Analysis Of The Wold's Wife By Carol Ann Duffy

Anne Sexton was a junior-college dropout who, inspired by emotional distress, became a poet. She won the Pulitzer Prize as well as three honorary doctorates. Her poems usually dealt with intensely personal, often feminist, subject matter due to her tortured relationships with gender roles and the place of women in society. The movies, women’s magazines and even some women’s schools supported the notion that decent women took naturally to homemaking and mothering (Schulman). Like others of her generation, Sexton was frustrated by this fixed feminine role society was encouraging. Her poem “Cinderella” is an example of her views, and it also introduces a new topic of how out of touch with reality fairy tales often are. In “Cinderella”, Anne Sexton uses tone and symbolism to portray her attitude towards traditional gender roles and the unrealistic life of fairy tales.

Roger Ebert once said "Your intellect may be confused, but your emotions will never lie to you." In the short story "The Wife 's Story" Ursula K. Le Guin creates the mood of suspense by using foreshadowing and other literary devices. Suspense is a state or feeling of excited or anxious uncertainty about what may happen. The entire story is filled with the state of feeling of uncertainty as the wife solely alludes to the major event. It is also obscured in mystery.

“Oh, fairytales, where desperate, naïve girls sacrifice everything for their so-called prince charming”. The realities of these childhood classics are controversial, sexist, and dark, yet, it’s also adored by millions of young girls around the world. Cinderella, an often sugar-coated story, is a great example on how sexism and gender stereotypes prevail in literature. The Grimm Brothers touch on a variety of devices, from characterization to symbolism, all revealing the inequality in not only fictional literature but our real-life society as well. A feminist literary critic will interpret these controversial themes and apply their beliefs of equal rights into the study of the Grimm Brother’s Cinderella.

There is significant evidence throughout both 'The Long Queen ' and The Map Women ' to indicate that suffering is a central element of female experience. Both of these poems are present in the 'Feminine Gospels ' written by Carol Ann Duffy. The collection of poetry is seen to be teachings of feminism aiming to provide the reader visions of female identity. One feature of this identity that is examined within these two poems is the theme of mental and physical suffering that women universally endure.

“Don’t judge a book by its cover.” “We are all equal.” “ No one person is greater than another person.” “Treat others the way you would want to be treated” These are all sayings we have heard in our life, all of those quotes had one thing in common they are all about treating people fairly and not discriminating against other people.Not all human beings are alike matter of fact no human beings are like and I guess some people feel like just because other people aren’t like them they should be treated the way they would. In the texts “The Wife’s story “ by Ursula Leguinn , “I, Too” by Langston hughes , and “Towards a true refugee ” by Suu Kyi each of these stories were created by authors who showed us their viewpoints on tolerance. When

Patriarchal culture has dominated society throughout history. Males have control in many aspects of life and women have continued to fight for equal rights in society. There are many ways women have contributed to the fight for equality; some more physical and other less abrasive. Education and Literature gave the voice to a few women in a male-centered world. Poet Lady Mary Wroth captures the injustices experienced by women in the feminine narrative of Sonnet 9 from her collection of sonnets, songs, and lyrics entitled 'Pamphilia to Amphilantus. In this poem, Wroth explores the thoughts of elite women in the 1700s and uses aspects of her own cultural and historic circumstance to convey the theme of a religious patriarchal society.

Poetry. A seemingly simple word to the eye, but is one of the most fundamental and interesting concepts of English. The beauty of poetry is that each one of us in this room could have a different perception on any poem. It can make you angry, sad or happy, It depends on how you interpret the words. Today I’ll be breaking down the elements included in Gwen Harwood’s ‘In the Park’ and how women are viewed. Generally, women can be depicted as poor or wealthy, nasty and aggressive or compassionate and affectionate, intelligent or dumbfounded, loyal or unfaithful. Roles of women include Mothers, daughters, Aunties or housewives just to name a few.

The society always queries about the role of women and for centuries, they have struggled to find their place in a world that is predominantly male oriented. The treatment of women was remarkably negative; they were expected to stay home and fulfil the domestic duties. Literature of that time embodies and mirrors social issues of women in society (Lecture on the Puritans). But, slowly and gradually, situation being changed: “During the first half of the 19th century, women 's roles in society evolved in the areas of occupational, moral, and social reform. Through efforts such as factory movements, social reform, and women 's rights, their aims were realized and foundations for further reform were established” (Lauter 1406). Feminist poets like Emily Dickinson and Anne Bradstreet talked substantially about feminism in different lights in the past two centuries. They were very vocal and assertive about their rights and the ‘rights for women’ in general. While they might have been successful at making a good attempt to obliterate gender biases but still there are lot of disparities between the two genders. Nevertheless, their poetry reflects a deep angst.

