Duffys Wife Essay

1047 Words5 Pages
Why does Duffy place ‘The Devils Wife’ in the Centre of the Collection? I’m going to explore the biggest taboo of all, when women murder children., which links in with the Moors Murderers, Ian Brady and Myra Hindley, which is what Duffy’s poem ‘The Devils Wife’ is based on. The poem is told from Hindley’s point of view, this relates to the rest of the collection following the themes of the view and issues regarding women in society and how much men influenced and controlled women. I think that Duffy put ‘The Devils Wife’ in the centre of the collection ‘The Worlds Wife’ because I think it is a turning point in the collection where women become influenced by men. She chose to put this particular poem right in the centre of the collection because it is the most taboo poem and shows just how much men can influence women in relationships or even just for sex. A good example of this is ‘I went mad for the sex’ from ‘The Devils Wife’ shows she is with him for the sex and she’d do anything to keep getting it. The poems in the first half of the collection the women always escape from the betrayal of men take control. ‘Delilah’ and ‘Mrs Quasimodo’ are good examples of this as in ‘Delilah’ she cuts off his hair, ‘Then with deliberate, passionate hands, I cut every lock of his hair’ shows she took control of the situation and did it as a duty because his hair is what makes him strong, and without it he has nothing. Also ‘I fastened a chain to the door’ is ironic as she is trying to escape from being controlled by him yet she is ‘chaining’ herself inside the door so she cannot escape. In ‘Mrs Quasimodo’ she takes control by tearing down what was most important to Quasimodo, the bells. Evidence of this is ‘The bells, the bells. I made them mute’. The poems after ‘The Devils Wife’ are very different to the first half of the collection. The women have become more mature and
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