How are disturbed characters present in 'Salome' and 'Havisham'?
How are disturbed characters presented in ‘Salome’ and ‘Havisham’? In Carol Ann Duffy’s poems, ‘Salome’ and ‘ Havisham’ aggression and violence towards men is an ever-present theme. Each poem is spoken in the narrative voice of the ladies (whom the poems are named after), who throughout express signs of mental instability. Bitterness and hatred towards men is shown, both in words and in actions. Havisham constantly voices her murderous thoughts but never actually commits murder however Salome thinks murderous thoughts and does commit murder. The two ladies also have a distinguished characteristic in the fact Havisham shuns men and society, not wanting to go near ‘man-kind’ with a barge pole whereas Salome seeks men for revenge. In both poems Duffy has had influences from characters portrayed in other peoples text. It is apparent that Duffy has used Charles Dickens’ Havisham from great expectations to write a poetic monologue as well as extrapolating references from the story of biblical Salome to form her modern day character. Both characters show signs of being extremely disturbed personalities. From the first stanza we begin to get an idea of Salome’s character. She proves herself to be very promiscuous, ‘ I’d done it before (and doubtless I’ll do it again sooner or later) woke up with a head on the pillow beside me-whose?’ Salome shows
Carol Ann Duffys Anne Hathaway explains the feelings of Shakespeares widow as she contemplates her marriage. Write a monologue in which Anne Shakespeare considers her thoughts about her husband and love.
Carol Ann Duffy’s “Anne Hathaway” explains the feelings of Shakespeare’s widow as she contemplates her marriage. Write a monologue in which Anne Shakespeare considers her thoughts about her husband and love. [After reading her husband’s will, tears glittered in Anne’s eyes, deep down, like the sinking reflection of a well. She pulled out a small, crumpled paper from her bag. It was the letter that her husband had written to her when proposing. She reads it to herself.] “You are the woman in whose arms I want to spend all nights of my life. You are the one whose breath I want to cool my temple, in whose eyes I want to reveal all of me, to the depth of my being! You are that wonderful woman around whom I want to weave my dreams and desires and dress you with my kisses. I will show you how a look can hold galaxies and a heart can feel everything and maybe we can discover together how far God went when he created a human being in the image and likeness.” [She folds the paper and puts it in her bag, then looking up at the sky, she talks to herself.] Before you Will, my life was like a moonless light. Very dark, but there were stars- points of lights and reason… And then, you shot across my sky like a meteor. Suddenly, everything was on fire – there was brilliancy, there was beauty. When you were gone, when the meteor had fallen over the horizon, everything
The poem, Valentine, is a monologue by Carol Ann Duffy addressed to her lover.
Valentine analysis: The poem, ‘Valentine’, is a monologue by Carol Ann Duffy addressed to her lover. It is part of the set ‘Mean Time’ published in 1993. It explores an unorthodox and frank side of love and compares it to the frivolities of Valentines day. The poem is written in free verse and has no rhyme scheme. This emulates a conversation and also represents the disorder and unpredictability of love. It is loosely structured into six stanzas, each focusing on a different aspect of love. Similar to the peeling of an onion, the first few stanzas focus on the more pleasant parts of love and become progressively abhorrent. Duffy makes certain lines emphatic by isolating them from stanzas. The sentence ‘I am trying to be truthful’ is an instance of this. Isolated from the second and third stanzas, this line is emphasized since it is one of the main purposes of the poem – to give her lover a veracious description of their love. She also uses enjambment to continue some ideas and create suspense. For instance, the sentence in stanza two begins ‘It will blind you with tears’ and continues to the next line in the same sentence ‘like a lover’. The use of enjambment builds up a sense of expectation and uncertainty in the reader before delivering the surprising confession that love has a painful side. The language of the poem is quite straightforward and
In Mrs. Tilschers Class by Carol Ann Duffy is a poem in which she explores the themes of childhood and the transition to adulthood.
