Written Task 2
Tasya M 12SM
Prescribed question chosen: If the text had been written in a different time/place/language for a different audience, how and why might it differ?
Title of text used for analysis: The Devil’s Wife in The World’s Wife by Carol Ann Duffy
While a lot of the poems included in The World’s Wife were based on fictional stories, fictional characters or legends, The Devil’s Wife was based on a real couple, Ian Brady and Myra Hindley who were guilty of the death of five children. The poem The Devil’s Wife is a poem written by Carol Ann Duffy from Myra’s perspective, telling the story of how the couple met and the murders they did together. The couple’s crimes were committed roughly 50 years ago, and the book The Devil’s Wife was released 15 years ago in 1999. The victims were 10 to 17 year olds, at least four out of five of the victims were sexually assaulted, and two of them were found buried in the graves dug on Saddleworth Moor – hence gaining their serial killing the name “Moor murders”. When the crimes were finally exposed, it instantly became huge news, the couple was condemned for the cruel actions they committed and the parents were crying over the fate of their beloved ‘lost’ children.
At that point, the press characterized Myra as “the most evil woman in Britain”. Nowadays, more than 35 years later people do not mind the poem, for a long time The World Wife was a bestseller in bookstores and students in English classes all over the world study it in classrooms, in my class particularly we think this poem is one of the most interesting ones. But if “The Devil’s Wife” were published near the time of the crimes, when the families were till grieving, the poem would have to be different.
First of all, as the couple was getting a lot of attention at the time the release of this poem would be very shocking and it definitely will get a lot more reactions from the people then. Upon discovering the truth to the death of their beloved ones the victims’ family were left distraught and very aggressive, according to Crime Library.
Myra received much opposition from the society, she has requested parole for over a dozen times but none of it was ever accepted. One particular victim’s family that stood against it the most was the mother of Keith Bennett who started a campaign against the release of Myra.
Though it is true that the 1960’s were a breaking point of literature, new themes that would be taken as taboo before but started being well received, according to an education website in the sixties there was a resurgence in writing in many new styles. Before the TV, the society paid a lot of attention to literature because during the sixties was said to be the year where people were trying to reevaluate the world around them, and many chose to seek better understanding to literature. So the release of ‘The Devil’s Wife” would definitely not to unnoticed.
‘The Devil’s Wife’ is about of an innocent woman turned monster by twisted love, not a very uncommon theme but the fact that it is based on a real event is what makes all the difference. Not many literature released was based on real events at the time especially the dark literature, according to a book website the most famous literature that are based on real events were mostly released after the nineties. The small numbers that were released before that was mostly from the eighties, and others before that usually have a happy theme.
One literature that has a considerable amount of resemblance is the book “All quiet on the western front”, it is based on a real event and told from a first person point of view. But the big difference would be this book seems to have anticipated the criticisms it might receive and thus in the beginning of the novel there is a page that wrote “This book is to be neither an accusation nor a confession, and least of all an adventure, for death is not an adventure to those who stand face to face with it. It will try simply to tell of a generation of men, even though they may have escaped (its) shells, were destroyed by the war”. But The Devil’s Wife did not write any warning or a sentence that tries to justify its sensitive content, especially that in the sixties anything that is beyond proper would shock a lot of people easily.
Them poem itself contains a lot of words that could be ambiguous in line 10 she wrote, “We drove to the woods and he made me bury a doll”. This line relates to the fact that Myra and Ian killed their victims and in the end buried the corpses in the graves dug on Saddleworth Moor – a place that is in the middle of nowhere. The use of that word could bring pain and bad memories, especially remembering the confession of David Smith – the brother in law of Myra – who reported their crimes and had no choice but to help one of the murders carried by the couple. The report of his confession said, “…Smith heard a long, loud scream…. When he first entered the room, he saw Ian Brady holding what David initially thought was a life-size rag doll. As it fell against the couch, not more than two feet away from him, the realization dawned upon him that it was a young man and not a doll at all.”
The use of the word ‘doll’ would raise a lot of questions, especially now that we’re looking at if this would be released near the time of the deaths and where the society was still grieving. Doll could mean something that is of no importance, no emotions, no capability of feeling pain and definitely not one with families.
That was a very tragic event and it was not something to be taken lightly by anyone at the time, even David himself was left traumatized. A literature from the point of view of Myra referring to the victims as “doll” would definitely draw criticism and anger out of the people and especially the victims of the family. The family had a possibly big capability of getting support by the people, as proven by the mother of Keith Bennett who managed to gain support by the people to stand against the release of Myra.
On top of that, since this story tells a story of “twisted-love-turning-a-young-girl-into-a-monster” the purpose of the release would be questioned. Myra, along with Ian was both demonized. With a poem like this it would seem as if the writer was trying to justify her actions as if it was not a big deal, and this would not be accepted in the society of the sixties where the crimes were still close to the heart of the people.
In conclusion, the fact that in the sixties literature was something that people paid heavy attention to, the crimes of the Moors murders that were very widely known and the strong common demonization of Myra and Ian, the families that were still grieving and aggressive, no clear explanation of the intention and purpose of the poem and the sensitive choice of words included in this poem would add up to the conclusion that this poem would not be taken as positively as it is when it was released in 1999. A lot of things would be different, the first one being the reaction of the audience that would be much more negative, the choice of words that would be a lot different seeing how it would easily hurt a lot of people and the purpose of this poem explained.
The Devil’s Wife is one of the most interesting poems from The World’s Wife by Carol Ann Duffy, but if it were released in a different time a lot of changes would have to be made so that it would be much more accepted in the society.
Work by: Tasya Marmita
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