In the story there are six characters, the four main ones being Tony and the three ladies. The one we get to know best of all is Tony. Through his conversation with the girls, he reveals himself as being an faltering, weak but well meaning character. He finds it difficult to refuse any of the women a lift, and seems captivated by the beauty of each of them when the others were out of sight as when he says to Unity "I never knowed you was so pretty before!"
A difference is the fact that the poem was actually a planned event. Hence the title -The seduction. Through the poem we are taken through the boy’s plan. It tells us how he was the one that led her to the docks and ‘far past the silver stream of traffic’ suggesting how he has led her away from society. The boy had come prepared for all of this. He had brought his bag with him carrying the vodka in, then ‘handed her the vodka’. We know that he isn’t with the girl because he genuinely likes her because he mutters under his breath ‘little slag’. But he intended to bring her the vodka so that she could get even more drunk and the minute that the girl thought she had fallen in love, really there was no way out for her. She would be willing to do anything for the boy. He continued with his seduction by stroking her neck and thigh and kissing her. And in the 8th Stanza it says, ‘Then, when he swiftly contrived to kiss her his kiss was scented by Listerine…’ He was planning it because he had obviously used Listerine in order for his breath to smell fresh. So while this boy had planned for this to all happen, Tony Kytes was just on his way home when he encountered all of the women. Though he was also devious in the way that he was engaged to one woman, but then he gets thinking about other women. He finds it difficult to turn any of the women away when they ask for lifts, and seems attracted to the women by the beauty of each of them. He flirts with all of them when the others were out of sight, he says to Unity ‘I never knowed you was so pretty before!’ But we know that he is not as careless as he seems because he does try and lower his voice when talking about marriage to the other ladies. The female characters are very feminine, and use it in their advantage to charm and entice Tony. You could almost say that in a way they were also trying to seduce Tony. Because they do know that Tony is currently involved with someone, yet they still try and get Tony for themselves! They are described very superficially as stereotypes of manipulative ladies, for example when Unity says ‘and-can you say I'm not pretty, Tony? Now look at me!’ he looks at her for a while, then replies ‘In fact, I never knowed you was so pretty before!’ But when he sees Milly he ushers Unity into the back then tried to get rid of Milly by making up a lie about seeing her mother in town and how he thought that she was waiting for her. But Milly’s mother is safely at home so Milly gets into the wagon. Tony once again turns on the charm when he sees Hannah. He says to Milly, ‘My dear Milly- my coming wife…’ He then gets her to get under some old sacks. But once he is left alone with another girl he decides to go for her instead! He calls her ‘Sweet Hannah’ then actually asks her to marry him. The story was set in countryside. This may explain the reasons for many girls to go after Tony. Tony doesn’t’t sound very appealing or handsome according to the description given about him. It says his face was ‘ round, firm and tight’ he also had scars left from smallpox and rarely smiled, but the girls may have gone after him because of where they were. The countryside wouldn’t’t have lots of men to actually pick from,
The similarities of the story and poem are that the female characters of the story are gullible and naïve. As I had mentioned, in the poem the girl falls for the boys plan of sleeping with her, and devastating consequences occur. She ends up pregnant. This point was taken off an essay I had found on the internet and I thought it was relevant as it breaks the poem up into two parts and shows the girl’s feelings. “The first half of the poem has a dream like quality, as in "and sat in the dark, her head rolling forward towards the frightening scum on the water." The second half begins abruptly with the intrusion of real life, as the girl discovers her pregnancy. "When she discovered she was three months gone, she sobbed in the cool locked darkness of her room". The rest of the poem depicts collapse resulting in her total rejection of her pregnant state "And better, now, to turn away, move away, fade away, than to have the neighbours whisper that you always looked the type."
And in the story, the girls are naive for thinking that Tony was the ideal husband to have! Especially Milly who was the last girl to be asked for marriage, but then accepts his proposal.
Also both texts have a theme around deceit. We can basically tell this from the beginning when we see the title of the two. But in the poem it takes the deceit a little further then the boy deceiving her. It takes us into the influence of media and how media had deceived her. We see how she tears her ‘Jackie’ magazines and her ‘My Guy’ magazines apart. She feels cheated out of her childhood by how her magazines presented life. It seemed all happy and fantastical in the magazines but the real world was very different.
The story and the poem also show us how the female characters in both of them were hidden from society. We know that the girls in the Tony Kytes story was hidden under tarpaulin blankets and sacks, but they were also hidden because of the fact that society would have disapproved of what they were doing. Their actions wouldn’t have been appropriate because of the time they were in. The story was written in 1894 and at that time being seen alone with another woman was frowned upon. Also in the poem the boy led the girl away from society, he took her some where quiet and remote. This was so that he called go along with his seduction, he couldn’t have if any one around because it wouldn’t be right, and he knew it.
The main differences between the two are that the story is humorous and the poem is very serious. The poem uses negative imagery to make us understand that the subject of young pregnancies is a grave subject to talk about. While the story’s purpose is to make us smile at the funny things Tony says and how he acts.
In conclusion I would say that both texts have achieved their goals. The targets of the texts can be depicted by another view I found on the internet from the same essay. “The poem is attempting to create an atmosphere over and above the actual physical details of its setting. "Bottles of vodka" and "The frightening scum on the water" serve as a shadowy background to the girl's attraction with the boy's "eyes as blue as iodine" and kisses "scented by Listerine." Both pieces of writing are effective in their own way and succeed very well in what they set out to do.
In contrast, the Seduction poem is full of drama and high emotion as in "But then again better to be smoking scented drugs or festering, invisibly, unemployed." In the poem, there is no real humour. Even the clumsy way of speaking which the boy has, such us "Eating me dinner", which could be comical, come across only as sadness. The writer makes use of numerous adjectives such as "softly rounded belly", "pink smiling faces" and "grey and frothy tide." The phrase used to describe her final feelings about the pregnancy is very powerful: "This despicable feminine void." These few words express the situation in its entirety; its negative nature, that it is a purely female problem and that it is inescapable.”
I think that if these situations could possibly happen in present times but females are much more aware of sexual roles. They also have more opportunity and ambition. They would not be caught up in the fantasy of having a family. They would want a family at some point but are more realistic. They know that some so called men will take advantage of them if they are not careful. However, it must be remembered that sexually women are more in control these days and could easily seduce a man. The problem is that if a woman seduces a man there is only a psychological effect. Women can be affected by a unwanted pregnancy. I am not saying that a women seducing a man is right, but in my opinion when a man gets a girl pregnant and leaves her it is a very disgraceful thing to do. I think that men like this are criminals. A women has a right just like any one, they should not be violated in any way.
I have used this website to enable me to streamline my coursework. Some points have been taken directly. I have used about two paragraphs.
