carol ann duffy

A detailed Summary of carol ann duffy

Discuss The Model's Character From The

Point Of View Of The Reader And The Narrator.

In Carol Ann Duffy's poem, "Standing Female Nude", the model's character can be discussed by the reader and these views may contrast the views of the narrator, who is the model. I will begin by looking at the narrator's opinion of herself before considering my own views of the character.

The narrator shows that the model is very confident about herself in the poem and many points and examples can be used to show this. The model believes that after the painting is created 'the bourgeoisie will coo at such an image of a river-whore.' Here we notice that the narrator has a very high opinion of herself by suggesting that the painting with the model in it will be adored by the middle-class. Another example of the narrator showing that the model has a high opinion of herself is shown in the third stanza. We notice that the model believes the artist is attracted sexually to her 'there are times he does not concentrate and stiffens for my warmth.' Her high opinion of herself is emphasised even more when she continues to explain that the artist could not possibly be thinking of possessing her in the flesh as well as on the canvas 'He possesses me on c

Also in the first stanza we are shown the pompous character the model can adopt when she describes who will love the picture with her in it when it is finished. We also get the impression that the model is uneducated and has no knowledge of art. Firstly when she says, 'they call it Art.' Shows that she is not very impressed by it but we feel she would if she had knowledge of art. This point is supported in the third stanza when she describes the artist painting her. 'His name is Georges. They tell me he's a genius.' Clearly because she has no knowledge of art she can't tell whether he is a genius or not.

of tea leaves, is gazing at her naked body and says 'Magnificent'. This could show what she thinks of her appearance, again echoing her high opinion and confidence in herself, shown in the previous examples.

The model can be said to have a pretentious character because in the third stanza, we see she is very cynical towards the artist. This is shown when she says, 'There are times he does not concentrate and stiffens for my warmth.' From this we can see that she feels she is irresistible, however, we hear very little from the artist and believe that the model is merely assuming that the artist is attracted to her. Her pretentious character is also shown in the last stanza where she is very sarcastic when talking about the artist and tries to suggest that her

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Approximate Word count = 924
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English