Zora Neale Hurston “The Gilded Six-Bits”, Edna St. Vincent Millay “I, Being Born a woman and Distressed,” and Andrew Milton’s “To his Coy Mistress,” all share the similar theme of how sexual desires can be detrimental. Each piece of writing possesses a decision or desire to have sexual intercourse, but each portray the chose in a different way.
In the short story “The Gilded Six-Bits,” there is a poor married couple who appear to have a great relationship. Until the husband Joe, catches his wife Missie May, sleeping with another man. This man is described to be rich and tempts Missy with all his gold. Despite what Missy had done Joe tells her he does not want to give up on their relationship. Missy went behind her husband’s back to have this meaningless sex, which jeopardized their relationship.
In Edan St. Vincent Millay’s poem “I being born a Woman and Distressed,” we are faced with a woman who gets sexual involved with a man only for physical satisfaction. She blames her action on pure passion. She was not able to make a clear decision because her “staggering brain (Millay 10).” Her sexual action puts her in destress.
In John Milton’s poem “To his Coy Mistress,” the speaker is trying to have sex with his mistress before time runs out. He trys to persuade her throughout the whole poem to have sex with him, but the mistress will not budge. His mistress will not sleep with him and that makes him concerned about time running out in their relationship.
All three pieces of work have the underlining aspect of the effect on sex in relationships and themselves. Sex is a major decision that can cause distress, pain, and concern in a persons life!
