To His Coy Mistress Characters

T he main characters in “To His Coy Mistress” are the speaker, the
mistress, and Time.
 The speaker of the poem tries to persuade his mistress to give into
sexual passion.

 The mistress is “coy” and has not submitted to the speaker’s sexual
advances. Her presentation is likely skewed by the speaker’s desires
and point of view.

 Time is personified to be against the lovers, and the speaker argues

t[hat Time is the reason his mistress should give in to his efforts.

Characters
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Last Updated on September 5, 2023, by eNotes Editorial. Word Count: 427
The Speaker

The speaker, arguably a representation of Marvell himself, is a lover who is

attempting to convince his mistress to keep with him. He is ever conscious
of “Time’s wingèd chariot” at his back—that is, he perceives that time is
passing quickly and that life is short. The speaker flatters his mistress,
indulging in a fantasy in which he admits that she deserves an infinite
lifetime of praise and acknowledges that her coyness would be warranted if
the lovers had infinite lifespans: it would be his pleasure to adore every part
of her “for an age at least” if they had “but world enough and time.”
However, he urges his mistress to recognize that this is not the world they
live in. Time is moving inexorably onward, and if his mistress does not
submit to him soon, they may never be able to consummate their love. He is
insistent that the only way to outwit time is to “sport” while they are young
and derive what joy they can from their love and lust.

The Mistress
As Marvell makes clear from the poem’s title and opening lines, the
speaker’s mistress is “coy” and is refusing his sexual advances. Because the
poem is written from the speaker’s point of view, readers see the mistress
through his eyes: he perceives her as beautiful and worthy of infinite
admiration and praise. In the second stanza, the nature of her coyness is
made more explicit, and the speaker explains that she is still in possession
of her “long-preserved virginity” and “quaint honour.” The speaker’s
description of her honor as “quaint” is significant, for it demonstrates his
perception of her as not only coy but also old-fashioned in her refusals.

Because the mistress does not speak in the poem, it is impossible to know if
the speaker’s description of her is reliable. Is she really in love with the
speaker, as he believes, resisting him only because she takes pride in her
virginity and wishes to make him wait? Or does the speaker mistake her
disinterest in him for coyness?

Time

Time is personified by the speaker as the lovers’ adversary: the speaker

suggests that it moves more quickly than his mistress realizes. According to
the speaker, Time rides a “wingèd chariot” in constant pursuit of them and
will soon chase them to their graves. By indulging in their passions and
desires now, he claims, they will be able to defeat time; predator will
become prey, and they will “make [Time] run.”