‘The World’s Wife’ is a collection of poems by Carol Anne Duffy published in 1999. Throughout Duffy’s collection of the poems she represents women from history, myths and fairy tales, particularly those whose stories tend to be defined by men, or who have only a cameo appearance in male-dominated scenarios. ‘The Worlds Wife’ collection explores the themes of sexism, inequality and stereotypes, which women, sadly still face in modern society. In Duffy’s collection some poems look at the story of the man from a woman’s perspective, such as the poem ‘Mrs Aesop’. Other poem’s stories have been slightly altered like ‘The Kray Sisters.’ As we already know the Kray Twins are two male English gangsters from the East End of London during the

When someone mentions the name “Cinderella”, the first thing that usually comes to our minds is the fairytale in which the fair maiden who works so hard yet it treated so poorly gains her “fairytale ending” with a wave of a magic wand. However, the fairytale of Cinderella written by the Grimm Brothers has multiple differences in plot from the fairytale we all usually think of. The plot of the Cinderella written by the Grimm Brothers, written in 1812, is that a young female’s mother passes away early in the story, departing with the message to Cinderella to remain “pious and good”. Cinderella remained true to this message given to her by her mother, and she showed this in her work ethic. Because Cinderella had remained pious and good, her mother, in return, watched over her in the form of the birds above her grave that gave Cinderella help and material things that she needed. In the end, Cinderella has her “happily ever after”, for when the prince held a festival to find a new bride, she was chosen due to her insurmountable beauty. The feminist lens critiques how females are commonly represented in texts, and how insufficient these representations are as a categorizing device. These representations of women often include them being passive and emotional—staying back while the men do the work. Cinderella relates to the feminist lens because she fits into the typical representations of women created by men. Feminist criticism is important to recognize because women are often falsely represented as helpless, thus needing a man to come to their rescue. It is common in literature to see helpless women, crying and begging for help instead of being able to work out their own problems and hardships. Others, however, may believe that it is still important to uphold the fundamentals of the feminist lens because it keeps the man in power, which they say is important in keeping the man the head of the household. Cinderella thoroughly represents the feminist lens because it shows how women in literature uphold the representations of passive and emotional, created by the man.

This powerful statement from Hillary Clinton underpins the injustices of female representation in the past. This silence is evident in the Bible verse, ‘Let your women keep silent in the churches,’ (I Corinthians 14: 34-37) and Virginia Woolf’s concept that “Anon … was often a woman [who could not otherwise get the respect of male counterparts].” (Virginia Woolf, 1928, A Room of One’s Own. PAGE). These are only two examples of how females have been largely disempowered by the male constraints of literature. In recent history feminists have deemed it necessary to research the lost and forgotten females and retell history from a distinctly female perspective. This issue is of significant concern to Carol Ann Duffy, the current Poet Laureate. Duffy subverts fairytales, myths and historical stories to empower women, giving them a voice and allowing their stories to be heard. This essay will argue that Carol Ann Duffy presents a feminist perspective in the poem ‘Little Red Cap’.

Feminism and gender roles play a huge role in our everyday lives, even if you do not quite notice right away. It can be anything from men having more power than women in, work areas, or political equality. It can be seen in stories, movies even newspaper articles to this day. One story in particular is Cinderella by the Grimm Brothers (1857). This essay will provide an in-depth look of feminism and how it is seen in the story such as; not being able to choose your own husband in certain situations, to women have to wear tight clothing, and the most obvious women not having the power men do.

Children fairy tales are some of the first books we’re introduced to growing up. Typically, the princess is saved by the heroic prince and they lived “happily ever after”. Some may think our life should be like a fairy tales while others don’t. These tales created gender roles in which appeared to be very important. In the Grimm Brothers fairy tale, “Hansel and Gretel”, the parents leave the children in the forest to starve due to not having enough money to buy food in order to sustain life. The children later find a house deep in the woods where an old, evil witch lures them in and tried to eat Hansel and Gretel. They eventually kill the witch and find their way home to their father with no stepmother to be found as she has died while the children were away. In the fairy tale, “Hansel and Gretel” gender and feminist criticism are highlighted throughout the tale by defining characteristics, consequences from their actions, and societal roles and expectations that were both prominent in German history and modern society.

James Joyce’s book of short stories entitled Dubliners examines feminism and the role of women in Irish society. The author is ahead of his time by bringing women to the forefront of his stories and using them to show major roles and flaws in Irish society, specifically in “Eveline” and “The Boarding House”. James Joyce portrays women as victims who are forced to assume a leading and somewhat patriarchal role in their families. He uses them to show the paralysis of his native land Ireland, and the disruption in social order that is caused by the constant cycle of abuse that he finds commonplace in Ireland. Joyce is trying to end the Victorian and archaic view of

In Carol Ann Duffy’s “Little Red Cap,” taken from her collection The Worlds Wife, Duffy incorporates her feminist views on life to help develop Red-Cap’s character into an independent woman. In her work, Duffy intends to illuminate for the audience that woman are more powerful than they are perceived by society. In the poem, she writes about a young girl at the peak of her childhood, who is about to enter into the next phase of her life. The young, inexperienced girl describes the beginning of her transformation into adulthood after losing her innocence to “The Wolf.” The loss of her innocence contributes to the realization that she no longer needs an old, no good wolf. She gains the courage and reflects on how her life changes dramatically after her departure from the wolf. The poem “Little Red-Cap," written in The World’s Wife, closely relates to certain aspects of the original fairy tales written by The Grimm Brother and Charles Perrault. Duffy’s version of “Little Red Cap” is a rewrite of the original fairy tale “Little Red Riding Hood.” Duffy incorporates her strong feminist views by allowing Red-Cap to initiate her encounter with the wolf and to use him for gaining knowledge for her career and sexual desires. These aspects contribute to the development of Red-Cap’s character into a more independent woman to contradict the oppression of women in the past and present generations, and allowing her to offer suggestions for women in the future.