The composers Stephen Spender, Robert Browning and Margaret Atwood of the texts My Parents Kept Me from Children Who Were Rough, ¬¬¬My Last Duchess and The Handmaid’s Tale, all represent a sense of power in their corresponding texts through the use of a variety of language techniques embedded in their writing. The poems My Parents Kept Me from Children Who Were Rough, and My Last Duchess both explore the notion of personal power, while the poem My Parents Kept Me from Children Who Were Rough in parallel with The Handmaid’s Tale look at authoritative power. The poem ¬¬¬My Last Duchess alongside The Handmaid’s Tale represents a sense of patriarchal power, serving to further illuminate the fact that all three composers, although with differing
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Robert Browning has written the poem in the strict form of an iambic pentameter which was common in traditional, classic, English poetry, suggesting not only that the Duke was very orderly and formal even when addressing lower ranked individuals in private, but also hints at his controlling nature. However, the frequent use of enjambment and parenthesis “(since none puts by the curtain I have drawn for you, but I)”, and a metaphor “as if she ranked my gift of a nine-hundred-years-old name”, suggests that the Duke is unable to assume control of a number of things including; firstly, his speech, his emotions and also, the control of his previous Duchess. The line is indicative of power that she has over him to cause significant turmoil in his mind and implies that the only way that he is able to fully assert his power over her is in her …show more content…
In the novel, through the use of irony, ‘I am sure we are all aware of the unfortunate circumstances that bring us all here… but duty is a hard… taskmistress’ the readers are able to gain a sense of the amount of power of governance that the Aunts are granted over the Handmaids. The notion is highlighted through the Aunt’s ability to punish anyone they see as disobedient “they had electric cattle prods slung on thongs from their leather belts”, but also through their privilege of reading. Ultimately, they are in control of far more than the Commanders who are in charge of ‘lighter’ duties like reading the Bible or officiating arranged
Robert Browning has written the poem in the strict form of an iambic pentameter which was common in traditional, classic, English poetry, suggesting not only that the Duke was very orderly and formal even when addressing lower ranked individuals in private, but also hints at his controlling nature. However, the frequent use of enjambment and parenthesis “(since none puts by the curtain I have drawn for you, but I)”, and a metaphor “as if she ranked my gift of a nine-hundred-years-old name”, suggests that the Duke is unable to assume control of a number of things including; firstly, his speech, his emotions and also, the control of his previous Duchess. The line is indicative of power that she has over him to cause significant turmoil in his mind and implies that the only way that he is able to fully assert his power over her is in her …show more content…
In the novel, through the use of irony, ‘I am sure we are all aware of the unfortunate circumstances that bring us all here… but duty is a hard… taskmistress’ the readers are able to gain a sense of the amount of power of governance that the Aunts are granted over the Handmaids. The notion is highlighted through the Aunt’s ability to punish anyone they see as disobedient “they had electric cattle prods slung on thongs from their leather belts”, but also through their privilege of reading. Ultimately, they are in control of far more than the Commanders who are in charge of ‘lighter’ duties like reading the Bible or officiating arranged