To what extent do the women in the world's wife exploit masculinity?

To what extent do the women in the world's wife exploit masculinity in order to unleash a sexual or personal liberty?

Although the world's wife explores themes concerning feminism and embodies women as mythical and idyllic individuals who are systematically doomed regardless of circumstance, we could argue that women diminish the masculinity of men using their innocence and vulnerability in order to seduce men and gain sexual liberation. This consequently lessens women being figures of exploitation and greatly presents these bodies as using their subservience to unleash a personal and sexual empowerment.

Traditionally the women in the world's wife are shadowed as innocent beings who fall victim to the exploitation of male power and dominance, portrayed by their constant endangerment to masculinity. However, it could be argued that Duffy contradicts this and greatly highlights that women can take advantage of their circumstance, becoming empowered figures by using their virtue to rebel and to empower over men of which an example can be found in 'Little Red Cap'.

Get quality help now

KarrieWrites

Verified writer

Proficient in: Adolescence

5 (339)

“ KarrieWrites did such a phenomenal job on this assignment! He completed it prior to its deadline and was thorough and informative. ”

+84 relevant experts are online

Hire writer

Although throughout this poem, Duffy refers to the exploitation of childhood and presents the loss of innocence through male domination, it is also largely evident that the female character is very self-aware of the dangers and consequently uses her vulnerability to gain what she desires. This is exemplified by 'I made sure he spotted me/sweet sixteen never been'. Although there is a great exaggeration of his dangerous novelty such as his 'big eyes' and 'teeth' which creates an uneasy emotion, the sibilance of 'sweet sixteen' instead reflects that she desires to appear seductive in an attempt to engage with the wolf.

The sense of excitement throughout gives a clear impression that the female character satisfies the wolf by using her adolescence as an admirable trait, to pursue her passions referring to herself as a 'little girl who is to 'dearly love a wolf' in order to 'read his verse'. Duffy gives a clear insight on her longing to gain the secrets of adulthood and nature from the wolf, who eventually becomes old and boring. This is best exemplified by the reputation of 'same' in the sixth stanza in which she subsequently emasculates him cutting him from 'scrotum to throat', leaving the female character to be wholly empowered and thus sings 'all alone' by the last line. This wholly emphasises the subsequent idea that women can overpower men to achieve self-validation in the world and become a symbol of empowerment by using their own desirable traits to override masculinity. The significance of 'Little Red Cap' may lie as a similarity to Duffy's own relationship with Adrian Henri, which draws on a similar experience following Little Red Cap's and may influence her apparent adolescence. Duffy being 16 while entering a relationship with Henri, 39 draws a parallel as she described Henri as 'giving her confidence' and the relationship was 'all poetry and sex', which was 'very heady. This poem reflects youth in an autobiographical sense and in fact reinforces a sense of fulfillment and pride, of which Duffy creates the impression that little red cap leaves fully advantaged and she departs when she feels satisfied and fully confident in comparison to the start when there was a sense of need and desire to be 'in his wake'. However, a feminist critic may be more inclined to hold this view as there is a prospect of sexual and personal liberation, a free expression that women should be able to not only explore but should also freely express any sexual and promiscuous desires if this is what they should aspire. An alternate feminist critic may however oppose this view of self-objectification and believe instead that women are of equal beings to men who hold a sexual nature and can express these feelings without it being a mechanism in attempt to exploit masculinity.

Alternatively, Little Red Cap can be seen as exploited rather than exploitive when she is portrayed as a victim of male exploitation. Duffy writes about the manipulation through scenery and explores a submissive behavior from the female narrative when she write "lead me·to a dark tangled thorny place lit by the eyes of owls" which coincides with the use of sematic field where she leads on connotations to a schoolgirl like figure with nouns such as 'stockings' and 'blazer'. The use of these words and the imagery of 'they eye of owls' perhaps could relate to Little Red Caps naivety to ignore consequences and be lured in by the oppressive male who hunts her. The metaphorical and adverse description of the 'dark tangled thorny place' that he leads her emphasises the panic and there is a feeling of insecurity of the wolf as a result and therefore contributes to a feminist critics view that she is misused. This may also add to the view that men are able to use their overpowering masculinity to abuse adolescence in relationships.

It could also be argued that in 'Mrs Beast' the female character uses masculinity to replicate the power structure of men to explore that life for women is better if they are in charge. The female character in Mrs Beast is aware of the gender inequalities and desires not to destabilise this imbalance between men and women as there is a clear struggle for domination and therefore asserts masculinity to take charge over Beast in order to feel liberated in a world that is traditionally dominated by males. Mrs Beast mistreats her husband made plausible by her idea that men dominate over women and she takes on this role, therefore not instigating any change and instead reinstating the status quo by using male qualities to oppress men the same way women have been oppressed by prevailing masculinity. Independence is a common theme which runs through 'Mrs Beast' and exemplifies a trait that isn't typically concerned with women in the fairy tale world because she is shown to be in control of her life in a monetary sense and to be emotionally stable, demanding no effort to change for a "prince" or be of a typical compliant female figure. This characteristic is typically of a male and therefore Mrs beast continuously acts independently to dominate over her husband with the repetition of "my own" in the second stanza to exaggerate her lack of dependence on the male figure and therefore she takes on male qualities in order to feel empowered done intentionally by Duffy to give her a sense of masculinity. A feminist critic would most likely oppose this view that this is a motivated scheme and Mrs beast has taken on masculine roles to exploit masculinity and gain liberation. Instead a feminist critic may view Miss beast as being empowered because its in her right to do so and that women are as equal to take on these 'traditionally' masculine roles as are men but are restricted in society because of gender stereotypes.

An alternative interpretation of this poem could be that the reversal of the traditional gender hierarchy created by Duffy could be seen as Mrs Beast losing her feminist traits and manifesting into the feminist viewpoint of a typical dominating male. Mrs Beast undoubtedly takes on masculine characteristics to appear completely dominated in the relationship. Although a feminist critic may argue that she takes on this role to replicate the constant manipulation of women and the societal pressures and constraints, Mrs beast can be seen as manifesting into a dominating figure rather than of an equivalent to her husband which is arguably hypocritical.