You are in: home > about the play > themes and ideas > sexual desire

I'll love you like a soldier, at arm's length
And love you 'gainst the nature of love: force ye.
(57-58, V,iv)

Julia's action of placing the torn words of the letter in her bosom not only indicates how strongly she feels for Proteus; it also implies that she has a high level of sexual desire. Placing the words next to her naked flesh is a way of taking Proteus' declaration of love to a physical level. It is the kind of desire associated with inexperience, because it suggests that this is as close to a passionate embrace Julia has been so far, and therefore that this is her first experience of sexual love.

Proteus' powerful experience of sexual desire (arguably connected to his immaturity) is so overwhelming that it becomes destructive. His desire for Silvia leads him to betray his life-long friend, his lover and to sexual violence.