Sexual imagery could be phallic, like a sword, or yonic, like a chalice. Also, remember that it all began with Freud. Literature can imply sex, or use it to stand for something else. What are you finding in your reading? Be sure to think on multiple levels. For example, according to Foster, "sex can be pleasure, sacrifice, submission, rebellion, resignation, supplication, domination, enlightenment..."(150-151).
| Work and author |
Sexual imagery or Sex itself (which usually means something else) |
Significance or multiple meanings |
| Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte |
Of the many sexual images in the novel, one is the Red Room that Jane is locked in |
The Red Room symbolizes a womb and Jane being reborn from within it. When she emerges after a terrifying experience inside, she has a new, rebellious, empowered outlook on life. |