Analysis Of Les Grands Seigneurs

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Les Grands Seigneurs by Dorothy Molloy

Dorothy Molloy is well known for the dark, ironic humour in her poetry. Les Grands Seigneurs explores the irony of romantic relationships in a woman's youth. She heavily outlines that once a woman is married she loses her power and independence and eventually becomes a "mere 'toy' a plaything 'only a bit of fluff'. The portrayal of women in this poem is the exact opposite of how the Landlady is portrayed in Rolad Dahl's short story. While Rolad Dahl describes the "Landlady" as cunning and even malicious at time , Dorothy Molloy portrays the heroine as a 'damsel in distress' thus further reinforcing the stereotype of portrayal of women in modern literature.
The poem outlines the diminishment of a woman's independence and power through marriage. Understanding irony is key to accurately interpreting the message of the poem. Les Grands Seigneurs is about a women who has been catered to by men her whole life. She tells us how men relentlessly courted her by saying that "men were my buttresses , my castellated towers". By referring to these men as...

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