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Man and woman, blue and pink, earner and housewife. These are the views imposed on gender through a mixture of history and myth. A patriarchal society, it has been argued by many feminists, has created this picture of a dominant male and a subservient female. This could be naïve or it could be a truth that we, as males or females don't like to admit. Looking at Jeanette Winterson's "The Passion" and Carol Ann Duffy's poetry collection "The World's Wife", it is clear to see that they at least share the idea that history and myth have somehow intertwined, to lead to male and female stereotypes. This is not an essay that preaches feminism, nor does it do the opposite; it is an exploration into how Duffy and Winterson use literature to pull apart, or in some cases exaggerate upon stereotypes in order to undermine them.
Duffy's collection would not be so influential if she hadn't been able to successfully bring alive the idea of the male stereotype in her poetry. In the poem "Mrs Beast" Duffy uses colloquialisms to show an independent modern woman giving the reader advice on men and what to expect from them. "I could have told her- look, love I should know". The poem takes a similar format to that of Duffy's newest collection "The Feminine Gospels" as the informal language does give the reader the impression that what Mrs Beast says is the truth. The word "love" is jargon associated with the east end of London. It is heartfelt but also contains an aspect of masculinity. This exaggerates the independence of "Mrs Beast " in the poem. The word "Beast" in the poem is symbolic of a type of man, not the one however, that immediately springs to mind. This is the image of a conceited man with no etiquette or respect for women.
"But the Beast fell to his knees at the door
to kiss my glove with his mongrel lips good-"
Custom Essays on How Do Jeanette Winterson in her Novel "The Passion" and Carol Ann Duffy in her Poetry Collection "The World's Wife" use Literature to Undermine the Idea of Stereotypes
Instead Duffy explores the idea of a man who lacks the drawbacks of vanity and arrogance and shows qualities of appreciation and gratitude, a man who Duffy links with sheer unattractiveness.
In comparison to "The Beast" it is fair to look at Winterson's portrayal of "The Cook" in her novel.
"The cook moved first, slapping a woman on the rump and making some joke about her corset…He came towards her with his fist raised"
Winterson- exaggerated as it may be, creates an unsympathetic brutal and violent character whose behaviour toward the whores depicts an attitude that many would familiarise with the date and setting. Winterson is introducing the idea of patriarchy into the story. The novel, although set in the early C1th at the peak of the Napoleonic wars is one that could, in the opinion of many critics and the writer herself be moved into the modern day. "All of my work, manipulates history. The past is not sacred. The past is not static."(1) Winterson feels that the male stereotype is not developing and that male dominance is as strong today as it always has been. This allows her to mould the setting and the time into the story and not vice versa, a growing trend among late C0th novelists including Will Self.
The new recruits in the novel "The Passion" also illustrate the army's ability to 'make men'. The fact that the recruits are clean-shaven when they enter the barracks is symbolic of the naivety and inexperience. Henri shows the effects of war on men;
"But my companions are no longer shy boys with cannon fire in their eyes. They are rougher, tougher. Naturally you say, that's what army life is about"
Even Henri realises that along with army life comes a list of things that are expected of you, a certain charisma is supposed to develop, the male stereotype is in full force yet again.
The essential impression of the texts is the portrayal of the female characters. Both writers put across feminist messages and the sexuality of both Duffy and Winterson, especially the latter, is apparent. Villanelle the main female character in "The Passion" seems to be symbolic of the rebellion against conformity that Winterson expresses so much in her works. From birth Villanelle is defined as different and unusual. Firstly she is born in Venice, which is a "city of mazes. You may set off from the same place to the same place everyday and never go by the same route". Venice, France and Russia play a large part in the geographic symbolism in the novel that leads to the formation of stereotypes of people in certain areas. Villanelle is born with webbed feet, which is a trait only common in the boatmen of Venice. Her actions in life therefore take on a masculine form, although her emotions would be defined as female. Her cross-dressing, gambling nature and her bravery shown in facing the harsh "zero winter" proves that she alone is more masculine than the male characters in the novel. Her combination of masculine and feminine traits is summed when she decides to row her boat for comfort.
"The Grand Canal is already full of vegetable boats…the others eye me curiously"
To relieve her feminine emotions she decides to partake in the male role of the boatman although others around her do not take well to this. Her manner of speech, her casual, laid back nature, which forms half the narrative in this novel also adds to Winterson's rejection of keeping within gender boundaries
Duffy on the other hand doesn't use this method in her poetry. The length of her poetry limits the character development that would take place in the novel. The imagery therefore needs to be much more intensive. Female characterisation starts when the reader first glances at the poem. For example in Eurydice the lines are of altering length. It could be argued that although Eurydice does have something to say she can be blunt and to the point. Eurydice, one of the most noticeably feminist poems in the collection, shows the influence of feminism on the poetry. The liberation of a woman to hell must prove that Duffy acknowledges the dislike of if not dislikes herself, the idea of paternalism. The tone in Mrs Midas, just sums up a stereotypical "stay at home wife". "You can almost imagine Mrs Midas touching up her make-up in the mirror as she moans about her husband"(). This quote makes Duffy's poetry sound trivial, and this could be the device that is key to Duffy's interpretation of stereotypes. They are insignificant, immaterial concepts that should not be taken seriously. Duffy has created many alternative ways of undermining stereotypes, although her preference seems to be in exaggerating them to draw out their futility.
Winterson's structure intensifies the meaning of the story. As with her language and imagery that compares so well with poetry, her structure springs out of the page. It is unpredictable and exciting with narratives of thought. She is obviously influenced by the work of Virginia Woolf, with the stream of consciousness flowing in and out of both her narratives. Henri's narratives jump between his life in the army, his thoughts and his life before the army.
