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Sodom, or the Quintessence of Debauchery

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Sodom is an obscene Restoration closet drama, published in 1684. The work has been attributed to John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester.[1], though its authorship is disputed. Determining the date of composition and attribution are complicated owing mostly to misattribution of evidence for and against Rochester's authorship in Restoration and later texts.

Plot

The play consists of five acts in rhyming couplets. There are two prologues, two epilogues and a short final speech. The play begins with Bolloxinion, King of Sodom, authorising same-sex sodomy as an acceptable sexual practice within the realm:

I do proclaim, that buggery may be used O'er all the land, so cunt be not abused.

General Buggeranthos reports that this policy is welcomed by the soldiers, who spend less on prostitutes as a consequence, but has deleterious effects on women of the kingdom who have recourse to "dildoes and dogs". With the court and country reduced to erotic madness, the court physician counsels: "Fuck women, and let Bugg'ry be no more". The king, himself, however is unconvinced, and, amidst the apparition of fiery demons, fire and brimstone, declares his intention to retire into a cave and die in the act of sodomising his favorite - Pockenello.[2]

Cast

  • Bolloxinion - King of Sodom
  • Cuntigratia - His Queen
  • Pricket - Young Prince
  • Swivia - Princess
  • Buggeranthos - General of the Army
  • Pockenello - Prince and Favorite of the King
  • Borastus - Buggermaster-general
  • Pine & Twely - Pimps of Honour
  • Officina - Maid of Honour
  • Fuckadilla - Maid of Honour
  • Cunticulla - Maid of Honour
  • Clytoris - Maid of Honour
  • Flux - Physician to the King
  • Vertuso - Dildo and Merkin maker to the Court

Interpretation

Sodom merits attention not just as an early piece of erotic literature, but also as a disguised satire on the court of Charles II and especially of his apparent willingness to tolerate Catholicism in England at a time when that religion was officially proscribed. Written presumably at the time of Charles's 1672 Declaration of Indulgence (which promulgated official toleration of Catholics and others), Sodom delineates in its racy plot a king much like Charles whose insistence on promoting his sexual preference for sodomy can be read as an analogue to the debate in England at the time about the king's real motive in pushing religious toleration.

In the film The Libertine, Johnny Depp, as Rochester, is seen staging Sodom in front of an outraged Charles II, with Rochester taking the role of the King of Sodom.[citation needed]

References

  1. ^ J.W. Johnson, "Did Lord Rochester write Sodom?", Publications of the Bibliographical Society 81 (1987) 119-153
  2. ^ Phyllis and Eberhard Kronhausen (1969) Erotic Fantasies: A Study in the Sexual Imagination. New York, Grove Press: 26-32
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