In Austen’s novel, the character of Marianne is an example of a younger, naïve women in the regency era; ‘she was sensible and clever; but eager in everything’. Marianne was bought up in an upper-class family, so she had a higher education and was ‘clever’. However, the adjective ‘eager’ indicates Marianne’s sense of urgency to marry is not the correct option. She is fixated on the physicality of John Willoughby who is a young English man with a wealthy family and large estate. In his first appearance, Willoughby is described by Austen as ‘a young man of good abilities, quick imagination, lively spirits and open, affectionate manners’, qualities which appeal to Marianne because she is attracted to the physical appearance and Willoughby’s attractive qualities. Marianne falls very quickly in love with him. She lacks ‘sensibility’ in ensuring that he could be her husband for the correct reasons; this should be love and intimacy which Duffy explores in ‘Mrs Aesop’s’ character. The listing and use of adjectives by Austen suggests that these were attractive features of a strategic marriage which would bring them into wealth and security or as Austen describes in Pride and Prejudice’s opening line: ‘It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife’. Many men in the 1790’s generated their wealth through agriculture and rent; having a large estate was important for females as they could only have status from their husband or father’s wealth – Marianne in particular has to acquire wealth through a husband as her father passed away, making Willoughby arguably more attractive. Marianne reacts to him with ‘deep sensibility’ in the novel as ‘her opinions are all romantic’ which causes her view on Willoughby to be tilted because she believes Willoughby is her ideal match. Furthermore, Marianne’s submissive attitudes are reflected when Willoughby flees to London and leaves Marianne behind. ‘Have you not received my notes? cried Marianne’ This interrogative reflects her desperation to have Willoughby and even chases him to London. ‘Marianne is impulsive and subjective’ This highlights her nativity to marry the first man she meets. She follows Willoughby to London despite him being a man who didn’t reciprocate love evenly. Ultimately, Marianne clearly lacks power in her relationship due to her innocence. This is different to the Duffy’s eponymous character Mrs Aesop.
Contrastingly, Duffy presents heterosexual relationships in ‘Mrs Aesop’ through the rise of women and how they gain domination. Duffy highlights how women defy the fact that they were ‘rendered passive and secondary’ by taking the lead role in relationships. This challenges society as this was previously considered a male role. The impious opening line ‘By Christ, he could bore for Purgatory’ foregrounds Mrs Aesop’s immediate disrespect for her husband due to the religious reference ‘purgatory.’ This is the belief of the space between heaven and hell where people are to suffer for their sins after death. Mrs Aesop is expressing that her husband can make their relationship like ‘purgatory’ because of his neglect towards her. Aesop was a Greek fabulist who wrote short fables which were used as a means for relaying or teaching a moral lesson. Duffy highlights the rebellion ‘Mrs Aesop’ had against her husband which proves the change of independence in 1999. Mrs Aesop rebels against the traditional submissive nature towards her husband and instead become more presiding, due to her boredom. The semantic field of bestial imagery: ‘sly fox,’ ‘shy mouse,’ ‘tortoise,’ reflect his fables which she finds tedious, like her relationship with her husband has become. All these animals are small and submissive reflecting how characterless her husband is in their relationship. He hasn’t lent support to their marriage and as a result she has become disinterested. The simile ‘slow as marriage’ indicates that marriage is a façade for status, yet she wants to break away from her marriage indicating an imposing female attitude. This completely contrasts Marianne in ‘Sense and Sensibility’ reflecting the shift in time and how society has changed in 189 years. Mrs Aesop’s authoritative nature comes across when she ‘could barely keep awake’ this indicates that the marriage was one sided and the love was not reciprocated from her perspective. Women began to break away from traditional stereotypes leading to social change in the 1960’s. Women began to challenge the limitations placed upon them. Mrs Aesop is an example of a woman defying these morals. Mrs Aesop and Marianne are contrasting characters; one submissive to their husbands, one is rebelling away from their husband.
In Sense and Sensibility, Austen presents heterosexual relationships as uneven due to the overriding power males have compared to females leaving them with a lack of authority. Marianne is an example of the ‘secondary character’ that is blind to the reality of being a woman in the 1800s as she becomes passive and misled in her relationship with Willoughby. ‘it is not time or opportunity that is to determine intimacy-it is disposition alone’ was used to describe relationships in the 1800s. Marianne falls completely in love with the fantasy of Willoughby’s ‘disposition’ which would put her and her future family in good stead yet Marianne’s lack of ‘sense’ allows her to fall quickly into ‘intimacy’ with Willoughby when this was not reciprocated fully on Willoughby’s behalf. This highlights their uneven relationship with Marianne having a lack of control. This is also evident when she proclaims her love for Willoughby, yet he still flees to London and meets a new woman, Miss Grey. Willoughby ‘had left the girl whose youth and innocence he had seduced.’ This metaphor reflects that Willoughby used Marianne for unromantic reasons. She left the innocent Marianne to recover from his exit. Consequently, Marianne is left with a lack of authority due to Willoughby taking away her ‘youth.’ Marianne is left in a state of confusion and ‘utmost distress’ because of her eagerness to fall in love with Willoughby. “Willoughby was evasive. He said he had to leave, and took off quickly.” This declarative further explains Willoughby’s power to take off and leave his supposed lover behind. Marianne’s lack of understanding for men is evident in chapter 46 where she professes “If I could but know his heart, everything would become easy.” Marianne wishes she knew his ‘heart’ before she fell for him as it would be ‘easy’ now to not feel this kind of hurt. It could be said that Marianne doesn’t understand the norms of heterosexual relationships because of her sheltered life or her naivety. This leaves her with no authority towards Willoughby because she is unable to break away from the male grip that Willoughby has on her which contrasts the plot of ‘Little Red Cap’ as the girl takes power emphatically and leaves the grip of the wolf which expresses the shift of control in the eras.