"Mother. Father. I love you"
Winterson has placed this line separate from the bulk of text on this page, it stands out as a separation between a description of his life at home and the continuation of his story in the army. It gives off an almost nostalgic feel and is clearly effeminate. It is in these small structural devices that the reader builds up their feeling towards a character. "I'm telling you stories, trust me" is used in the same way. As well as this the novel is split into four chapters. The first two split up the monologues of Henri and Villanelle, but as the narrators' lives become intertwined the narratives flow into one another. The name of the chapters intensifies the idea of symbolic geography further. "The Emperor" and "The Zero Winter" have historic significance to the story linking to the Napoleonic era. "The Queen of Spades" set in Venice, taken from the opera by Tchaikovsky of the same name (), shows that Venice is linked to myth and story telling. It is a city of unpredictability as Villanelle says herself "You play, you win. You play, you lose. You play".
The final chapter "The Rock" is still set in Venice however it is a Venice that has suffered the influence of the Napoleonic wars. The name is bland and doesn't give a lot away about the lives of the central characters. It sets the scene for the almost pessimistic ending of the novel. Henri is living on the rock (San Servolo a mental institution) hearing the voices of his dead friends. Villanelle is living a meaningless life although she has riches. The rock shows that both have reached the end of their capabilities. For Winterson it may symbolise the constraints that will inevitably occur if you attempt to overcome the stereotypes in society.
The structure of the poems in "The World's Wife" varies in order to give off different effects. "Queen Herod" shows the division between relaxed and stately language through the use of italics. Also this represents the difference between obligation and emotion. When Queen Herod is lead by emotion she is allowed to show her true feelings
"No man, I swore,
will make her shed one tear."
The effect of this is not only opening up gender stereotypes but class labels also. Focusing on the idea that all women share the same basic instincts. In comparison to this "Mrs Darwin" takes the form of a diary entry. It makes the poem seem secretive and very informal. The reader gets the idea that Mrs Darwin never wanted anyone to read this. Obviously this poem has a comical aspect to it and almost takes the form of a short joke
"7 April 185
Went to the Zoo
I said to Him
Something about that Chimpanzee over there reminds me of
you."
The word "you" seems to form the punch line of the joke. This shows that it is almost incomprehensible that the wife of Darwin thought up the theory of evolution, females are not generally classed as intellectuals, scientists or engineers in this period.
A feature that both writers focus on in their texts is the idea of motherhood. This is one of the concepts that the writers disagree on. In Winterson's work there is an autobiographical resentment for a combination of motherhood and religion.
"My mother loved God, she said that God and the Virgin were all she needed though she was thankful for her family."
Although Henri has a clear admiration for his mother, the reader gets the impression that she is portrayed as not committed to her family. She has indoctrinated Henri, to some extent in the same way that she has become devoted to religion. This is obviously a biased view of motherhood; Winterson likes to links the liberation of a person, to breaking away from your maternal bonds, as she did herself. This portrayal does to some extent ruin the strength of the female in this novel. But instead of considering it as an attack on motherhood it is more realistic to look at it as an attack on religion. Religion, has, in the eyes of many prominent feminists has held back the development of women's rights. The breakdown of religion in this novel is also shown when Henri befriends a corrupted Irish priest named Patrick.
"He had been forced out of the church for squinting at young girls from the bell tower….What priest doesn't"
Winterson shows little respect for the church going on to suggest that the Bishop was a homosexual. In exaggerating the negative stereotypes of religion in order to strengthen them, Winterson is again spoiling her argument against stereotypes. The argument she makes in this novel does in some cases seem to trail off in regards to institutions she dislikes.
Alternatively Duffy explores a more positive view of the mother, "Queen Herod" is a poem that illustrates the strength of motherly protection.
"We wade through blood / for our sleeping girls. / We have daggers for eyes.
Behind our lullabies, / the hooves of terrible horses / thunder and drum."
The use of caesura allows Duffy to separate the well-meant motive from the almost evil actions. The words "blood" and "daggers" are almost cancelled out by the images of "sleeping girls" and "lullabies". The closing poem, one that would need to sum up the collection as a whole, focuses entirely on motherly love. "Demeter" is the goddess of agriculture in Greek myth. The lord of the underworld Hades captures her daughter. The depression felt by the searching Demeter is brought alive in the poem. Duffy in the first two stanzas depicts a desolate and barren landscape. "Where I lived winter and hard earth". By the end of the poem however the atmosphere has completely changed and instead of the land being dead, personification is used to depict a happier surrounding.
"the blue sky smiling, none too soon,
with the small shy mouth of the new moon"
The poem is 14 lines long and is linked to the Shakespearian sonnet exempt from the rhyme throughout the whole poem. The last two lines are a rhyming couplet, often associated with poems about courtship and romance; Duffy has used in a poem about the love between a mother and daughter. Again she is combining conventional devices with original ideas to give off her own effect.
Both the "The Passion" and "The World's Wife" deal with the idea of stereotypes as a way of fighting female oppression. They do not however, ignore the stereotype of men and in many ways Winterson shows a great respect for male characters in her novel. Duffy relies on a combination of humour and history to retell old stories in her poetry. In using wit to address the idea of gender discrimination Duffy is able to completely destabilize the image of stereotypes. Winterson uses the stream of consciousness, androgyny and vast amounts of imagery to make sure none of her characters become predictable. The focus is not on how her characters should act in a certain situation because of their gender but due to the fact they are Henri or Villanelle.
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