GCSE Anthology- Character and voice.

AQA Syllabus

Medusa- By Carol Ann Duffy

Method- FLIRTS (Form, language, imagery, rhythm, tone and subject)

F- Dramatic Monologue, which is in the view of a jealous wife. In this poem,

Medusa expresses her bitter feelings about becoming old and unwanted. The
poem is being directed at her husband. It is divided in to irregular stanzas,
except the last line which is emphasised because it is isolated- her anger builds
up to the last line. The poem uses simple structure and vocab because her
feelings are not complicated; she is clear on how she feels towards her
husband. Lines are short and emphatic to represent simple thoughts.

L- The language of seeing connects the narrator to Medusa- Language of vision

and what is seen. Vision in this poem can be interpreted at ambiguous because
it can be either loving or dangerous. E.g. look at me now, perhaps she wants
him to look at her rather than the girls, or she wants to turn him to stone.
Looking could be either caring or fatal. Repetition- line 36: Your girls, your
girls, representing jealously and their youthfulness (for emphasis). Line 8: Im
foul mouthed now, foul tounged- her hateful thoughts and words have led to
physical decay. Line 40 and 41: Wasnt I beautiful? Wasnt I fragrant and
young?, questions indicate her vulnerability which makes her seem suddenly
human again.

I- Violent Imagery is used, the narrator seems to take pleasure in imagining

violence in the poem. This highlights her anger and seems shocking because it is
expressed in such an extreme, destructive way. Metaphor- line 10: There are
bullet tears, her emotions are dangerous. Onomatopoeia- line 22: A handful
of dusty gravel spattered down, emphasises her violent actions. The whole
poem is an extended metaphor for a jealous woman who turns against her
partner. Although jealousy makes Medusa dangerous, she also loses a lot: her
hair turns to filthy snakes and her breath soured stank. She is aware of the

GCSE Anthology- Character and voice. AQA Syllabus

change in herself: by the end of the poem the rhetorical questions Wasnt I
beautiful? Wasnt I fragrant and young? show her bitterness at being betrayed
and sadness at that change. The extended metaphor is further developed in her
description of her man who was a Greek God (a clichd description of a
handsome man but wittily appropriate in context). His heart is metaphorically a
shield, suggesting that he was unable to open up and love her properly.

R- The poem is rich in alliteration and rhyme, helping to unify the lines and
create a sense of rhythm even in free verse. For example in the third stanza, the
two lines: but I know youll go, betray, stray from home have two sets of
internal rhyme (know/go and betray/stray) and half rhyme between the final
word and the first set of rhyme. The third to sixth stanzas all have some end
rhyme, which always includes the final line of the verse, creating a sense of
finality associated with the death of her victims. Sibilance is used at the end of
the first stanza to suggest the hissing of the snakes: hissed and spat on my
scalp. Duffy uses groups of threes as a means to build up rhythm from the very
first line: a suspicion, a doubt, a jealousy.

T- The narrator is presented as foul and frightening. Indeed, she tells us that
we should be terrified by her. However, there is also a strong sense of sadness
in the poem. Medusa has resorted to these actions because of possible
mistreatment by a man, although its not clear cut: suspicion has motivated
her which makes the poem tragic. Anger, bitterness, jealousy- insecurity.

S- Medusa is one of the Gorgons, three sisters from Greek mythology who had
snakes for hair and whose terrifying gaze turned those who looked at them to
stone. Medusa was a slain by the hero Perseus, who chopped off her head. To
avoid looking at her directly he used a highly polished shield as a mirror. The
first person narrator, Medusa, is a woman who has transformed into a Gorgon
because of her jealousy. She suspects her husband is cheating on her.

GCSE Anthology- Character and voice. AQA Syllabus

Everything she looks on is destroyed, turned in to stone, because of jealousy.

Although she has been wronged and is suffering deeply, there is an element of
threat throughout the poem, culminating in the final line Look at me now,
which can be read as a cry of despair and as a threat- if you did look at a
Gorgon you would die. A woman feels betrayed by her husband. She is full of
destructive emotions of a jealous woman. Changes have taken place in her. In
the end she feels insecure about herself.