Synopsis
The worlds wife is a collection of poetry about the Wives of famous historical and mythological men. Duffy raises awareness to the censorship of woman throughout mythology and history and reclaims their power. Thetis is a powerful sea God in Greek mythology, mother to the famous Half mortal half God Achilles.
'' I shrank myself to the size of a bird in the hand of a man.''
Analysis
Throughout Greek mythology, Thetis was a significant figure known for being a nymph from the Gods. She was raped by Peleus and gave birth to Achilles, the best warrior in Greece. Duffy exposes this theme of entrapment by males as we see Thetis under-go metamorphosis transforming into an ' o weasel, ferret, bat, mink, rat'. These creatures are known for being dirty or unpleasant conveying that Thetis tries to transform into nasty creatures to prevent men from stealing or raping her. This is prevalent today despite it being mythology many women feel the need to ' cover up' or look a different way to dismiss a man's attention.
Thetis is a strong Nymph throughout greek mythology the line 'Size 8. Snake' can be interpreted as an oxymoron. A snake symbolizes this strength and scandalous nature of Thetis as the snake in the garden of Eden was used to manipulate eve. Throughout modern and historical literature a woman described as a snake can be seen as cunning, sneaky, and powerful something which Thetis was. Despite this description of Thetis the ' size 8' straight after seems a bit ambiguous. It could be used to remind the reader that even when Thetis is powerful enough to ' scrawl herself into a hurricane' she is still isolated by feminine frailties. The ' big mistake' straight after also illustrates this idea of a woman being powerful and cunning leads to her downfall. This is seen as despite Thetis's significance her end was still caused by a man.
At the end of the poem, Duffy plants ideological significance when she talks about childbirth. For many women, their lives feel transformed by having children, and traditionally, a woman must settle down and give birth and be a housewife for the rest of their lives. The pain childbirth brings is significant this is seen in the poem when it says ' So I changed, I learned, turned inside out'. The climatic ending further adds to this discomfort of childbirth as it ' burst out', this is significant because the baby isn’t born slowly but arrives violently. Changing this mother from an independent female into a maternal one. This is significant for women today in the way their lives are transformed when they have children as well as their bodies. Duffy exposes the vitality of childbirth and how it transforms a woman's life for good.
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