Beautiful Flashcards
(20 cards)
They stood in line, sighed,
knelt, beseeched Be Mine.
power is linked to devotion
THT: Offred has to play up to the Commander (Scrabble, Jezebel’s) to gain some sort of power
ASND: Stella (and Blanche) has to put up with Stanleys (hegemonic masculinity) abuse, in order to not be cast out from society
the drama of her clothes
ideals of performance, a facade
THT: put into “modest” and categorised clothing so there is no ‘drama’
ASND: Blanche’s clothing is suggestive and is a way of maintaining her image
loved and loved
and loved again, her cries
like the bird of calamity’s
metaphor for sex (rape?), verb- sexual pleasure or distress?, simile + noun implies they are ‘cries’ of distress
THT: Offred’s fake orgasm in Jezebel’s, pretending to “enjoy” the Ceremony
ASND: Blanche unable to ‘cry’ out when Stanley rapes her, does Stella perform her sensuality in order to stay with Stanley?
Beauty is fate …
incremental repetition
clung to her form, a stylish shroud
even in death, helen of troy is objectified
THT: handmaids wear ill-fitting clothes for modesty
ASND: Blanche ‘has a tragic radiance in her red satin robe following the sculptural lines of her body’
kept a little bird inside a cage
metaphor for helen of troy’s life- she can only choose whos cage she gets trapped in, by manipulating men with her beauty
THT: ‘cage(d)’ by the patriarchy and have no choice of who they succumb to
ASND: Stella and Blanche, like Helen of Troy, can only choose who they are oppressed by but not choose whether they are oppressed or not
She had him gibbering in bed by twelve
presents Caesar as weak and submissive, subversing the ideals of what Roman soldiers are supposed to be like
THT: other than the Commanders in Jezebel’s and Offred’s fake orgasm, there is nothing sexual about sex- it is merely a transaction, now
ASND: is Stella’s sexuality a means of surviving? links to Blanche’s prostitution
wrapped in satins like a gift
simile- Cleopatra’s manipulation of her beauty to present herself as a ‘gift’ to Caesar
THT: links to Offred’s Jezebel’s disguise
ASND: Blanche is constantly dressed in ‘satin’, perpetually offering herself to men (for safety) through hyper-femininising herself
made him fuck her as a lad.
He had no choice
imperative- subversion of gender stereotypes/instils gender fluidity, expletives and colloquial language
THT: instead, women have ‘no choice’ and this submissiveness isn’t pleasurable, like it is for Caesar
ASND: Blanche fears her sexual past, yet weaponises her sexuality- forcing people to stare at her figure and view her in a sexual way
her sleepy, startled gaze
invasive- they film her even when ‘sleepy’, sibilance creates a hushing sound which mimics the ‘sleepy’ but perhaps the “hushing” of the paparazzi/cameras to cover their wrongdoing
THT: gilead doesnt care about womens’ feelings
ASND: despite blanche’s frailty, she is persistently abused by the other characters
They filmed her harder, harder
violent verbs- metaphor for rape (link to Daly’s armchair rapists)
THT: it seems that no amount of turmoil that women face could stop Gilead
ASND: Blanche and Stella’s perpetual sexualisation, despite emotional distress
her hair was platinum, her teeth gems, her eyes
sapphires pressed by a bankers thumb
…
her skin investors’ gold
the violent verbs (harder, harder) are covered by her beauty which hides the horrors of her mistreatment, Monroe is commodified as people capitalise on her beauty; she is a mindless, money-making machine
THT: theme of women as livestock throughout
ASND: male gaze seen throughout streetcar- link to blanche’s rape being seen as justified?
…Then it was coffee, pills, booze
these nouns propel the poem forwards- implying Monroe functions on these, also foreshadows her death by overdose
THT: links to offred’s futile search for any kind of hope
ASND: blanche’s alcoholism
under the lights
Monroe feels/is exposed under lights (which normally have positive connotations)
THT: links to final line- unknown ending
ASND: blanche also feels exposed under lights
The smoking cop who watched
nonchalance from the ‘cop’
THT: links to surveillance, links to how offred did nothing before gilead to stop it
ASND: the characters are complicit in blanche’s downfall- stella ‘couldnt go on’ etc
the dark roots
of her pubic hair.
the “real” Monroe is exposed after her death, her body is abused and sexually exploited even in her death
THT: women’s ‘roots’ are never exposed- the reader doesnt even know offred’s name, let alone what happened to her
ASND: blanche’s ‘dark roots’ are exposed and these do concern a sexually “immoral” past
You know her name.
reflects the significance of Diana’s death- irony in how this is whilst shes dead
THT: we dont know offred’s real name or even what happened to her
ASND: links to blanche’s sexual reputation ‘Dame Blanche’ yet they all try to “forget” about her as she is taken to the ‘country;
Beauty is fate.
incremental repetition- women are exploited for their looks, their physical qualities determine their lives
THT: women are defined by their physical qualities- and then again into different categories of “womanhood”
ASND: blanche believes that her looks are the make or break of her life, also links to the overtly sexual Kowalski relationship
Act like a fucking princess
…
Give us a smile, cunt.
reflects the voice of the media, they command her to do things whilst treating her poorly, the caesura in ‘smile, cunt’ places emphasis on the expletive and instils the rage that the media pursued her with
THT: the commander toying with offred for his own gain
ASND: blanche and stanley’s relationship
History’s stinking breath in her face.
personification of history, final words ‘her face’ reflects again how the physical aspects of women define the female experience, duffy gives examples of women who have been abused- asking when will this come to an end?
THT: atwood writes a whole novel about offred’s female experience in gilead- the final line serves as a question readers: when will this come to an end?
ASND: stella is trapped in her marriage (like eunice), blanche is essentially exiled- the play is a depiction of womens’ lives in the new south (and patriarchy as a whole)
