Psychosexual Tones in Christabel

Coleridge's Testing of Gender Roles in His Epic Poem

Apr 29, 2009

In this controversial and popular interpretation, naive Christabel's blossoming sexuality is opened up by Geraldine, a beautiful woman she meets beneath a tree.

The evidence for the succeeding lesbian relationship that develops in the story can be seen both directly in the text by the actions of the two main characters and the roles that they assume.

The Meeting

Christabel finds Geraldine beside the oak and she is “immediately attracted” to the “strangely beautiful” Geraldine (Radley 537). Geraldine had been kidnapped by five warriors and is saved by Christabel, who takes her to her home. Here, Christabel must decide whether or not to let her sexual desires come to fruition through her relations with Geraldine. Jonas Spatz puts the issue faced by Christabel in a clear light when he says that “Much of the poem’s suspense comes from the question of whether Christabel will expel her unconscious fantasies by acting them out with Geraldine or whether these fantasies will destroy her” (Spatz 111).

Christabel as the Masculine Partner

Christabel can also be seen as the “male” partner in the succeeding relationship that develops, whereas Geraldine takes on the traditional female role. The way in which Geraldine is found, vulnerable and possibly having been raped (or soon to be raped) by the five warriors puts her in the typical “vulnerable female” position from the beginning of the poem.

Christabel then “projects her own modesty onto the sophisticated Geraldine and herself assumes her lover’s role, wooing Geraldine as she hopes the knight will woo her” (Spatz 112). She even goes as far as carrying Geraldine over the threshold of her home, reminiscent of a bride and bridegroom on their wedding night.

The Seduction

Then there is the actual scene of seduction, which is “a fact” and is “both a physical and mental [seduction]” (Radley 538). This is the beginning of Christabel’s “sexual initiation” (Taylor par. 12). At this point, Christabel is intrigued with Geraldine as she undresses. Christabel first undresses herself (at Geraldine’s request) and lies on the bed, “And on her elbow did recline/ To look at the lady Geraldine” (Coleridge 455). Coleridge even stated in an earlier manuscript of “Christabel,” that “[Geraldine] is to sleep with Christabel” (Coleridge, footnote 455). Geraldine then lies in bed beside Christabel and seduces her. The sexual language used in this part of the poem is very explicit:

Christabel's Conflict

Now that the actual sexual experience is passed, Christabel’s conflict shifts from her struggle to maintain her innocence or satisfy her sexual desires, to a battle “between two of Christabel’s attitudes toward her own sexual being…Pleasure and disgust struggle for control” (Spatz 112). After she had given in to her desires, she feels the pressure of what the typical norms of the day and her morals (built on society’s expectations) expected her to have done. But, on the other hand, she feels satisfaction in the pleasure she had experienced. The duality of her struggle is shown by Coleridge in the Conclusion to Part One:

She is torn between what she feels was something beautiful and satisfying, and the same experience as the world would see it: the “[perversion of] the goodness of Christabel” (Radley 540). This struggle leaves her in an awkward position, torn not only between desire and propriety, but delicately balanced on the cusp of adulthood.

Spatz, Jonas. “The Mystery of Eros: Sexual Initiation in Coleridge’s ‘Christabel.’”

The copyright of the article Psychosexual Tones in Christabel in British Poetry is owned by Sandra Causey. Permission to republish Psychosexual Tones in Christabel in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.