In the poem Circe’s Power by “Louise Glück” Circe is powerful witch trying to teach a group of men a lesson. She thinks the men are more like pigs in a sense which I interpreted as they are greedy and act like fools. The men are very materialistic and act as if there are no boundaries. There are many examples of this in the text. In stanza 1 Circe talks about how the men or just some people in general act more like pigs than actual me or humans. This is a comparison to show that these people are very undisciplined as seen in stanza 2 when Circe says something along the line of, “Your men weren't bad men;Undisciplined life did that to them. As pigs.” This speaks out about how Circe thinks of them. She thinks the parents/guardians are at fault for not disciplining the men in a way. Seeing this the theme seems as if it is leaning towards good men not knowing only good but discipline as well. …show more content…
In stanza 3 the tone changes.
Circe feels as if it is her job to make the men how they should be by taking them in and caring for them. Circe even goes as far to think that “Under the care of [herself] ladies along [her] ladies the men sweetened right up.” This being said it seems as if Circe assumes the role of being a parent or caregiver over the men but this is not all Circe does for the men. Circe takes action and “reversed the spell, showing you [her] goodness as well as [her] power.” In a sense this can mean multiple things in this text it seems as if she is telling you directly that she wants you to know who in charge and whom the boss really is. Circe is teaching these men what it really takes to be a man in other words grow
up. The last few stanzas of this read are very important to pay close attention to. One thing Circe says that almost makes perfect sense is, “ I foresaw your departure, Your men with my help braving the sea.” Circe takes it upon herself to turn these greedy, objective, and materialistic men into brave and selfless men. Circe feels as if “Every sorceress is a pragmatist (a person who is guided more by practical considerations than by ideals) at heart; nobody sees essence who can’t face limitation.” This is my favorite quote from the poem as it can have a variety of different meanings but one to me sticks out much more than the others. Circe is saying that she is more practical than an idealist because she knows her own limits and this is merely the same lesson that Circe is trying to teach the men. In conclusion Circe is a “evil witch” who is trying to teach or pass on to the men her virtues and manners. Circe is preparing the men in such a way to be ready for their journey across the rough and rugged sea where they will live up to her expectations. This was a good lesson for the men to learn and the theme of the poem stayed the throughout the entire poem.
In Tim Seibles' poem, The Case, he reviews the problematic situations of how white people are naturally born with an unfair privilege. Throughout the poem, he goes into detail about how colored people become uncomfortable when they realize that their skin color is different. Not only does it affect them in an everyday aspect, but also in emotional ways as well. He starts off with stating how white people are beautiful and continues on with how people enjoy their presence. Then he transitions into how people of color actually feel when they encounter a white person. After, he ends with the accusation of the white people in today's world that are still racist and hateful towards people of color.
Kim Addonizio’s “First Poem for You” portrays a speaker who contemplates the state of their romantic relationship though reflections of their partner’s tattoos. Addressing their partner, the speaker ambivalence towards the merits of the relationship, the speaker unhappily remains with their partner. Through the usage of contrasting visual and kinesthetic imagery, the speaker revels the reasons of their inability to embrace the relationship and showcases the extent of their paralysis. Exploring this theme, the poem discusses how inner conflicts can be powerful paralyzers.
I would like to investigate the many struggles of women, whether it be race that differentiates them or an event that any woman could experience that brings them together. Beauty is not easily defined, and women everywhere struggle with not only pleasing the people around them, but themselves. Wanting to describes themselves and feel beautiful is one of the many struggles women experience throughout their lives. “Las Rubias” by Diana García from Fire and Ink represents a common example of what women of color experience while comparing themselves to the “beauty” of white women. The poem is divided into eight numbered sections, each containing their own experience or thought. This is effective because by the end of the poem, the reader has almost
Popular culture depicts Medieval chivalry as a glamorous and high time for women, with knights bending their knees in worship to them in Pre-Raphaelite paintings, and the fairness and virtue of women being celebrated in literature. Chivalry is often understood as the elevation of the lady fair, with men taking upon themselves the task of protecting and defending women. In fact, though, this was not an elevation of women but a limitation of their freedom and an undermining even of their intelligence and strength of will. Medieval chivalry, in essence, subordinated women to men while claiming to elevate women. In Lanval and Laustic, women are shown to have a subordinate status to men in three ways: being painted as temptresses, being subject to protection from men, and being subservient to orders from men.
The moral compass of mankind has always piqued the interest of authors. The Middle Ages was a time of immoral behavior, corrupt religious officials, and disregard of marital vows. Geoffrey Chaucer used The Canterbury Tales to explore his personal views of this dark time. In particular, he crafted “The Wife of Bath’s Tale,” “The Prioress’s Tale,” and “The Shipman’s Tale” to portray the tainted society, using women in all of them to bring forth his views. In The Canterbury Tales, Chaucer depicts women as immodest and conniving beings to suggest the moral corruption of the Middle Ages.
The purpose of this essay is to analyze and compare and contrast the two paired poems “My Last Duchess” by Robert Browning and “My Ex-Husband” by Gabriel Spera to find the similarities presented within the pairs. Despite the monumental time difference between “My Last Duchess” and “My Ex-Husband”, throughout both poems you will see that somebody is wronged by someone they thought was a respectable person and this all comes about by viewing a painting on the wall or picture on a shelf.
