Examine the view that in ‘Feminine Gospels’ women are presented as lonely individuals cut off from
mainstream society. 23
Duffy’s radical collection of poetry, ‘Feminine Gospels’ aims to enlighten society on the accurate and
honest experience of women. Typically isolated by their inability to conform to or fulfil the unrealistic
expectations of society, Duffy presents women as lonely individuals that have been rejected.
Alternatively, one might argue that the women Duffy portrays have not been cut off, but rather driven
into isolation by the cruel and repressive ‘male gaze’ that objectifies and marginalises the female
identity. Yet, a reader may also interpret the isolation of these individuals to be an active choice that
empowers them.
The universal embodiment of women throughout the ages, Duffy’s ‘History’ is a figure of isolation and
deprivation. ‘Half-dead’ and fearful of male assault and abuse from which she has eternally suffered,
Duffy’s character represents the solitary woman who is simultaneously ignored, neglected, and
victimised. Waking up ‘alone’, struck with age and illness (‘wheezed’, ‘coughed’), ‘History’ slinks around
an ‘empty house’, waiting for the next vicious and vitriolic attack of the patriarchal society she is
surrounded by – ‘Bricks through the window, thieves’. Plagued by torment, she finds only ‘shit wrapped
in a newspaper’ when the doorbell is rung, a reminder of the isolation and loneliness that pervades her
life. Equally, the poem ‘Beautiful’ depicts the isolation of women in a society that rejects those unable to
adhere to conventional norms. Duffy’s alternative retelling of the myth of Helen of Troy shows a woman
typically submissive to the fantasies of men; her ‘starlike sorrows of immortal eyes’ are ‘loved’ passively
and her being is adored no deeper than her ‘skins celebrity’, thus, she does not reciprocate the
affections of her subjects. Making the active choice to engage with her conventionally feared female
sexuality – ‘she took a lover’, rather than the abduction which the traditional myth stipulates, Helen
mars her pristine reputation of fragility (‘born from an egg’, removed from the base humanity of natural
childbirth) and ‘pearl’escent chastity, her identity is only remembered in the images of disgraceful and
parodies of corrupt and perverted femininity (‘sliced a last grin [in her lover’s] throat’, ‘dressed as a boy’,
‘hung’ ‘in a stylish shroud’), as society rejects the deviant woman, shunning her to a life of solitude and
repression, ‘a little bird kept in a cage’.
One might argue that these women are ‘cut off from society’, yet Duffy’s scathing and aphoristic tone
throughout poems such as ‘Beautiful’ suggest that it is the deliberate and cruel actions of the patriarchy
that intentionally drives women to isolation and loneliness. This idea can certainly be reinforced through
Duffy’s vulgar and crude language that is accompanied with abrasive imperatives directed towards the
women in her poem ‘Beautiful’: ‘get in the car’, ‘put on the mink, ‘smile cunt’, ‘Act like a fucking
princess’. The character of ‘History’ appears to have attempted to escape their attacks, her ‘stinking
breath in [Diana’s] face’ a warning that women who engage with the expectations and entitled demands
of the patriarchy will always suffer. Unconsensually made pornographic, the image of Marilyn Monroe in
‘Beautiful’ is commodified to satisfy ‘drooling’ audiences that ‘stared and stared and stared’, so that her
body is torn from her identity, and her sensitivity (as conveyed through ‘her little voice’) is harshly
rejected. Surrounded by ‘cameras [that] loved her’, she at first seems an engaging woman enjoying a
reception of admiration and devotion, but then is revealed to simply be the blank, speechless slated
upon which their primitive fantasies are projected (‘the audience drooled’). Edited to her own detriment,
mainstream society. 23
Duffy’s radical collection of poetry, ‘Feminine Gospels’ aims to enlighten society on the accurate and
honest experience of women. Typically isolated by their inability to conform to or fulfil the unrealistic
expectations of society, Duffy presents women as lonely individuals that have been rejected.
Alternatively, one might argue that the women Duffy portrays have not been cut off, but rather driven
into isolation by the cruel and repressive ‘male gaze’ that objectifies and marginalises the female
identity. Yet, a reader may also interpret the isolation of these individuals to be an active choice that
empowers them.
The universal embodiment of women throughout the ages, Duffy’s ‘History’ is a figure of isolation and
deprivation. ‘Half-dead’ and fearful of male assault and abuse from which she has eternally suffered,
Duffy’s character represents the solitary woman who is simultaneously ignored, neglected, and
victimised. Waking up ‘alone’, struck with age and illness (‘wheezed’, ‘coughed’), ‘History’ slinks around
an ‘empty house’, waiting for the next vicious and vitriolic attack of the patriarchal society she is
surrounded by – ‘Bricks through the window, thieves’. Plagued by torment, she finds only ‘shit wrapped
in a newspaper’ when the doorbell is rung, a reminder of the isolation and loneliness that pervades her
life. Equally, the poem ‘Beautiful’ depicts the isolation of women in a society that rejects those unable to
adhere to conventional norms. Duffy’s alternative retelling of the myth of Helen of Troy shows a woman
typically submissive to the fantasies of men; her ‘starlike sorrows of immortal eyes’ are ‘loved’ passively
and her being is adored no deeper than her ‘skins celebrity’, thus, she does not reciprocate the
affections of her subjects. Making the active choice to engage with her conventionally feared female
sexuality – ‘she took a lover’, rather than the abduction which the traditional myth stipulates, Helen
mars her pristine reputation of fragility (‘born from an egg’, removed from the base humanity of natural
childbirth) and ‘pearl’escent chastity, her identity is only remembered in the images of disgraceful and
parodies of corrupt and perverted femininity (‘sliced a last grin [in her lover’s] throat’, ‘dressed as a boy’,
‘hung’ ‘in a stylish shroud’), as society rejects the deviant woman, shunning her to a life of solitude and
repression, ‘a little bird kept in a cage’.
One might argue that these women are ‘cut off from society’, yet Duffy’s scathing and aphoristic tone
throughout poems such as ‘Beautiful’ suggest that it is the deliberate and cruel actions of the patriarchy
that intentionally drives women to isolation and loneliness. This idea can certainly be reinforced through
Duffy’s vulgar and crude language that is accompanied with abrasive imperatives directed towards the
women in her poem ‘Beautiful’: ‘get in the car’, ‘put on the mink, ‘smile cunt’, ‘Act like a fucking
princess’. The character of ‘History’ appears to have attempted to escape their attacks, her ‘stinking
breath in [Diana’s] face’ a warning that women who engage with the expectations and entitled demands
of the patriarchy will always suffer. Unconsensually made pornographic, the image of Marilyn Monroe in
‘Beautiful’ is commodified to satisfy ‘drooling’ audiences that ‘stared and stared and stared’, so that her
body is torn from her identity, and her sensitivity (as conveyed through ‘her little voice’) is harshly
rejected. Surrounded by ‘cameras [that] loved her’, she at first seems an engaging woman enjoying a
reception of admiration and devotion, but then is revealed to simply be the blank, speechless slated
upon which their primitive fantasies are projected (‘the audience drooled’). Edited to her own detriment,
