English Comparative Links Flashcards
(10 cards)
Little Red Cap
A Woman’s Last Word
Similarity
Reclaiming of voices
Difference
Little Red Cap is a more active approach to developing maturity and independence
- “scrotum to throat” vs “glistening virgin white of his grandmother’s bones”
- “I made quite sure he spotted me, sweet sixteen, never been”
A Woman’s Last Word is a more subtle exploitation of gender norms
- “Be a god and hold me with a charm!”
- “fall asleep… loved by thee”
Little Red Cap
My Last Duchess
Similarity
A man holds social power over a woman
Difference
Little Red Cap breaks free from the wolf’s control by killing him
- “scrotum to throat” vs “glistening virgin white of my grandmother’s bones”
- “Lesson one that night… was the love poem”
The Duchess is eventually killed when the Duke’s jealousy grows uncontrollable
- “If she let herself be lessoned so”
- “This grew, I gave commands; Then all smiles stopped together”
Mrs Midas
My Last Duchess
Similarity
Oppressed social role of women
Difference
Mrs Midas takes control over the family when Midas gains his powers
- “What gets me now is the not the idiocy or greed but lack of greed for me. Pure selfishness.”
- “Separate beds”
The Duchess is constantly patronised and eventually killed when the Duke’s jealousy grows uncontrollable
- “If she let herself be lessoned so… Here you miss, or there exceed the mark”
- “Things grew, I gave commands; Then all smiles stopped together”
Mrs Aesop
A Woman’s Last Word
Similarity
Both women have the last word by subverting patriarchal norms and by emasculating a male
Difference
Mrs Aesop explicitly subverts Aesop’s condescending fables on him
- “I gave him a fable one night about a cock that wouldn’t crow”… “I laughed, longest”
- “What race? What sour grapes?… I could barely keep awake as the story droned on towards the moral of itself”
The speaker subtly exploits her husband’s possessiveness
- “Be a god and hold me with a charm!”
- “Let’s contend no more love”
Mrs Aesop
Pictor Ignotus
Similarity
Characters hide their own insecurities
Difference
Mrs Aesop claims Aesop overintellectualises in compernsation for his impotence
- “I gave him a fable one night about a little cock that wouldn’t crow”
- “He was small, didn’t prepossess. So I tried to impress.”
Pictor Ignotus conceals his jealousy and insecurity in his painting skill by boasting, and criticising Renaissance art culture
- “Who summoned those cold faces?”
- “listen to their prate, partakes of daily pettiness”
Mrs Aesop
My Last Duchess
Similarity
Characters hide their own insecurities
Difference
Mrs Aesop claims Aesop overintellectualises in compernsation for his impotence
- “I gave him a fable one night about a cock that wouldn’t crow”
- “He was small, didn’t prepossess. So I tried to impress.”
The Duke conceals his insecurity by controlling the Duchess
- “my gift of a nine-hundred-years old name”
- “This grew, I gave commands; then all smiles stopped together”
Mrs Rip van Winkle
My Last Duchess
Similarity
Oppressed social role of women
Difference
Mrs Rip van Winkle’s marriage limits her opportunities and subjects her to unwanted sexual intercourse
- “I sank like a stone in the still, deep waters of middle age”
- “what was best,/ what was hands-down the rest,/ was saying a none-too-fond farewell to sex”
The Duchess is constantly restricted and eventually killed when the Duke’s jealousy grows uncontrollable
- “the dropping of the daylight in the West”
- “This grew, I gave commands; then all smiles stopped together”
Mrs Rip van Winkle
Porphyria’s Lover
Similarity
Oppression of women, expected to submit to their partners
Difference
Mrs Rip van Winkle is trapped within a marriage where she cannot pursue her own interests
- “I sank like a stone in the still, deep waters of middle age”
- “what was best,/ what was hands-down the rest,/ was saying a none-too-fond farewell to sex”
Porphyria is killed despite being loyal to her lover (who is disillusioned by twisted gender norms)
- “mine, mine… no pain felt she… she felt no pain”
- “her darling one wish… and God has not said a word!”
Pygmalion’s Bride
Porphyria’s Lover
Similarity
Oppressed social role of women
Difference
Pygmalion is frightened by Galatea’s display of sexuality and the commitment she demands, as he only desires to possess her as an aesthetic/sexual object, but not to share a relationship
- “He looked for marks, for purple hearts, for inky stars, for smudgy clues.”
- “And haven’t seen him since. Simple as that.”
Porphyria’s display of sexuality reminds her lover of his inability to possess her, therefore killing her
- “mine, mine… no pain felt she… she felt no pain”
- “her darling one wish… and God has not said a word!”
Pygmalion’s Bride
A Woman’s Last Word
Similarity
Women’s lives are shaped by men with absurd expectations
Difference
Pygmalion is frightened by Galatea’s display of sexuality and the commitment she demands, as he only desires to possess her as an aesthetic/sexual object, but not to share a relationship
- “I changed tack… kissed back, was soft, was pliable… begged for his child – all an act”
- “And haven’t seen him since. Simple as that.”
The speaker represents the idealisation of women in Victorian society: to submit to their husbands and to concede any conflicts for peace.
- “Be a god and hold me with a charm! Be a man and fold my with thine arm!”
- “fall asleep… loved by thee”
