E. Graham AGGS 2010
‘THE LIFELESS WIFE’
By Margaret Atwood and
‘LEAVING PRINCE CHARMING BEHIND’ By Karlo Mila
These poems suits essay questions that ask about

Ideas / themes / opinions / messages

Characters

Feelings / emotions

Imagery / techniques / language features/ poetic devices

Texts that produce a strong reaction in the reader
This is intended as a model of the writing style / types of ideas / analysis required
for Level 2 Excellence. Rather than copy this word for word, you should aim to
mimic the style use, express the ideas in your own words and structure the content
around which ever essay question you have chosen.
‘THE LIFELESS WIFE’ by Margaret Atwood
In ‘The Lifeless Wife’ Atwood describes a loveless
marriage. She skilfully uses imagery to provide a
sense of the two main characters. The husband is
described a “grim, thin, pin-striped businessman”.
The repeated “i” sound of the assonance sounds
monotonous, suggesting he is boring and
depressing to be around. Assonance is also used
to describe the “Lifeless wife”. The dragged-out
syllables of the words show how weary the wife
feels. Her unhappiness is shown in the first line.
She kisses her husband with “pursed lips”. The
image of her pinched, unwilling lips suggest she kisses him out of
obligation rather than affection.
Atwood uses two effective metaphors to further develop the idea of
the ‘lifelessness’ of the wife. She first describes her “his safe deposit
box and bank”. This image of cold metal box represents the wife’s
feeling of emptiness but also suggests she is a mere possession to
him. Perhaps she runs the household finances and he is the earner,
so he sees her as little more than a money box, a worthless container
for his funds. We could also read this as a sexual innuendo; the box
referring to her womb.
Secondly, she is referred to as “the nickelodeon that plays his favourite
tune.” A nickelodeon is an old-fashioned jukebox. This image is even
more disturbing for the reader. It conjures an image of a woman who
performs on cue, doing whatever is required to satisfy her husband’s
needs. The choice of a nickelodeon is effective because it is a
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plaything that only works when a button is pushed and a nickel put in.
This suggests the wife has no power: she is completely submissive to
her husband and seems to exist for his pleasure only.
The writer’s tone uses litotes (deliberate understatement) when she
says, “she was just an ordinary woman.” This implies she did nothing
wrong to deserve such treatment, was not overly stupid or weak or
passive – rather she was just a victim of a domineering man and a
patriarchal society. Secondly, and more devastatingly, Atwood seems
to be suggesting this situation is common or ‘ordinary’. This poem is
not just criticising this relationship, it is criticising the way society allows
men to dominate women and the fact that this is an ‘ordinary’ situation.
The last part of the poem is the most devastating. Atwood says “all he
had to do to make her fully his / in pure domestic bliss / was just break
through her backbone, / empty out her head / stuff her heart with
money and bury her in bed.” The reference to ‘pure domestic bliss’ is
ironic, as this marriage seems more like hell than bliss. However it
also refers to the cliché term used to describe a happily married
couple, which is another way Atwood makes the reader question
conventional gender relations. The words “break”, “empty”, “stuff” and
“bury” have violent connotations. They are verbs more associated
with theft or murder than love and marriage. The wife ‘breaks her back’
doing housework, has had her head ‘emptied’ of her own ideas and
dreams, has only room in her heart for her husband’s paycheck, and
feels like a corpse in the marriage bed. The strong rhyme of “head”
and “bed” as well as the alliteration of “break…backbone … bury
…bed” creates a forceful rhythm which reinforces the violent images.
As a result the reader is left feeling pity for the woman and anger about
the situation. Thus Atwood achieves her aim of increasing of our
understanding the inequality of men’s and women’s roles in
conventional marriages.
Context: Author’s purpose & background
Margaret Atwood has written a number of books, such as The
Handmaid’s Tale, that have feminist themes and attack patriarchal
social structures (male-dominated rule in society). This includes the
idea that when men married, their wives became their ‘property’. Until
the advent of Feminism in the1970s, most were expected to stay
home, raise children and do housework while their husbands went to
work. Most took their husband’s names and received mail addressed
to ‘Mr & Mrs John Smith’. Feminists began to question the way
women did not have equal rights and equal opportunities in work and in
society. They encouraged women not to change their names and
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campaigned for women to have the right to choose – whether to have
children or not, stay at home or work outside the home.
In the 70s a disorder called “suburban neurosis” was defined. It was
a “form of neurosis said to occur especially among suburban
