“Tony Kytes the Arch Deceiver” and “the Seduction”.

' ....can you say I'm not pretty, Tony?'

to try to persuade him of how good a wife she would make. The women are all competing with each other to be the one he will choose. Tony also said to Milly

" You don't suppose I could refuse 'ee?".

Tony said that to reassure her that she will be the one, even though he is talking about getting in the cart.

The historical and social elements within the story show how different people acted in the 1890's. The song Tony sings is supposed to be 'scandalous' but today things like petticoats and breeches would not be the sort of thing that people would be shocked about. Women seemed to like him because of this. Also Tony's father says,

...'t'would have been quite proper...'

This shows that it wasn't the right thing to do to be talking with another woman when you were engaged to someone else.

Now I will talk about love and romance in "The Seduction".

The poem, "The Seduction" is about how love can be expressed differently by different people. The girl believes the experience is love but the man uses it as an excuse to use her. You can tell its love from her point of view because of the things she says. He was making her vulnerable by giving her more alcohol.

" As he bought her more drinks, so she fell in love".

The girl was wearing "high shoes". It suggests that she is trying her hardest to impress the man by appearing to be grown up. She had "wide blue eyes and bottles of vodka" tells us she is very innocent about everything, including the drink. She was following it like a fairy tale like she was "entranced" by him so she was almost hypnotized and did things she wouldn't normally do. She can't see his true character because she has been drinking and she thinks about him in a very romantic way. He suggests he is using her by saying "little slag". He also takes drugs because he has "a bag full of shimmering paint thinner", which suggests he could be an addict.

The similarities between "The Seduction" and "Tony Kytes the Arch Deceiver" are that both men are weak and only want a short-term relationship. They are both not in it for marriage and both don't show true love. The texts include betrayal and a lack of loyalty. Both male characters use and abuse women and don't respect them. They see women as objects and look for beauty rather than their personalities. "Tony Kytes the Arch Deceiver" asks his father for advice about which girl to choose,

"Now which would you marry father, if you were in my place?" even though he doesn't follow the advice. This shows that he doesn't really know or care which of the women he will marry.

In "The Seduction" the male character is only there for a short-term relationship. He says "little slag"

and shows that he does not think very much of her. The male character used her by getting her so that she wouldn't know what she was doing,

"He handed her the vodka"

to get her drunk and vulnerable. You could tell the female character was inexperienced when taking the vodka. She "knocked it back like water" because she doesn't know how strong it is. The similarities between the female characters in both texts are that they both fall under the influence of men. They both make foolish decisions and are deceived. They are also desperate and gullible. The female characters try to please the male characters by doing whatever they want. The female characters are similar in both texts because they want true love and think they are getting it.