Reflection
I am happy with my introduction. I kept the first sentence simple and informative, also I introduced the themes I would address throughout the essay with clarity and precision.
Looking forward, I want to focus on being more detailed with the imagery I chose to un pack. I feel like I tried to cover too many different images in each paragraph which prevented me from going deep enough into all of them.
For me, it has always been difficult to get my ideas out of my head and onto the paper, I spend a lot of time searching for the write word or perfect sentence and I don’t give myself a lot of time to re read. In my next attempt I think I should spend less time in the initial draft but then spend significantly more time re visiting each paragraph and making larger more thoughtful edits.
Essay: In what ways can Thetis by Carol Ann Duffy be understood as a poem about transformation?
The poem Thetis is a modern revisioning of the original greek myth Thetis. Carol Ann Duffy tells the well known story from the perspective of Thetis herself. The female demi-god undergoes various transformations throughout the poem inorder to evade her male pressures. Throughout the dramatic monologue, Carol Ann Duffy examines the inescapability of the male gaze as Thetis is unable to evade the attention of her male aggressors. Furthermore, the poem portrays the subjugation of women by men as Thetis’s freedom is continuously challenged. Finally, the endless pursuit described throughout the poem is only over when Thetis is wed and bears the children of another man, demonstrating society’s perception of motherhood.
Firstly, the persistence of the male gaze upon women is exemplified by the range of personas that Thetis adopts; Duffy uses rhythm and pace to highlight these different personas denoting womans’ inability to escape this unwanted attention. For Example, Thetis transforms into a snake, an attempt to be charming. The use of sibilant sounds such as ‘shopped’, ‘suitable’, ‘shape’ and ‘snake’, expresses the alluring nature of Thetis’s transformation, despite this effort, she still feels ‘the grasp of his strangler’s clasp’. Alternatively, Thetis tries to be powerful, her strength as she morphs in a lion is depicted through the use of rhyme. Words such as ‘paw’, ‘raw’, ‘jaw’, ‘saw’ at the end of each line of the sestet emphasize the powerful nature of a lion. However, this is still subdued by a hunter and his ‘twelve-bore’. Thetis even tries to completely ‘change [her] tune’ becoming small and repulsive, transforming into ‘racoon, skun stoat’, ‘weasel ferret, bat, mink, rat’. The sly and quick nature of these creatures is conveyed through the use of asyndetic listing, however Thetis is still preyed on by ‘the taxidermist’ and ‘his knives’. Thetis’s constant transformation reflects the struggle of a woman trying to avoid the male gaze, this idea is underscored by the irregular lineation of the poem. Additionally, by keeping the identity of the aggressors anonymous, and only characterising them as male, Duffy seems to be making a broader observation of men in general. Despite Thetis’s efforts to avoid the attention of men, no matter what she becomes she is unsuccessful, this reflects the unwanted attention that many women receive even in modern society and perhaps even the uncessary sexualisation of women in many areas of society.
Moreover, this male attention translates into female subjugation as Thetis’s only true escape is by bearing the children of a man. In the last stanza Thetis’s energy and will to keep running is finally put out, as ‘asbestos’ does to a ‘flame’. Duffy draws a lot of attention to this moment denoting the significance of marriage in a woman’s life, emphasised by the end stop after the word ‘asbestos’. Women are often required to sacrifice a lot as they are generally expected to raise children. Duffy alludes to this burden early on in the poem by referring to the crucification of Christ as Thetis ‘shoulders the cross of an albatross’. Although Thetis spends the majority of the poem trying to avoid men and this fate, she finally succumbs to society as she learns this is the only true escape. The two part caesura in the final stanza highlights this realisation as Thetis says she ‘changed’ and ‘learned’. Furthermore, Duffy implies that Thetis’s final transformation was unlike the rest as she was ‘turned inside out’, suggesting that it was more significant then her other physical transformations. This again reflects the nature of motherhood as women are typically required to change a lot about their life after giving birth. However, although in the poem motherhood frees Thetis from the constant pursuit of men, it also subjugates her. This is evident through Duffy’s wry representation of birth. She depicts a ‘child burst[ing] out’, dramatising it as if it was against Thetis’s will. This idea is further emphasised by the full stop at the end of the line.
As Thetis finally gives birth, she is no longer pursued by men in the same way as she was before. Whilst this can portray the power and appreciation for motherhood, it also expresses the male lust to take a woman’s virginity, suggesting a women’s value decreases when this purity is taken away. However, while Thetis’s transformations throughout the poem can be interpreted as an attempt to avoid men, it can also be read as her attempt to please men. Therefore giving up her virginity and giving birth to a man’s son, is her final act of devotion, enough for her to capture him forever. In general however, women are typically expected to do this for a man and therefore this final transformation was the only one she didn’t have control over. Ultimately, Carol Ann Duffy doesn’t critique men specifically, instead she makes an observation about the false sense of choice that society may think a women has in her own life.
