To be honest I have mixed emotions about this piece. It is so easy to understand the rage and betrayal she felt. To be betrayed by a spouse and father must have left a lot of emotional scarring. With that said, I'm still not certain that this could drive me to murder my own children; but unsettled emotion can possibly drive us to do many things we wouldn't normally do.
"Her walls have sunk, and pyramids of fire
In lurid splendor from her domes aspire; (Lines 3-4)
I feel Hemans is showing a parallel between the destruction of the temple to the decline and destruction of her marriage and family life.
Hemens seems to paint the wife heroically by saying: "But a wild courage sits triumphant there,
The stormy grandeur of a proud despair;
A daring spirit, in its woes elate,
She seems th' avenging goddess of the scene." (Lines 25 - 27, 32)
While some may see this as heroism, I'm having a hard time accepeting this even in light of the emotional unrest of her past. My mother raised my sister and I as a single mother for a good part of our lives. There were a lot of different stressors that impacted our family. I can definitely relate to that, but I still struggle with murdering your children for ANY reason.
Revenge is a powerful thing!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
The murdering of her children caught me as sheer madness and it just seemed full of revenge. It is ironic that she wants this woman to be a hero but then commits a cowardly act by taking the life of her innocent children in-spite of her husband and his betrayal. I do however like the first quote from lines 3-4. As a 21 year old having dealt little in love or betrayal really I do see the imagery as a home falling apart. My parents got a divorce when I was 7 and I was the child in the middle, for a long time I felt as if my world would begin to fall as well. I definitely enjoy Hemans writing and think this blog was a good insight to how it could be understood or looked at.
ReplyDeleteI hear you! Emotional scarring, sure, but taking it out on your kids who are in no way responsible for the pain you are now experiencing? You should be ashamed. Nice parallel you pointed out. There was a whole lot of destruction in this piece, in addition to the lives of two little kids who had done nothing wrong. I don't think that action could ever possible by condoned. Kaylani's right about the irony. You can't do such a thing and still claim status as "hero." You have GOT to be kidding me.
ReplyDeleteAngela,
ReplyDeleteI like the way you explore your own ambiguous responses to Hemans's poem, and the way the poet constructs those reactions. Good use of specific passages to focus your discussion, too.
I totally agree with your point of view, the whole piece was a little disturbing to me. I could never imagine a mother using the death of her innocent children as a weapon of revenge. Your comparison to a real life experience just shows the complete derangement of the woman as her decision to murder her own children concluded.
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with your point as well because as a mother I can not fathom, regardless of what my husband does, killing my children. She is trying to be an heroic victim in realizing she never wants her children to go through such pain but hey, leave and have a better life. Good selection.
ReplyDeleteAngela, you are correct If I were put in this situation I would not have hurt my own kids. Of course with her being a mother and the hurt that she was going through it depends on the person reading the poem to decide whether or not she was a martyr or just insane. It is interesting how deception can drive the most sane and well put together person to insanity.
ReplyDeleteI agree that the feelings about murdering own children, no matter what the case I don't believe there should be a time when the parents will ever harm let alone murder their own children. However what she went through is something I have yet to experience not having any children that does those things
ReplyDelete