“Why Strephon will you tell the rest?
And must you needs describe the chest?
That careless wench! no creature warn her
To move it out from yonder corner;
But leave it standing full in sight
For you to exercise your spite.
In vain the workman showed his wit
With rings and hinges counterfeit
To make it seem in this disguise
A cabinet to vulgar eyes;
For Strephon ventured to look in,
Resolved to go through thick and thin;
He lifts the lid, there needs no more,
He smelled it all the time before.
As from within Pandora’s box,
When Epimetheus op’d the locks,
A sudden universal crew
Of human evils upwards flew;
He still was comforted to find
That Hope at last remained behind;
So Strephon lifting up the lid,
To view what in the chest was hid.
The vapors flew from out the vent,
But Strephon cautious never meant
The bottom of the pan to grope,
And foul his hands in search of Hope.
O never may such vile machine
Be once in Celia’s chamber seen!
O may she better learn to keep
Those “secrets of the hoary deep!”
(Swift 79-108)
Swift highlights the privatization of a woman’s life when he says “no creature warn her”(81) implying the lady, and all women, lived outside of society and were unaware of the expected social norms. He was also probably attempting to get in an extra jab at women, implying that because of their vile nature no creature would even go near them. He does this again when Stephon continues his unauthorized venture, “Resolved to go through thick and thin”(90), implying that women were burdensome, the dealing of with which required strength and resolve.
Swift’s jabs at women are riddled throughout this passage and come to an ostentatious conclusion when Strephon, resolved and strong, lifts the lid to the lady’s chest, unleashing the horror of pandoras box, a horrid yet familiar smell of human evils. He gropes the bottom of the chest, searching for its contents, and retrieves a pile of her excrement for his looting. To this, Strephon loses all hope and claims that women should not have a toilet in their home and keep their bodily functions a secret. In doing this, Swift completes his painting of women as repulsive and vile creates, using every available insult to fill his canvas.
In this repulsive and vile assault on women Swift reveals his own deep-rooted misogyny as well as the misogynistic nature of his peers. Swift is unable to break out of character and refers to the lady in his poem as careless, vile, and spiteful without reasonable cause or justification. He attempts to claim that women earned these criticisms because of the condition of their dressing rooms and because they defecate. The notion that women should not, nor keep a toilet in their house was and is ridiculous and juvenile. In 18th century England, there was no plumbing and having an easily accessible toilet was mandatory and often kept under the bed, men and women alike. In fact, there was no sewage systems nor sanitation of any kind. Raw sewage ran down the streets of London and excrement and garbage was tossed on the street to rot. It smelled like shit everywhere. Men smelled, women smelled, and so did their homes. Ultimately, Swift’s poem chooses to focus on critiquing women based on the phenomenon of all people living in 18th century England, establishing a double standard that reveals the misogynistic nature of the time.