Women In Shakespeare's Sonnet 130 And Daniels 6 From Delia

on love poetry In this essay I will argue that the stereotypes placed upon women commonly associated with love sonnets are inherently misogynistic and will convey this through the comparison of William Shakespeare's sonnet 130 and Daniels 6 from Delia. Shakespeare's sonnet 130 highlights these stereotypes and uses a satirical approach in portraying the unachievable standards set for women in literature which contrasts to the Daniel's poem which is seen to objectify and to devalue women. This essay will also look at the argument of Simone Debeauvoir in the second sex which has aided in my analysis of the poems. In Sonnet 6 from Delia, a collection of sonnets, the writer clearly see’s women as other and is confused by the paradoxical

suggesting her to fit into debeauvoir’s idea "bad women” stereotype which shows particular women in a negative light being the mandrake demon etc etc. this is because although beautiful the female is nasty nd mistreats the male writer. The poem itself is filled with contrasts an example being in the second line "her brow shades frowns, although her eyes are sunny”. This line from the text highlights the writers own confusion of women by using juxtaposition suggesting the women in the poem to be both frowning and simultaneously happy, coming from connotations of sunny being bright and cheerful. The objectification of women is also clear in line 5 by the use of the word “maid” enforcing the stereotype of females being domestic and homemakers and her actions compared to “honey” juxtaposition with the bitterness of her disdains at first gives conniptions of her sweetness and highlights her beauty. However, this too can be seen as objectification as honey is a commodity which can be bought, sold and owned. “Her favors honey” also has connotations to sexual favors as it plays on the idea of honey being pleasurable and its sticky texture also creates the idea of bodily fluids and the part these play in sex. This however is not literal and I believe is almost a fantasy for the poet as

it suggests the female he is addressing is not physically attractive and that despite this he loves her. In order to convey this idea he uses trope like language used in love poems and suggests the his “mistress” is not this, shown in the first line and throughout (quote and analyse). this creates the idea that the she is human and not the idealistic beauty as set out out in daniels poem. This humanising element to Shakespeare's poem contradicts the theory of Debeauvoir which suggests women to be other (quote). Also, the nature of the poem confuses her idea that to men there is the good and bad woman this is because this poem is suggested to be aimed at shakespeares dark lady and at first glance you may assume that this means she would fall into the trope of the bad women. However the love the reader feels for the women is deep and true, going beyond physical appearance and this links closer to the trope of the good women. This suggests that the idea of the good and bad women is not as clear cut and Shakespeare plays with this idea. Through his description he paints an almost revolting image of the female, an example of this being "If her hair be wires, black wires grow on her head." This clever simile creates the impression that she is unkempt and we get almost hag like connotations from this description. Also in lines 7 and 8 "And in some perfumes is there more delight/Than in her breath that