Analysing The World’s Wife for IB English ~ Carol Ann Duffy

It’s unsurprising and common to find divided student opinions on Duffy’s work. Some believe her confrontational portrayal of the traditional masculine is overly aggressive and unnecessary. Others argue that her critique of traditional narratives is justified, as she advocates for generational justice.

One thing is certain: her poetry challenges readers to rethink historical and cultural narratives from a feminist perspective. Whether we agree with her approach or not, Duffy’s poetry sparks important conversations and offers fresh perspectives on well-known tales. This is why her work remains a significant part of school literature curricula.

This collection is often studied alongside pioneering feminist literature like A Doll’s House and A Streetcar Named Desire, as well as more recent works like Persepolis. If you’re considering using The World’s Wife for Paper 2 or the IO, be sure to check the end of this article for additional tips.

This article will delve into the themes of The World’s Wife in detail, providing useful pointers for your coursework. We can say Duffy’s collection encourages readers to develop a deeper and more nuanced understanding of gender dynamics and the power structures that shape our world. And the good news is that it’s up to each individual reader to decide whether she’s right or wrong.

Female Empowerment

Duffy champions the voices of often overlooked, condemned or silent female figures from history, mythology and literature. In The World’s Wife, she challenges traditional gender roles and celebrates the strength and resilience of women. From Mrs. Midas to Queen Kong, her women defy social norms and assert their autonomy, and Duffy’s work implores readers to question and dismantle patriarchal structures. Through vivid and evocative poetry, she asks the new generation to recognize and celebrate the often-unheard voices of women, making The World’s Wife a timeless tribute to female empowerment and resilience.

Poems that explore this theme:

1. Mrs. Midas

   Duffy reimagines the myth of King Midas from his wife’s perspective, and highlights the strength and independence of Mrs. Midas as she deals with the horrid consequences of her husband’s greed. Throughout the poem, Mrs. Midas represents a sense of practical and emotional resilience, and she ultimately chooses to live separately from him for the sake of her own well-being.

2. Mrs Lazarus

   By exploring the story of Lazarus and his death from the viewpoint of his wife, Duffy focuses not only on Mrs. Lazarus’s grief but more importantly her resilience and ability to rebuild her life after the death of her beloved husband, showcasing her ability to reclaim her life and idenity. The poem advocates for women’s rights to redefine their lives on their own terms, outside of traditional expectations.

3. The Devil’s Wife

   Duffy bases this poem on the real-life fugure Myra Hindlet, one of the Moors murderers, and explores her relationship with Ian Brady and her involvement in the crimes. By delving into themes of manipulation and the loss of female agency, Duffy reveals the complex dynamics of power and control in their relationship, highlighting the darker aspects of female empowerment.

4. Anne Hathaway

   Duffy uses this poem as a tribute to celebrate the love and creativity of Shakespeare’s wife, Anne Hathaway. The poem presents her as a muse to her husband and as a strong, independent woman who shared a happy relationship with her husband and creatively influenced his work. By depicting Anne Hathaway as a creative force, the poem celebrates her silent contribution to Shakespeare’s legacy.

5. Medusa

   In her retelling of the myth of Medusa, Duffy portrays Medusa as a powerful figure who has been wronged and transformed by her suffering and the betrayal she faced. By writing the poem as a monologue from Medusa’s perspective, Duffy is able to portray how her transformation into a monster who contains such power is also a metaphor for the impact of trauma and betrayal she previously faced.

Gender Relations & Equality

Duffy’s reimaginations through the perspective of women aims to promote gender equality, since each poem gives voice to female characters who have been marginalised or silenced in their respective traditional stories - in most cases, they had been given no acknowledgement at all. Duffy’s assertion to give voice to female perspectives within well-explored stories can be said to challenge traditional notions of patriarchal norms in a rather loud, expressive manner. Duffy’s female leads are not worried about how they may be perceived.

Poems that explore this theme:

1. Queen Herod

   By re-imagining the biblical story of King Herod who ordered The Massacre of the Innocents to protect his throne from a potential threat, Duffy presents the story from Queen Herod’s perspective and reverses gender roles to emphasise the strength and agency of maternal and protective figures. While King Herod acted out of paranoia in the original story, Duffy’s queen is an intentionally powerful force in another context, who takes drastic measures to ensure her daughter can live her life free from the dangers posed by patriarchal society.

