Explication of "The Apparition"

The poem “The Apparition” by John Donne describes a ghost’s vengeance, which is later undermined by the ghost’s love. The ghost starts off by addressing a woman, saying “O murderess, I am dead,/ and that thou thinkest free from all solicitation from me” (1-3). Here, the ghost’s tone is angry. The poem continues on saying “then shall my ghost come to thy bed” (4). The ghost’s threats add to the angry tone, and the ghost seems to want revenge on the woman. The ghost then implies that the woman has been seeing another man since he passed away. This angers the ghost even more.

When the ghost visits the woman’s bed, he sees her in “worse arms” (5) with “feigned vestal” (5). The ghost is implying that the woman is lying about being a virgin. This angers the ghost because he claims to know the truth about her virginity. The ghost also thinks that he was a better man than the woman’s current lover. The ghost threatens to scare away the woman’s lover, telling her that the man will become “bathed in coldwater sweat” (12).

However, at the end of the poem, the tone shifts. Instead of expressing anger, the ghost expresses love for the woman. The ghost says “since my love is spent/ I had rather thou shouldst painfully repent,/ than by my threatenings rest still innocent” (15-17). The ghost says that if the woman repents for lying and losing her virginity, then the threats are empty. The ghost still has feelings for the woman, and it irritates him that she is lying to everyone. Perhaps the woman lost her virginity to the ghost while he was still alive, and by repressing this memory the ghost feels like the woman is repressing her feelings for the love they once shared.