Use Of Figurative Language In Elizabeth Bowen's The Demon Lover

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A narrative is meant to be read and interpreted through the lenses of the culture and time period in which it is written in; however, a narrative can also be retold and reapplied to new cultures and time periods in order to allow the narrative to be pertinent to the local area. “The Demon Lover” by Elizabeth Bowen, a tale set in London during the time of World War II, is based on an older Scottish ballad,”The Daemon Lover”. Although both pieces are meant to be read and interpreted through completely different lenses, both pieces share a fundamental message albeit that they are portrayed in completely different manners. In the short story “The Demon Lover” by Elizabeth Bowen, the central message of loyalty is conveyed through the setting …show more content…

In the ballad, the woman leaves her house and family to go away with her previous lover when he promises her “ four-and-twenty bold mariners, \ And music on every hand” (Ballad 20). But after they “sailed a league,../A league but barely three”, the woman “wept..bitterly” and at the end she died when the man “stuck the top-mast with his hand.../And sank her in the sea”(20, 21). Her disobedience and her infidelity to the marriage caused her to suffer as she died when the man sunk the ship to the sea. The parable presented in the ballad reveals the suffering and punishment caused by the woman’s infidelity to her marriage. When the woman's lover is describing how he will take care of her and how he promises her a ship with “sails [made] of the teffeta,/ And the masts of the beaten gold” he is exaggerating the truth in order to convince the woman that she should escape with him (Ballad 20). In addition when the woman began to cry about leaving her husband and kids, the man “stuck the top-mast with his hand,/ The fore-mast with his knee;/ And he broke that gallant ship in twain, / And sank her in the sea” (Ballad 21). This gross over statement of the truth helps convey the severity of the punishment that women who cheat and are not faithful to their marriages are going to receive. The …show more content…

In both pieces this can be clearly seen as Mrs.Drover is punished for breaking her promise to the soldier while the women in the Scottish ballad is punished for breaking the promise of marriage. In both these pieces, the character is harshly punished for not being loyal and breaking the promises that they have made; however, in the Scottish ballad another crucial aspect is also revealed. The woman is entranced by the riches and glory that the lover promised her and as such breaks her vow of marriage to her husband and leaves with the lover. The greed for the riches allows the women in the Scottish ballad to break her vows and leave with the lover but at the end she pays for her sins as the lover “stuck the top-mast with his hand,...And sank her in the sea” (Ballad

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