Write about the way men are portrayed in three or four poems in 'Hearts and Partners'

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Write about the way men are portrayed in three or four poems in ‘Hearts and Partners’

The writers of the poems, To His Coy Mistress, Our Love Now, Rapunzstiltskin and The Beggar Woman are critical of men and present them in a highly negative way.

Both  King and Lochhead have created males who are really only interested in sex. Neither character appears to have any respect or love for the woman in the poem. The ‘Prince’ in Rapunzstiltskin makes no attempt to rescue the woman, preferring to keep her conveniently locked up in the tower which he can enter at his convenience/.

“…he was shimmying in & out

every other day as though

he owned the place…”

He even goes as far as to bring her sex manuals, presumably for his own benefit! He deliberately delays rescuing her, as this would put an end to his supply of sex on tap.

“…from which she was meant, eventually,

to weave the means of her own escape.”

In The Beggar Woman, the man here shows no plan of committing to the lady. This shows he is using her only for sex.

Whilst the male protagonist in To His Coy Mistress makes a powerfully persuasive, intellectual and passionate argument to the woman that she should no longer deny him sex, he does at least seem to have powerful and enduring feelings of love for her. Everything he says in the4 poem is designed to encourage the woman to abandon her chastity. He uses flattery and speaks of his vast and timeless love for her in the first section of the poem.

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“A hundred years should go to praise

Thine eyes, and on they forehead gaze.”

We as readers need to question the authenticity of these sentiments. Are they genuine or are they simply tactics to persuade the woman to enter into a physical relationship?

King and Lochhead are highly critical of the men in their poems, presenting them as interested only in sex, showing no real concern for the woman in question. Marvell’s protagonist does, however, appear to have some finer feelings which make us more sympathetic towards him.

It is clear that the male in The ...

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