IB HL English Language and Literature: The World's Wife (written task 2)

Outline

Written Task 2 (Part 3)

Text: The World’s Wife by Carol Ann Duffy

Question: How and why is a social group represented in a particular way?

Intro

Background info on collection of poems

How women have been treated traditionally as shown by historical figures in the poems vs. similar
treatment now

 Thesis: women are represented as inferiors to men who are the bases of all their problems

Paragraph 1: injustice to women

 ‘Mrs.’ prefix = property of their husbands, no identity
 Women are neglected
o MEDUSA, MRS. RIP VAN WINKLE, MRS. SISYPHUS


Paragraph 2: women are strong

 Men neglect them but they find their identities
 Poem progresses, power progresses
o MEDUSA, MRS. LAZARUS, PENELOPE




Conclusion (add subtlety)

 Duffy writes about strong women who find their identities by themselves yet the men always
return (a nod to present times where men are mostly in control)



*THEMES: masculinity, female empowerment, identity, acceptance