In Mrs Tilscher’s Class ‘In Mrs. Tilscher’s Class’ by Carol Ann Duffy is a poem from her collection, ‘The Other Country’, in which she explores the themes of childhood and the transition to adulthood. The poem is a autobiographical monologue published in 1990. It is based however on her childhood during about 1967. The language she uses is particularly striking in conveying the process of maturing to the turmoil of adulthood. The poem is structured into 4 stanzas with the first two being octets and the last two being septets. There is no rhyme scheme. Overall, the structure is unconventional and haphazard which could be suggestive of the changes and chaos that occur in the change from childhood to adulthood. Duffy uses the second person all throughout the poem, which signifies the universality of the theme and opens up to responses from readers. It also insinuates that Duffy is now a different person than she was when she was a child- she is writing from a different perspective about past events. She also uses a lot of evocative imagery and personification to draw comparisons to natural elements. For example, she describes the ‘inky tadpoles’ which are symbols of the innocent children and later depicts the ‘croaking’ frogs, all grown up. It represents the unpleasant transformation. She personifies the sky and the air as well which is ‘feverish’ and
Compare how Carol Ann Duffy presents women in the poems Havisham and Salome
By Jack Yull 9A1 English Essay Compare how Carol Ann Duffy presents women in the poems Havisham and Salome In the poems ‘Havisham’ and ‘Salome’ the characters have both experienced pain conflicted by love. Love has been a big part in both of these women’s lives as it has mentally scarred them and affects them in their future love lives. However both scarred, their lives are almost completely different Carol Ann Duffy makes the characters very contradictory as they are both undecided about men. For example in Havisham ‘Beloved sweetheart bastard’ and in Salome ‘I’ll do it again...Never again!’ This shows that both women have mixed feelings for the men that have previously been in their lives. The poems show what side effects the women put up with years after the event which haunted them. The females are both uncertain if they either love or hate men. The characters are very different as Havisham is very emotional, ‘I stink and remember. Whole days in bed cawing Nooooo’ this suggests she is emotional as it seems she is in a terrible depressed state. On the other and Salome is very careless and seems promiscuous, ‘what was his name?’ this shows how careless she is as she will sleep with random men and gets on with life no matter what unaware to those she hurts. The characters are also very different as Havisham has very low self esteem and thinks
Explore the ways which Carol Ann Duffy portrays the thief in 'Stealing'
Question 1: Explore the ways in which Carol Ann portrays the behaviour of the thief in this poem. By Zhong Huang The thief in Carol Ann Duffy’s poem “stealing” talks about the most unusual item he has ever stole – a snowman. The futility of the persona’s ruthless actions is portrayed by Duffy in the poem, which also suggests the causes of this behavior to be a childhood deprived of arts and joy. The ruthlessness of the thief’s mind is vividly portrayed by Duffy. The persona thinks of himself as relentless and cold-hearted – “my mind as cold as a slice of ice.” The internal rhyme here imitates what is going on internally in the man’s mind. He is self-aware of his coldness, shown in this case by the imagery of “ice”, and is proud of it. However, there are also many references to coldness in the rest of the poem – “winter” “frozen” “chill”. The thief behavior is shown to be selfish and cocky – “part of the thrill was knowing that children could cry in the morning. Life’s tough.” This line further emphasizes the ruthless quality of his mind. The fact that making children cry would be a “thrill” is disturbing for the reader. His cockiness comes out in “life’s tough” – the statement would be said in a not caring way, as if he has seen it all and is merely stating the obvious. The short sentence also gives the thief a
Commentary on "Human Interest"by Carol Ann Duffy
Human Interest- Carol Ann Duffy The poem, Human interest is four stanzas long, and goes by the rhyming couplets of, ABBA. The first and third stanzas are four lines long whereas the second and fourth stanzas are three lines long. The poem is about a man who has killed his wife because she was having an affair. It is quite a serious poem, particularly in the first two stanzas. This is directly compromised with the amount of slang that is used in it, things like,' Banged up' and,' I'd slogged my guts out' This makes the overall impression slightly scary, almost as if the person in the poem has become mentally unbalanced by the murder of his wife. There is a distinct mood change in the poem in the third stanza, going from the last sentence in the second stanza, 'She stank of deceit.' To the first sentence in the third stanza, 'I loved her.' These are both used to great effect in the poem, not only because they have very different messages, one talks of hate the other of love, but they are both very short sentences, this goes hand-in-hand with the massive contrast of words to create a more tense feeling within the poem. A particular sentence that I feel is quite significant is in the first stanza, 'She turned away. I stabbed.' I feel it is significant because both sentences are used for effect, they come after one very long sentence that went over two lines and I think could
A poem which I've been studying that tells the story of a character is "Stealing" by Carol Ann Duffy. The poem is about the actions and motives of a certain thief.