housewives which is associated with feelings of boredom, loneliness
and lack of personal fulfillment." The woman in this poem seems to
suffer from this disorder. As a character she stands for all the women
who feel marginalised in playing the role of ‘wife’.
‘LEAVING PRINCE CHARMING BEHIND’ Karlo Mila
This poem describes a failed relationship, where the speaker
decides to leave her lover due to her feelings of dissatisfaction
about the role she was expected to play. Like Atwood’s poem,
Mila offers a critique of traditional gender roles in
relationships – in particular the idea that women ought to
adopt a passive, submissive role and men hold the dominant,
active one.
Early on in the poem, Mila sets up a contrast between the
expectations that her relationship would end ‘happily ever after’ and the
reality. She conveys by using a indenting a space in the line, “For a
while I thought we were living the fairy tale, but sadly I realised that this
was
the myth.” When the poem is read this creates a pause
which suggests hesitation or a ‘disruption’ in proceedings. Visually, the
large space indicates the gap between her hopes for a ‘fairytale’
(perfect, idyllic) relationship and the reality that this was a “myth” (a
fiction, untrue). The words ‘myth’ and ‘fairytale’ are synonyms which
add to the word play in this line.
One of the most distinctive features of this poem is its use of fairy tale
allusions, as suggested by the title. However, Mila goes to pains to
show that the persona’s former lover was no ‘Prince Charming’. He is
reduced to sarcastic descriptions such as ‘my poor dark prince’ and
told, ‘the glass slipper didn’t fit”, “your kiss could not wake me up to
your way of thinking.” Mila here is alluding to the stories of Cinderella
and Snow White, where the handsome prince comes to rescue the
heroine from her miserable life, bestows upon her a kiss, and they
marry only to live happily ever after. Girls in Western society,
influenced by movies and books, often expect to meet a perfect man –
a “Prince Charming” who will sweep them off their feet, propose and
lead them into a blissful marriage. Mila’s poem deliberately subverts
these myths. Her comment “your kiss could not wake me up to your
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way of thinking” suggests that the persona was not
willing to abandon her own ideas, hopes and dreams to
fit in with her partner.
The poet also uses a fairy tale allusion when describing
the persona’s role in the relationship. She writes, “I am
Rapunzel with her dreadlocks shorn / trying to pull down
the tower with broken nails, cursing your name.” Once
again, Mila’s image reverses the stereotype of a
fairytale princess with long blonde hair and a sweet,
submissive nature who waits patiently for her prince to
come. In contrast, Mila’s heroine had deadlocks – a sign
of a gutsy personality and a strong identity, and rather
than sit passively in a tower, she is actively trying to
destroy it in an angry rage. In this scenario, her lover is described
somewhat bitterly as “the architect of my isolation” – as if he designed
the means of her loneliness and lack of fulfilment in the relationship.
Her resentment of her ex-lover’s attempts to control her are also
expressed in the line, “I rejected the role of princess in your production”
which suggests the man acted as if he were a director in charge of a
play rather than an equal partner in their relationship.
Mila continues her reversal of stereotypes right up until the last
stanza of the poem, where she declares, “I transformed myself into a
beautiful dragon / you felt honour-bound to slay.” The reader gets a
sense of the persona’s feeling of defiance and her absolute refusal to
play the weakling princess in this story. She turns the typical fairy tale
upside down by transforming not from servant girl to princess, but from
princess to dragon. Dragons are usually the ‘monster’ in fairytales that
threaten the innocent and helpless princess, before she is rescued by
the prince. However, the use of the word “beautiful” suggests she
wants the reader to see the dragon in a positive light - as a powerful,
gorgeous being that can take care of itself. We are encouraged to
disapprove once more of the lover, who in his insecurity felt “honour
bound” to slay the dragon – as if an assertive woman was ‘monstrous’
and a threat to his power as a male.
Author’s purpose
Mila once said in regards to her poetry that ‘the personal is political’.
This poem exemplifies Mila’s position. The well-known Feminist quote
refers to the idea that personal experiences contain political truths. A
relationship break-up can show us cultural and social attitudes towards
women, men, love and romance. Here, while the man is more strongly
criticised for his condescending attitude towards the woman, there is
also an implicit critique of herself and other men and women who
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continue to believe in “fairytales” – myths about romance and
relationships. These can create unrealistic expectations, set rigid and
outdated roles for both sexes, and often end in heartbreak.