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In Edwin Arlington Robinson's "Eros Turannos," or "Love, the Tyrant," it is not only the institution of marriage that is examined and
called into question, but that of love as well. The relationship between husband and wife in Robinson's poem exposes the isolation and
falsity that often accompanies married life, suggesting that marriage is actually more of a public entity created for convenience than a
private union between two people. It is oftentimes nothing more than an elaborate ritual in which courtiers wear "engaging mask[s]"
and love is reduced to tradition and the fear of being alone (3). The prospect of a life long companionship certainly seems to alleviate
common feelings of isolation and loneliness that we, as humans, endure in our day-to-day lives; however, the consolation love and
marriage offer is frequently only a temporary illusion. In his depiction of the relationship between husband and wife, Robinson questions
whether the institution of marriage resulting from a love that is really only a fear of being alone is an ideal, or even satisfactory outlet,
for our needs as human beings.
The wife in Robinson's poem "will always ask / What fated her to choose" the man she married for her husband (1-2). From the first,
tension between fate and choice is evident with regards to human existence. In one sense, the wife feels that she has somehow been
fated to the state she finds herself in; while in another, she understands that she is responsible for the choices she has made. She fears
her husband and is depicted by Robinson as the less equal of the two, the less satisfied, and it is indeed human tendency to blame fate
for the areas of our lives we feel are in some way deficient; however, the contrast between fate and choice speaks also to the thematic
implications of love and marriage. Are we fated to love, fated to marry, compelled by some natural law to seek out companionship, or
are we perfectly capable of happily living our lives alone, and yet chose not to? Again, in the final stanza, the idea of fate is brought to
the readerŐs attention in the lines, "Meanwhile we do no harm; for they / That with a god have striven, / Not hearing much of what we
say, / Take what the God has given" (41-44). This is an almost eerie suggestion that the individual has become so wholly absorbed in
the idea that it is necessary to love to achieve fulfillment in life, that the maxim has assumed the integrity of a God-sent law. When love
does not work out the way we had hoped it might, rather than question the nature of how we have come to understand love, we allow
that we, as weaker creatures, have striven with a god and so become contented in our mal-contentment. The juxtaposition of fate and
choice encourages the reader to consider whether love is really an innate human tendency, a limitless capacity that distinguishes us from
other forms of life. Is it essentially a fated aspect of our existence, or, on the other hand, is love something we choose to incorporate into
our realm of experience simply because it serves a purpose? If the latter is a truer depiction of the quality of love, it follows that marriage,
rather than a right in itself, is actually a means to loveŐs ultimate end.
The opening stanza of "Eros Turannos" points to the wife's conflicting impressions about the character of her husband and her marriage in
general. In these lines, Robinson questions the validity of love in marriage as a genuine, unadulterated entity, free from human motive.
She fears him and will always ask
What fated her to choose him;
She meets in his engaging mask
All reasons to refuse him;
But what she meets and what she fears
Are less than all the downward years,
Drawn slowly to the formless weirs
Of age, were she to lose him. (1-8)
These lines suggest that love, in the institution of marriage, often becomes an institution in itself, an institution with a very specific purpose,
one that serves to relieve the fear of being alone. Beginning in our childhood in the form of fairytale fantasies, reaching into our adolescence
by way of school dances and dating rituals, and following us into adulthood with singles bars and blind dates set up by enthusiastic friends
claiming they want to see us happy, love takes the shape of a commodity we are encouraged, and even expected, to acquire within a reasonable
amount of time. We are instructed to find a person with whom to share our "downward years," positive that this life is lived in pairs, sure that
an encounter with that special someone is the key to our happiness (6). This ideology has become such a widespread belief that we view those
who deviate from this norm as necessarily unfulfilled, as lacking in an area inherent in human nature. However, in his poem, Robinson questions
whether love is actually an essential part of our existence, especially when that love blinds us to recognizing truths perhaps more essential to
our long-standing happiness than a marriage of convenience. "We tell you, tapping on our brows, / The story as it should be," Robinson writes;
society, the collective 'we' in which we all take part, dictates how the story, the run of our individual lives, should be, and it is quite evident
in everything from our literary traditions to our enthusiasm with regards to marriage that 'we' have decided we should not be alone (33-34).
However, love, when reduced to the fear of being alone, encourages self-deception, thereby depriving the individual of any real and lasting happiness.
The woman in Robinson's poem was not able to see past her husband's "engaging mask" in their days of courtship, and so married a man whom she
now fears, from whom she feels herself isolated (3). His "Judas" character (12), the fact that she has found him a traitor to his initial presentation
of himself, is something she will have to endure patiently for the rest of her life with him, yet she believes this self-sacrifice preferable to living her
"downward years" alone (6). In this way, love has become an institution, an excepted norm in our society, and in more severe cases, a tyrant to the
many who will follow eagerly, blindly, in order to avoid the incursion of isolation into our every day lives.
Perhaps the need for companionship is an innate human tendency; however, the couple in "Eros Turannos" seems to be perfectly isolated from one
another despite the fact they have been united in marriage. This is first apparent in the differing perspectives described of the wife in stanzas one
and two, and, immediately following, of the husband in stanza three. Robinson contrasts the wife's agitation and subtle hopelessness, amounting to
her total resignation, with her husband's calm and rational outlook on the situation. He feels secure in the relationship: "he sees that he will not be
lost;" (15) he is "beguile[d] and reassure[d]" (20) by the "tradition touching all he sees;" he is well aware that custom has made it undesirable, if not
impossible, for a woman to be happy living her life alone (19). And yet, Robinson does not entirely rule out the possibility that the husband, although
in a position of power, is also reliant on his wife. In the last line of the third stanza, ". . . and she secures him" is suggestive of the idea that just as a
woman's reliance on marriage secures her husband in his position of power and privilege, the wife, in effect, secures her husband for her own purposes (24).
The tradition that encourages the desirability of marital life for a woman necessarily locks the willing man into the same state. Despite his cool
attitude towards his marriage, the husband is still a participant in the institution. He is still under the rule of a tyrant created by society in an attempt
to construct a refuge from our isolation as individuals, that is, love, the type of love that recommends marriage as a means of escaping the lonely
"downward years" (6).
Robinson creates a marriage in "Eros Turannos," and sadly it is not an atypical one that questions the nature of love by relating it to other base human
emotions: fear, anxiety and loneliness. The marriages that many partners find themselves in are often characterized by a lack of connectedness. However,
this may not mean that the institution is in itself flawed, but that the way we have come to regard love as a means of escape from our solitude, as essential
to our well-being, contributes to the isolation and dissatisfaction so often experienced in marriage. There is a danger in flocking to the altar simply because
we are afraid of making our way through this life alone while everyone around us seems to have a partner. We run the risk of making a poor decision that
will affect the rest of our lives if we begin to look upon love as a refuge. Through his portrayal of the unhappy relationship between husband and wife,
Robinson shows that our understanding of love has become like a "changed familiar tree" (46). We no longer love for the sake of loving; we do so in order
to meet the expectations of our society. If we, like the couple in "Eros Turannos," unwittingly adopt the ideology behind the "tyrant love" society has
created, "like a stairway to the sea / Where down the blind are driven," this notion of companionship will only prevent us from reaching any lasting happiness
as individuals (47-48).
Copyright © 2005 by Calaveras Station and the CSUS English Department.