Detailed analysis of Mrs Beast

 

Context of the poem + Duffy’s intentions
Second last poem of anthology ⇒ little red grown up, with her own money. Based off beauty and the beast, a well-known, traditional fairytale – value inward characteristics such as kindness over outward appearances Subverts the story of Beauty and the Beast to suggest that Belle was as objectifying as any other princes ⇒ a sarcastic, satirical, gruesome and different tone to Belle The poem has a colloquial tone, voice is assertive, dominant
Spicy points
Find a man that loves you more than you love him or prioritize yourself over any man, confidence will get you what you need
Point	Explanation
Historical oppression of women	Semantic field of famous women Extremely beautiful “Helen, Cleopatra, Juliet’s” “Mona Lisa’s” ⇒ list of women that Duffy hasn’t been able to deal with They are beautiful = intertextual reference to these legends/myths and Belle’s story as the “beauty” Builds up a sense of familiarity in the reader Builds confidence in the women, they believe they are beautiful Crescendo, build up to add dramatic effect All these females are subject to the judgements of society ⇒ DON’T follow their footsteps
	Graphic imagery Little mermaid Sibilance “slit, silver, stinking, salt” ⇒ sinister, painful nature, suffering for a man Contrast with “smiled, waltzed” ⇒ positive, elegant imagery Poor treatment from men “chuck, throw her” ⇒ like a dead body or animal, betrayal, harsh “Ch” “Thh” sounds Subverts the story of the Little Mermaid in a few lines, she’s sacrificed her life for a husband only to be dumped
	A nice way to end the book All these “legends, fairytales” ⇒ culmination of everything in Anthology, self-referential
Belle’s way of empowerment (+ subversion of the real story)	References to sex Enjambment from 1st to 2nd stanza “The sex / Is better” = taking control of her sexuality in an aggressive manner, also being superficial + hypocritical (a bit like LRC, Salome – using men as a means, not an end) ⇒ using men to satiate herself Visual pause after the “sex” to create emphasis, but the run-on line emphasizes “better” ⇒ reinforcing the idea that there is a criteria that she judges men on Intertextual reference “I came to the House of the Beast” unlike LRC, where the wolf draws her into the woods She seeks the male, she is the initiator/makes the first move ⇒ knows exactly what she wants Further emphasized by the contrast of “no longer a girl” and LRC’s childlike naivety
	Independence from males “I’ll put them straight” → take matters into my own hands, position of authority. Prominent use of personal pronouns “I” and “My” “My own gold” ⇒ another reference to LRC, where Gold = books in the Wolf’s lair Financial independence, what happens in modern-day society, feminist movement advocates for this Gold ⇒ rich, fairytale connotations “My own black horse” ⇒ parallelism of “my own” shows her autonomy, freedom, liberty to go wherever she likes. Unlike Pygmalion’s Bride ⇒ trapped One wrong word ⇒ could carry her off, STARK contrast with the sexual, physical and verbal abuse that the Bride feels
	Confidence “One false move, one dirty look.” ⇒ cautious, relentless, unforgiving, cut and dry. Control of her own destiny “The year of my birth” ⇒ she does not care what society thinks about her age, free/liberated from societal forces and expectations Rich and powerful symbol by naming the wine
Shows what women had to endure
Characterisation of Beast and their relationship	Her superficiality and obsession with Beast’s sexual “Good” “Better” “Best” interjections with parenthesis ⇒ natural, honest, down-to-earth train of thought Constant assessment of him Here Duffy makes a point about how women are always being judged and assessed, for their looks, intelligence, motherhood It is more important that he has a large sexual organ than his personality and relationship with her Put a man in the shoes of a woman ⇒ is this a world that Duffy would like to see? 1. Shows how men are superficial 2. Idealizes a matriarchal society
	Beast’s subservience “Stripped of his shirt” ⇒ forcibly, active verb, out of control, aggressive and non-consensual nature Muslin – innocent, light, soft clothing which is paradoxical to the harsh “Strip” action “Do this. Harder. Do that. Faster” ⇒ imperatives, choppy, short syntax through caesura, shows her dominance, assertiveness, confidence, instructiveness, all for herself, her own pleasure, irregardless of how Beast feels Completely lost his dignity when he uses “tongue to scour” her toes = servant MASOCHISTIC nature of Belle “scratch back till it bled” ⇒ she’s not feminine at all, not over sensitive or fragile, she’s exactly like a man
	Animalistic presentation of the Beast “Breath of a goat” “Snout and trotters” Unimportant, objectified, piece of meat to be enjoyed, captive animal (a pet!) “Dog, donkey, dragon” ⇒ alliteration of d, clumsy, unrefined sounds, untamed Triplet to reiterate how he is incomprehensible, unintelligent, of low status Dogs are domestic, obedient, submissive Primitive
Post-40 line content Defies social norms about who to marry Suffering of women who were unable to win, like Ashbuttle, Princess Diana ⇒ don’t follow in their footsteps, learn a lesson ⇒ loved with everything and ended up hurt ⇒ shift from female strength to sadness (broken heart) ⇒ last line is an image of isolation, it’s quite tragic Women coming together, free of influence from men, gambling…? Let the less loving one be me ⇒ encapsulate how she has reversed gender roles all the while undermining and oppressing men as a means of revenge.