In Duffy’s poem ‘Little Red Cap, heterosexual relationships are explored through women gaining more power over men and acceptance in their own decisions. The poem takes inspiration from the fairy tale ‘Little Red Riding Hood’ where an innocent girl is running away from the wolf which highlights the consuming masculine figure (wolf) that was common in 1697 when it was first published. However, Duffy suggests in her poem that gender doesn’t always have to dictate the outcome of heterosexual relationships. At the start on the poem, the girl is trapped in a disadvantageous relationship with the wolf ‘then I slid in from between his heavy matted paws’ which indicates that she was not a victim of the wolf. Instead, she was defying the innocent persona young women had previously much like Marianne had with Willoughby. Instead of being described as a victim, Duffy makes it evident that the narrator (the girl) is happy to continue into the ‘dark tangled thorny place’ with the wolf. Even though this has connotations of endangerment, the girl is happy to lose her innocence. Her ‘stocking ripped to shreds’ expresses that the narrator is on a sexual adventure and her innocence has been tarnished. This doesn’t seem to affect the girl because Duffy makes it evident that at the end of the poem, the girl ‘consumes the wolf rather than the other way round’ which makes the reader aware the narrator has gained control of her experience. The ‘sweet sixteen year old’ who would’ve been embarking on a sexual relationship is now not afraid of the hyper-sexualised appearance of the wolf; ‘bearded jaw and ‘licking chops’. Instead, she’s in charge of her relationships and sexual activity unlike her grandma who’s ‘glistening, virgin white [bones]’ are now in the stomach of the wolf indicating that her Grandma did not have the same control over her actions as the narrator. Duffy herself embarked on a relationship at age sixteen with a thirty-nine-year-old male. To a reader this would be quite shocking, however ‘Little Red Cap’ suggests that relationships don’t have to be controlled by gender or age explaining the narrators power and Duffy’s. Ultimately, Duffy highlights the increased power of women and their ability to make decisions for themselves.
In ‘Sense and Sensibility’ Austen describes heterosexual relationships as rewarding and romantic in some relationships, particularly in Elinor’s character. Elinor’s ‘sense’ results in a content marriage with Edward Ferrars. Their relationship demonstrates the ‘normal’ heterosexual relationships in the 1800s ending in marriage. Elinor is content with her husband unlike many other women in the novel. In ‘Sense and Sensibility,’ the success of relationships is portrayed at the end of the novel when Elinor Dashwood marries her lover, Mr Ferrars. ‘They were brought together by ‘mutual affection.’ The adjective ‘mutual’ suggests that their relationship was equal with no dominant power, unlike Marianne. They both had the same connection to each other. This was uncommon in the 1800s as the men usually empowered the relationship leaving one person (usually the woman) unsatisfied with the relationship. This reflects that Elinor and Edward defy the expectations of marriage in the 1800s. Elinor has wisdom, but she is emotionally reserved which induces her love for Edward. She loves Edward, and Edward is an ideal husband to have. Austen perhaps had the ‘sense’ of Elinor too as in 1800 J Austen refused a suitor who had many assets from his guardian and had never previously married. However, Austen refused to marry for romantic reasons highlighting the romantic element of love like ‘Elinor’. He is described as selfless by Elinor’s sister Marianne; ‘He is the most fearful of giving pain, of wounding expectation, and the most incapable of being selfish. The phrase ‘fearful of giving pain’ suggests that Edward treats Elinor with the utmost respect and would never cause her hurt like Willoughby did to Marianne. This declarative represents Edwards’s thoughtful personality and how well he treats Elinor much like how Shakespeare professes his love for Anne. A man in the classical era was considered the head of the house and his duty was to protect his wife. Edward is an example of this, yet he doesn’t overrule his wife. ‘That my heart is and will always be yours’ highlights the romantic love between them and how he would never commit adultery. He will ‘always’ be with Elinor. Both Duffy and Austen portray relationships as romantic in their texts.
The positive aspects of heterosexual relationships and how they can be romantic and fulfilling is explored by both Duffy and Austen in their texts. In Duffy’s Shakespearean metaphysical sonnet ‘Anne Hathaway’, she compares the intimate lovemaking between William Shakespeare and his wife Anne Hathaway to the process of creating poetry. Duffy describes the consuming and passionate side of love through Shakespeare’s touch; ‘a verb dancing in the centre of a noun.’ This metaphor reflects that the verb (who is Shakespeare) brings a noun (Anne) to life. The couple has a romantic bond and they fit together in harmony. The alliteration ‘shooting stars’ reflects the
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