Comparing the Attitudes Towards Love and Relationships in The Beggar Woman by William King and To His Coy Mistress by Andrew Marvell
In this essay I will be comparing two poems, The Beggar Woman and To His Coy Mistress. I will be looking at how the themes of love and relationships are dealt with. I will also be looking at the historical context of the poems.
Firstly in The Beggar Woman, written around 1663 to 1712, by William King. The story within the poem is about a gentleman who, whilst he is out hunting, wants to do another kind of ‘sport’, i.e. looking for a woman to have sex with. He found a woman who was a beggar. He asked her if she wanted to have sex in the woods, and, to his delight, she
…show more content…
“A gentleman in hunting rode astray,
More out of choice than that he lost his way:
He let his company the hare pursue,
For he himself had other game in view:”
This quote shows that he was chasing a woman and that he is not looking for anything more than sex. He just wants a bit of fun like any sport would give him.
When reading the poems they create images of what is happening are created. In The Beggar Woman, William King does not use any similes or metaphors. I think this is because he needs to keep things simple for his audience. When he wrote it, he relied on his descriptive words to create a mental picture for the reader. For example, “mounts the infant with a gentle toss upon her generous friend, and like a cross, the sheet she with a dextrous motion winds” and “her cheeks were fresh and linen clean.” When reading this line, you can imagine her cheeks; they are smooth, rosy, red, beaming cheeks. Both these quotes make you ‘see’ an image created by his cleverly written words.
In To His Coy Mistress, Andrew Marvell does use metaphors and similes because he thinks the audience expects them as they are upper class. Some examples of the imagery created by metaphors and similes are “vegetable love,” which is a metaphor; “times’ winged chariot” and “his slow chapped power”, which are personification; “like morning dew” and “like
Compare the views of relationships in ‘The Unequal Fetters’ with those in ‘To his Coy Mistress’. What is suggested about the different ways in which men and women view love?
how long he would wait before she was ready to give in to him, with
In the three stories “Eveline”, “A Rose for Emily”, and “Desiree’s Baby” three single women go about love in three different ways. Their struggles for love are similar; the decisions they made you will not believe. One thing you can say about all the women is their poor love lives. With their fathers in their way, the women find it hard to find love. Love is a four letter word that everyone wants, but some never get to experience the happiness. While Eveline, Miss Emily, and Desiree have controlling fathers, they want love; one walked away from her happiness, one kills for it, and another kills herself.
Two conflicting disciplines are prevalent throughout Arthurian Legend; that of chivalry and that of courtly love. The ideal of each clash throughout the medieval tales, and it is impossible to interfuse the two models for society. Chivalry is a masculine code, an aggressive discipline, whereas courtly love is based upon women - their needs, wants, and desires. The consistent problem if Lancelot and Guinevere’s adulterous relationship in different tellings of the affair relates back to the differences presented in chivalric code and courtly love ideals.
She promised herself she wouldn’t get into anything complicated, but she deserved to have fun. And this man was fun.
Throughout literature, deep relationships can often be discovered between a story and the author who writes it. Relationships can also be found in stories about a husband and wife. In Geoffrey Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales many of the characters make this idea apparent with the stories they tell. In “The Pardoner’s Tale”, a distinct relationship can be made between the character of the Pardoner and his tale of three friends. Also, the Wife in “The Wife of Bath’s Tale” boldly declares her relationship towards her husband.
She would even trade sexual favors for gifts from them. She would end this by satisfying her husband's desire: love…”Yet he felt flattered in his heart because, he thought it showed how fond of him I was” (Bath 267). It was all a game to her.
Palomon says, " The Beauty of the lady whom I see wandering yonder in the garden
The Canterbury Tales, written by Geoffrey Chaucer around 1386, is a collection of tale told by pilgrims on a religious pilgrimage. Two of these tales, "The Knight's Tale" and "The Wife of Bath's Tale", involve different kinds of love and different love relationships. Some of the loves are based on nobility, some are forced, and some are based on mutual respect for each partner. My idea of love is one that combines aspects from each of the tales told in The Canterbury Tales.
love” makes evident Chaucer’s skewed views of love and marriage with underlying tones of misogyny. He expresses these views throughout the work, however, the theme of love and sex is most evident in the sub-stories of The Wife of Bath and The Miller’s Tale.
In today’s society, a ‘conventional’ relationship between a man and a woman is easily defined. It is one based on freedom of choice by both partners, equality of gender, and emotional attachment. It is acceptable to say that in Atwood’s novel, The Handmaid’s Tale, none of these are permitted. This book shows a society completely unlike our own, one that has been constructed on the Old Testament, where women are seen as ‘biological vessels’ and are obsequious to men, and there is no place for ‘romantic love’.
Chaucer admired and made use of the medieval "courtly love" romance tradition, although he did not fully "buy into it." The "courtly love" code is based on the woman as the center of attention. The medieval knight suffers greatly for his love, who is often someone else's wife. He will do anything to protect and honor her, remaining faithful at all costs. Adultery and secrecy characterize these relationships. The knight views a woman and experiences true love. The knight fears that he will never be accepted by his love; therefore, she is worshiped at a distance.
As a convention, marriage for women has been a landmark of success. It is necessary for a woman to enter into marriage to be recognized by the society as successful. The requisites of marriage such as love and affection are often neglected in exchange for some financial value imposed by the husband. In The Story of an Hour it is exemplified in ?a heart trouble? of Mrs. Mallard while in The Girls in Their Summer Dresses points out to Frances? longing to keep her husband in spite of her doubtful interest upon her.
that she is humoured by the idea that every young an who has a large
Scene 5 she has to break the news to Juliet that she is going to be