Describe the ways in which Heaney and Swift explore the theme of The Role of Women
The significant theme of female roles is portrayed through Heaney’s work, specifically focusing on poems such as ‘Undine’ and ‘Bog Queen’. This is also an evident theme in Graham Swifts ‘Waterland’. Swifts approach to the role of women portrays them to be the underclass of society and puts them in a particularly nuclear role, whereas Heaney voices the women in his poems, giving them a sense of power.
Each of the texts propose the idea of empowerment through the sexuality of women, which is seen in Heaney’s ‘Undine’. Undine refers to the idea of water nymphs, which in Greek mythology is used to describe Goddess’ of nature. Mythological nymphs are commonly seen to be outside of male control due to their sexual nature. This power through sexuality is portrayed in Undine as Heaney uses a semantic field referring to sexuality in the water, which is seen through the lexis “I swallowed his trench”. This innuendo associates itself with the sexuality of women, giving them a powerful voice and control over men. Personification is used whilst Heaney is letting the water explain the narrative, which is seen as “he explored me so completely”. Use of the word “explore” personifies the water spirit, giving it a sense of something to discover. This reinforces the idea of female empowerment as the water spirit holds a mystery over the male character which he has to find. However, Undine could be interpreted differently as Heaney describes the nymph as losing “its cold freedom”. The use of the lexis “freedom” suggests something that has been trapped previously. Additionally, binary opposites are used as she describes her freedom as “cold”, suggesting that it may be an unwanted or negative freedom from something she did not want to be released from. Therefore, this subverts the idea of female authority. Furthermore, the use of personal pronouns in the text suggest an obsession with the male character, giving him power. Commands such as “he dug a spade deep in my flank” suggest that the water spirit is being used or taken control over by the man. This is also an issue in Swifts “Holes and Things”, where Mary is described by male view point, giving him full control over how she is portrayed.
