearance the word “adulteries” fits into the context. Jonson speaks of adulteries as being an art and this can be interpreted as the art of applying makeup. Appling makeup today is not interpreted in the same sense because it has become an everyday routine for women apply makeup before leaving their homes. However, during the time period and the way Jonson’s implies it to be an art is due to the fact that applying makeup was in order to cover up and hid skin lesions or faults. With many of the diseases, skin lesions spread and grew rapidly all over the skin. The lesions appearing at such a rapid rate in this sense make applying makeup an art. Each day there was something new to be covered up and hidden in an elaborate way to prevent the disease from being discovered.