Pygmalion’s Bride (DP IB English A: Language and Literature: HL): Revision Note

This study guide to Carol Ann Duffy’s poem ‘Pygmalion’s Bride’ contains:

• Overview

• Authorial purpose

• Authorial choices and textual features

• Themes

• Connections to other Duffy poems

Overview

• The poem was first published in 1999 in the collection The World’s Wife

• The collection consists of poems from the perspectives of women connected to, or reimagined from, famous men in myth, history, literature, film and popular culture

• Duffy offers a retelling of their experiences to challenge the dominant male perspective

• Pygmalion's Bride is a retelling of a myth from Ovid's Metamorphoses (Book 10), a Roman poetic retelling of a Greek myth set in Cyprus:

  • In the original myth, the sculptor Pygmalion fell in love with his statue, whom he named Galatea

  • Aphrodite granted his wish to bring Galatea to life and he married his statue-bride

• Duffy retells the story from Galatea’s perspective

Authorial purpose

• Duffy’s aim with the collection is to challenge dominant male perspectives and narratives

• She offers multiple and complex versions of womanhood

• In ‘Pygmalion’s Bride’, the myth becomes an extended metaphor for toxic power dynamics in relationships between men and women:

  • Galatea feigns indifference in the hope that it will deter Pygmalion’s advances

  • But Pygmalion is attracted to his bride’s passivity, as he can use her as he wishes

  • When she feigns interest, enjoyment and agency, he appears to lose interest and discards her

Authorial choices and textual features

Form 

• ‘Pygmalion’s Bride’ is a free verse poem:

  • The lack of a regular rhyme scheme makes the poem feel conversational and intimate

  • It reads like a personal account

• It has seven irregular-length stanzas:

  • The last stanza is two lines

  • It reads like a punchline

• The poem is a dramatic monologue giving voice and perspective to Galatea

Structure

• The title alludes to the figure in Greek mythology:

  • The whole poem can be read as a reinterpretation of the original myth from Galatea’s perspective

  • Or it could be a contemporary speaker using the mythical figures as metaphors for current issues

• Caesura emphasises the contrast between the speaker and the sculptor

Language

• Pygmalion can be read as an extended metaphor for male desire to dominate:

  • Accordingly, Galatea can be read as an extended metaphor for women who must navigate issues of dominance, consent and agency

• The speaker uses imagery (opens in a new tab)and similes to describe herself as dissociated from the sculptor’s advances:

  • The semantic field of coldness and purity emphasises this

• Colloquial expressions place the speaker in a modern context:

  • Duffy plays with time and place to highlight the longevity of problematic power dynamics in patriarchal societies

• Connotation and juxtaposition combine to emphasise the sculptor’s aggression and Galatea’s repulsion

• Duffy uses alliteration, sibilance (opens in a new tab)and assonance to convey contrasting behaviours and attitudes

Themes

Objectification of women

Duffy’s work can be read in the context of ideas associated with third-wave feminism (see more in Contextual Understanding), which was concerned with challenging sexual power dynamics, assault, abuse and taboos around female desire. In the poem, Galatea’s lack of consent aligns the ‘seduction’ with rape. Her disassociation and attempts to remove herself from Pygmalion’s caresses echo narratives often associated with rape victims. Pygmalion’s increased attraction to her passivity and his desire to harm her highlight a toxic male desire that objectifies women and is attracted to them at best as objects and at worst as victims of their control. Galatea manipulates this by feigning desire and agency in order to repulse Pygmalion. She plays on objectification by understanding that by refusing to be an object, she is no longer desirable. Duffy prompts us to reflect on how embedded layers of these dynamics are in our relationships.

Connections to other Duffy poems

When studying Duffy’s poetry, it is important to make connections across her work, as many poems explore similar ideas through different speakers and situations.

Power

Duffy explores the power dynamics embedded in patriarchal norms and the culture that comes from them. She seeks to overthrow or at least prompt us to challenge them by offering alternative, female-based perspectives on well-known tales. Here, she examines the power of the speaker to manipulate male desire for passivity. The speaker refuses to be an object, and in overthrowing this role, she reclaims her independence.   

Sources:

Duffy, C.A. (1999) The World’s Wife. London: Picador.