Lady Lazarus repeats the struggle between Nazi and Jew which is used in Daddy, with the Nazi atrocities a background across which the amazing, self-renewing speaker strides. The speaker orchestrates every aspect of her show, attempting to undermine the power an audience would normally have over her. She controls her body, instead of being a passive object of other eyes.
The speaker orders her enemy to Peel off the napkin, telling the audience that there is a charge for her performance, but death to her is nothing but a big strip tease. Do I terrify? she asks rhetorically, she knows her effect on them. Lady Lazarus intentionally contributes to the spectacle that fetishises her; she compartmentalises herself, These are my hands, / My knees, harshly mocking the gentlemen and ladies as she reveals their morbid avidity. She is both pitying and scornful: Do not think I underestimate your great concern. Her disenfleshment at the hands of the enemy, viewed avidly by the peanut-crunching crowd, is something that she wills, just as …
Soliloquies – Role of Speaker in Browning’s Soliloquy of the Spanish Cloister
Role of Speaker in Browning’s Soliloquy of the Spanish Cloister
The speaker in any poem is significant because he enables the reader to aquire information necessary in order to enter the imaginary world of the work. In Browning’s Soliloquy of the Spanish Cloister, the solitary speaker, who is a monk overwhelmed with hatred toward a fellow monk, plays an important role as the guide in the world of the poem. The diction, structure, and tone of the entire poem communicate the speaker’s motives, perceptions, emotions, and behavior.
The narrator in Browning’s poem proves that the speaker is not always a reliable guide because his thoughts reflect anger and hatred instead of giving the reader an unbiased view of Brother Lawrence. His speech is motivated by hatred so intense that it could kill his “heart’s abhorrence” and in line 8, he wishes that “hell would dry [Brother Lawrence] up with its flames.” The speaker is overcome with emotion, wishing death upon his fellow monk. His emotions interfere with the reader’s perception of the o…