Standing Female Nude, written by Carol Ann Duffy, is a poem which describes the condition of a prostitute who is struggling to make a living. Duffy, as with a majority of her other works, attempts to give a voice to voiceless women in the middle and lower economic classes in an effort to promote her feminist agenda. This poem is in fact very layered and explores multiple aspects which may not be spotted on a superficial level, and enables her to transmit her ideas to the readers. Duffy puts across her main ideas of society’s treatment of the prostitute versus the treatment of males, and the prostitutes introspective views.
Duffy creates a society, not too distorted from our own in fact, which objectifies the woman and values her purely for her physical assets.
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This directly corroborates society’s viewing of her as the description only includes her sexual physical assets. Duffy writes this because she is trying to convey the sufferings of women in society as they are consistently objectified, devaluing their nature as a human being, and she invokes people to make a change. This theme of valuing women in a restrictive way as one only notices the physical elements of a female is continued throughout the poem, for example when the artist “is concerned with volume, space”, or “You’re getting thin, Madame, this is not good”. This directly references the corporeal elements of a body. The purpose of this quotation is consistent with the aforementioned one. Society’s superficial viewing of women is also reflected in the poem’s wring, as it may seem that this poem is strictly concerned with a prostitute, but in fact it describes all females. The male representative in the poem, Georges, then asserts his superiority, despite their similar conditions of being poor. Although he is sexually attracted to her as he “stiffens for [her] warmth”, suggesting an erection, he is unwilling to accept her as a human being as he deems her question “Why do you do this?”
This suggests that the woman’s body is very weak, like a dying flower, and also conveys the writer’s love for her – he believes she is beautiful, like a delicate flower. The theme of isolation is explored in an effective way when the writer speaks of a distance of pain “neither she nor (he) can cross”. The word “nor” isolates the words “she”
In summary, the structure of this poem enables the reader to relate to the poem, as the poem consists of information that the readers would agree to, partly because they may have experienced or witnessed the accuracy of the information, in real life. For instance, the poem suggests that “Women offer themselves” – this line can be viewed as being accurate as the reader would be aware about women offering themselves – to men, “for [whom], she is the keeper of mystery, with the power to charm and to poison” – through the prostitution – that takes place within Melbourne’s red-light district area of St
The novel shows the ways itinerant workers were treated compared to upper class. Intertextuality between the poem and the novel foreshadowed some parts of the text and hinted some factors that may ruin the dream of owning a
It’s detailed like a memory and provides the audience of just one incidence the narrator was able to recollect. The poem’s main focus is to take a little look into the disparity between traditional feminine
In the reading “Murder of Helen Jewett”, Patricia Cohen main argument is on how polarizing society was on the topic of prostitution in the 1800’s, and the different treatment that men, and women had to face (Cohen, P. 1998, pg.65 & 75). Women who were seen walking alone in the streets were considered to be prostitutes, and as being out of place, while men did not have to face the same prejudice (Cohen, P. 1998, pg.65 & 66). Even the way that newspapers covered the murder of Helen Jewett shows the polarization that existed in the 1800’s on the topic of prostitution, and the role of women, and men. Some newspaper writers such as James Gordon Bennett, sexualized, sensualized and tried to portray Helen Jewett in a positive light in order to persuade
However, parts of the text show how woman have the ability to fulfill their needs as they desire. Lady Bertilak and Morgan le Fay are two prime examples of these woman. While the poem contains many female references and depictions of women, we never truly go in depth about the positions of the women in this poem, who live concealed under their male-adapted
In his article, Listening to Guinevere: Female Agency and the Politics of Chivalry in Tennyson’s Idylls, Stephen Ahern examines the treatment of women in the poems, specifically the character of Guinevere in relation to her male counterpart Arthur, and provides a complex view of Tennyson’s underlying message as a critique on the Victorian social constructs of his time rather than a simple representation of it. Ahern builds a solid argument for Guinevere’s treatment as the victim in the story ultimately signifying that she was being used as a model of the wrongs of the standard Victorian expectation of femininity. This complex analysis of the text gives a different, more modern perspective of the poems. The key features of his argument cite
CATCHY TITLE HERE Why are women idealized only for their body? WAYG, WHYB, by Joyce Carol Oates is a fictional shorttory. Through Joyce’s display of femisinsm, a pedophile seduces a young female to come with him and use her for her body, which reveals society’s expectations of a woman in this time period.
This becomes evident in a lack of information about the type of society, and the reader therefore lacks a complete understanding of how the women are oppressed. As a whole, this poem sets forth the idea that female gender is fluid, and asks its readers to questions what it means to be a woman in a male dominant
5,6) the issues that have been mentioned above are expressed. Since, especially black women, are considered to be living in the shadow this passage exposes the feelings and representation of black women in society. Their existence in the world which is not considered and respected. Considering especially the fact that the lyrical I is a black maiden, she seeks for recognition and acceptance among the other figures of the poem. Referring to contemporary issues, the lyrical I would be classified as a lower ranked person since she is black and being occupied as a maid, which clearly makes her powerless and voiceless in society.
The different key features also plays an important role for example the tone that is being formed by the lyrical voice that can be seen as a nephew or niece. This specific poem is also seen as an exposition of what Judith Butler will call a ‘gender trouble’ and it consist of an ABBA rhyming pattern that makes the reading of the poem better to understand. The poem emphasizes feminist, gender and queer theories that explains the life of the past and modern women and how they are made to see the world they are supposed to live in. The main theories that will be discussed in this poem will be described while analyzing the poem and this will make the poem and the theories clear to the reader. Different principals of the Feminist Theory.
She breaks her thoughts down in order to show the indifference. She says that women are first portrayed as objects; this patriarchal society sees us as mere bodies. Thus, we are either regarded as objects or as bodies; the mind does not exists here. Here, the subjectivity does not lie in the mind, but within the body. Women’s sole purpose is to be that of another subject’s intentions and manipulations.
In comparison to Marvell’s “To His Coy Mistress”, these response poems convey two different viewpoints from the mistress and in my reasoned opinion, provide a deeper scope to the objectification and mistreatment of women in poetry. This can be seen through evidence and supported by exposing the overall attitude of the speakers, issues of gender in each work, each poem’s language, the overall tone of each work, the form of each poem, and through each speaker’s responses to “Big Famous Lines” presented in “To His Coy Mistress”.
This is shown in the opening line when she says, “If you grow up the type of women...” Throughout this poem, Kay explores the themes of empowerment and identity, through the use of repetition and connotation. Through the frequent use of repetition, Kay puts emphasis on how women are defined in relation to males. Additionally, she also uses connotation to remind women they are more than what they are perceived to be in relation to others and they have the power to define themselves. Therefore the main idea of the poem is to perhaps remind women of their worth and inspire them to define themselves on their own terms, and not through the eyes of men or in comparison/relation to their relationship with others.
This novel is also autobiographical. Throughout history, women have been locked in a struggle to free themselves from the borderline that separates and differentiate themselves from men. In many circles, it is agreed that the battleground for this struggle and fight exists in literature. In a