In the three stories, by Washington Irving, he shows acts of misogyny. Within the story, the character of Rip Van Winkle, a man sick of his wife wanders off into the wood, to disappear for 20 years. Throughout the story of The Devil and Tom Walker, the devil asks the man to sell his soul to him for money. Which the man was going to do until his wife convinced him not to. Also in The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, the man in the story likes a woman, but unfortunately the woman picks another man over him. All of these stories each of the male characters have to face a certain challenge whether it be internal or external.
Circe, who is seen as the unseemly temptress who enslaves Odysseus with her sexuality in Homer's version, is given a voice by Welty. Welty's Circe says, "In the end it takes phenomenal neatness of housekeeping to put it through the heads of men that they are swine.
In the poem, “Traveling Through the Dark”, the author, William Stafford, uses many poetic devices that enhance the true meaning of the poem. The poetic devices found in the poem include poem’s persona, tone, word choice, imagery, symbolism, and comparisons. Stafford uses these poetic devices to help the readers to experience and visualize the situation that the narrator is going through.
In Constantinople, Cunegonde and the old woman were both slaves and were treated horribly by the men there. It was not until Candide purchased them that they finally gained their independence. Later, the old woman tells of being raped and mutilated in an ordinary, relaxed tone and describes it as being “common”. Voltaire expresses in the aforementioned scenes, that women were beheld as property belonging to men. Cunegonde, being shared by the Grand Inquisitor and the Jewish merchant, is also an example of this. Voltaire’s views regarding the treatment of women were similar to those of Montesquieu in his book The Persian Letters, where he specifically discussed the men of Paris and their views on a woman’s place and purpose in society.
Because they were bad guests, she turned them into hogs. Odysseus describes his men having “taken on the bodies—bristles, snouts—and grunts of hogs,” but that they “kept the human minds they had before” (Homer, Odyssey 10.214-245). Odysseus’ men were unhospitable, so the goddess Circe punished them. Homer uses poetic justice again to show how rude guests receive punishment for not being respectful. Odysseus' men were acting like pigs in their human form, so Circe made their appearance match their actions, making this situation very ironic.
Often, the speaker labels the male quest for power as wrong: “Support thy throne? O look with pity down / On erring, guilty man!” (105-106). Opposing, the speaker praises female empathy as right: “Turns inward, and beholds a stranger there” (54). Boldly tagging the males as wrong and females as right, the speaker comfortably points out everyone’s moral behavior, except her own.
It's about sisters named Katharina and Bianca. Out of the two sisters Bianca is the more desirable one. She has what men want in a girl and she plays all the roles she should as a women. On the other hand there is Katharina who is the exact opposite of what a man wants. Bianca is quiet, humble, caring person. Katharina is loud, rude, crazy and violent. No man wants a woman who is not the “ideal woman”. “I say, a devil. Thinkest thou, Hortensio, though her father be very rich, any man is so very a fool to be married to hell?”(stanza 100)Gremio sees that Katharina is evil and no one will want her, while everyone wants to be with sweet Bianca.”Gentlemen, that I may soon make good What I have said, Bianca, get you in: And let it not displease thee, good Bianca, For I will love thee ne’er the less, my girl.”(stanza 87) This says“good Bianca” showing what the men like in a women. The authors purpose is to show that people can change and truly fall in love even though it may take time. This poem ties into gender roles because it shows what men want a women to be. Women are supposed to be nice, quite, polite, respectful and more. These are all gender roles that Bianca does play. It also shows what women are not supposed to be which is rude, loud, obnoxious, hateful, violent and all the traits that have anything to do with any of
This research paper speaks of the poem “The Tattooer” that talks about Japanese culture where men are superior and women are seen beneath the men of society. The poem "The Tattooer" shines the light on many of Tanizaki's standard society themes. And in this the tattooer desires the pleasure of his art; the tattooer takes much pride in the tattoos that he creates on the flesh of humans and also endures pleasure from putting pain on the empty canvases with his needle. In “The Tattooer” by Tanizaki Jun’ichiro the tattooer desires the pain inflicted on his canvas but then the perfect body is seen and he realizes that he must now tattoo for the beauty of the tattoo and is soon controlled by women.
The men treated their women as if they were an object. After marriage the husbands had full control over any finances or property that the women had once owned. Women didn’t have to many rights if any and were expected to stay at home and be the stereotypical house wife doing the daily house duties, looking after the children and making the meal. Even if women didn’t like it it was almost as if they were forced to be the stay at home mother. Mathilde Loisel suffering from this middle class life style just wanted to live a glamorous and luxuries life. “She would so much have liked to please, to be envied, to be charming, to be seductive and sought after."(Maupassant 1). Loisel felt trapped in this life of almost poverty and just wants to escape. She wants to live this glamorous life of having things done for her and being able to have the luxuries that the upper class have and is clearly jealous of her wealthy friend Mme. Frostier and would like to be in her shoes. But at the end of the day she is confined in this middle class lifestyle and can only wish for a better