2. Pilate’s Wife

   In the re-imagination of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ through the eyes of Pontius Pilate’s wife, Duffy gives voice and agency to the narrative’s moral and empathetic wife who has a clear understanding of the type of man she admires, and the type of man she knows will never be able to meet her expectations in a partnership. Also, her moral courage in attempting to dissuade her husband from the situation is a depiction of her leadership and intuition, although Pilates disregards her and washes his hands to get rid of his acountabiliity.

3. Mrs. Tiresias

   Through the Greek myth of Tiresias, who transformed from a man into a woman, Duffy uses the viewpoint of Tiresias’s wife to say that real equality and understanding in relationships can only happen with support and empathy. Her husband is now a woman, but he still retains his patriarchal attitudes, and so he is unable to intuitively understand the nuances of being a woman. Mrs. Tiresias is also very kind as she attempts to assist her husband as he navigates through his transformation, and eventually, she asserts her own identity and autonomy.

4. Mrs. Rip Van Wrinkle

   In the original tale, Rip Van Winkle is a man who falls asleep for twenty years to wake up and find the world has changed in his absence. Duffy shifts the focus to Mrs. Rip Van Winkle, and highlights how she is freed from the constraints of her marriage as she finds contentment within autonomy, self-reliance, travel, education, and many other fulfilling hobbies. In the years she was away from being a dutiful and submissive wife, Mrs. Rip Van Winkle finds the agency to experience and celebrate joy in her own pursuits.

5. Little Red Cap

   Through a re-imagining of the classic ‘Little Red Riding Hood’, Duffy’s Little Red Cap transitions from innocent to experienced as she encounters a wolf and grows into his equal as she undergoes an artistic and sexual awakening. Duffy critiques the traditional notion of women as passive and naive since her heroine is curious, ambitious and assertive. Eventually, she rejects the wolf’s assertion of male dominance to assert her own autonomy, since the woods represent her exploration of her own identity as well as her quest for independence.

Transformation and Rebirth

Since Duffy attempts to give voice to women who have historically been silenced by reimagining stories of famous men from the perspectives of their wives, it might be clear to readers why she repeatedly shows transformation and rebirth throughout The World’s Wife. We can say these two themes are a tool used by Duffy to highlight an eventual reclaiming of the feminine identity, often times through violent means within a fundamentally violent or domineering patriarchal setting. After battling through with force, the female voice can be said to regain its agency.

Poems that explore this theme:

1. Demeter

   This poem can be seen as the most beautiful, peaceful and harmonious piece from Duffy’s collection, as it explores the Greek myth of Demeter and her daughter Persephone. As Persephone gains a respite from the Underworld and Hades to return to Earth each spring, both women have an acceptance of how life has its ups and downs, happiness following sorrow, the loss of power with an eventual reclaiming of freedom and agency. Demeter’s deep grief over losing her daughter to the Underworld brings about the bareness of winter, and her immense joy at seeing her return brings the rebirth of spring, hinting at immense strength, endurance, change, and a restoration of balance.

2. Pope Joan

   Duffy’s Joan disguises herself as a man and gives up her identity to become Pope, representing the lengths to which women have to go to gain power and recognition in a male-dominated society. So she breaks gender barriers and is able to reach the highest position of power within the established norms, and as her identity is revealed when she gives birth, we see how victorious she was in breaking societal illusions that undermined her capacity to be a leader. At the same time, she rejects these rigid social structures and expectations, placing power and divinity in her inherent femininity that remain incomprehensable to the disapproving males around her.

3. Penelope

   Duffy reimagines Penelope, the wife of Odysseus, who is traditionally known to have rejected various suitors while awaiting her husbansd’s return. Duffy thwarts the narrative of Penelope being a passive and sad while Odysseus is off to adventure far away with a ‘hungry heart’, by depicting a Penelope who is creative and independent, taking up the activity of weaving, in which she finds a sense of self and purpose, reclaiming her own narrative and agency. However, Penelope understands she lives within a social structure that might fail to recognise her, so she remains outwardly weighed down as she rejoices at her transformation from being passive to being self-sufficient and happy.

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