A poem which I've been studying that tells the story of a character is "Stealing" by Carol Ann Duffy. The poem is about the actions and motives of a certain thief. The character in the poem has a very negative personality and outlook on life. In the poem the thief comes across as cold, uncaring, egotistical, destructive and nasty. The poet portrays this by effective word choice when describing the thief's feelings and actions. "the slice of ice within my own brain" This shows that the thief has very cold thoughts and that in his mind he has suffered previous emotional damage, which has resulted in psychological problems for him. This is an important simile in showing how the thief has mental torment, which has affected his life. Another way in which the author shows to us the character's negativity is through his motives for stealing. "Part of the thrill was knowing that children would cry in the morning. Life's tough" He steals because he likes the thrill, the excitement of doing wrong or emotionally affecting others. By enjoying upsetting other people we get the impression that he is selfish and inconsiderate. Also that he wants to teach them a lesson, he wants them to hate life and to hurt the same way he does. Due to his general hate for the world and society he has pent up anger and aggression. "I took a run and booted him. Again. Again." He can become
How has Duffy used classical myths in order to comment on the nature of relationships between men and women in The Worlds Wife(TM)?
How has Duffy used classical myths in order to comment on the nature of relationships between men and women in 'The Worlds Wife'? Carol-Ann Duffy wrote a collection of poems called 'The Worlds Wife' in which she mocks men and shows various Greek mythology and fairytales from a woman's perspective. She uses various literary techniques such as enjambment and cynical reference to portray and comment on the use of classical myths, in order to illustrate the nature of relationships between men and women. This essay will focus on four of these Greek myths, Medusa, Eurydice, Mrs Tiresias and Mrs Midas. The style of writing in which Duffy undertakes shows her to be very indiscreet in what she says and very orthodox, as she writes completely, almost the opposite of what many people think when it comes to characters in her poems. In the world's wife, Duffy has focussed a great deal on mythical characters, but manipulates them to the extent that she interprets them to be the opposite of what they are truly known to be in Greek mythology. Duffy, also a radical feminist, focuses on the woman's perspective, whereas Greek mythology is greatly depicted from a male's perspective, whereas Duffy looks at what the women had to put up with. Firstly, Mrs Midas, in Greek legend was the wife of Midas who wished that everything he touched be turned to gold, this wish was nonetheless granted.
Valentine and I am very bothered are both on the subject of love. Both use a lot of effective imagery to focus attention on the main topic.
Valentine and I am very bothered are both on the subject of love. Both use a lot of effective imagery to focus attention on the main topic. 'in the naked lilac flame' is a description used by Simon Armitage which both effectively describes the flame of the Bunsen burner and leads onto deeper meanings within the poem. The use of the word 'naked' gives a sense of the exposure and the vulnerability felt by the poet as he describes his emotions and his feelings towards the girl in the poem. He observes the flame as being lilac; this is a symbolist reference to her, as lilac is considered a beautiful colour. The flame is described as being a lilac colour; lilac flames are intense, high temperature, clean flames, thus a reflection of the poets feeling towards the girl. This gives an impression that the poet is trying to excuse himself and his actions by describing the innocent and pure flame of the Bunsen burner, which he used to wound her. 'O the unrivalled stench of branded skin' gives an indication of the sense of enjoyment felt by the poet. Armitage uses sibilance in 'stench' and 'skin' to give an indication of the sinister basis of his sadistic pleasure. When he says 'stench of branded' the Armitage uses four syllables with the three words in an attempt to slow down the pace and extend the emphasis on the animalistic and violent words. He further continues this theme in the