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To His Coy Mistress

To His Coy Mistress. A Feminist Approach…. The Speaker…. Addresses himself to a coy or an unwilling woman Pleads for sex using the argument that they have not “world enough and time” to delay.

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To His Coy Mistress

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  1. To His Coy Mistress A Feminist Approach…

  2. The Speaker… • Addresses himself to a coy or an unwilling woman • Pleads for sex using the argument that they have not “world enough and time” to delay. • Seeks to frighten her into compliance: this is shown in his descriptions of her body: her eyes, forehead, “ the rest” and “every part” • He wants her to “show” her heart

  3. The Woman • Is unwilling to accept the speaker • Is quite intelligent • Is compared to a “marble vault” • Despite her charms, her vault is coldly closed to him • The speaker clinches the attack with the next image “then worms shall try/that long preserved virginity” (line 27-28) • She has no reaction to this…

  4. This poem is pro-feminist because… • (1)the woman remains in control throughout the poem • Despite the speakers assaults, she remains in control- she doesn’t give in • The speaker is put down: “Nor in thy marble vault shall sound my echoing song” (line 26) • The speaker’s tone is frustration/anger towards the end: “then worms shall try that long preserved virginity, and your quaint honor turn to dust…The grave’s a fine and private place” (line 27-31)

  5. This poem is pro-feminist because… • (2) the speaker, a man, is shown as foolish, irrational, and arrogant • He puts her on a pedestal while assaulting/harassing her: “Though by the Indian Ganges’ side shouldst rubies find; I by the tide of Humber would complain” (line 5-7). • He is irrational: he puts her on that pedestal, showing how she’s beautiful and precious, but then later on says, “But at my back I always hear times winged chariot hurrying near;... Thy beauty shall no more be found;” (lines 22-25). • Shows how he lives in the present; stupid- doesn’t think long-term.

  6. THE END!!!

  7. A Feminist Approach to A Farewell to Arms

  8. The Feminist Approach says… • “Woman aren’t different from men; women are constructed differently by men” • De Beauvoir • Man defines human, not woman. • A woman CAN be a hero or code hero!!!

  9. In A Farewell to Arms… • Frederic is not in control of his relationship with Catherine • he is controlled BY HER • example: Catherine plays “the game” of love with Frederic “not for diversion, but for survival. Hers is a sophisticated game, over his head, and Frederic does not understand the stakes” (Spanier 135) • example: Catherine declares, “We’re going to have a strange life” • “thereby taking control, and casting Frederic-compliant, convenient, and quite unsuspecting- as substitute player for her boy who was killed” (Spanier 135).

  10. Implying her dead lover!!! Frederic is not in control… • He does what she says • Ex: interesting dialogue: • Catherine: “Say, ‘I’ve come back to Catherine in the night.’” • Frederic: “I’ve come back to Catherine in the night.” • Catherine: “Oh darling, you have come back, haven’t you?” • This was during her third meeting with Frederic, and she’s already controlling him!!!

  11. Frederic is not in control.. • A final example of a revealing dialogue • Frederic: “Do you always know what people think?” • Catherine: “Not always. But I do with you.” • Catherine knows all about him- she can control situations in a way that benefits HER, not THEM. • Goes back to the idea that her game is for survival

  12. THE END!!!

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