Medusa's Destructive Power

Medusa's Destructive Power

1. Fuelled by HATE

   • "There are bullet tears in my eyes. Are you terrified?"
     • "Be terrified"
     • Rhetorical question intimidates

2. Fuelled by SELF-LOATHING

   • "My bride's breath soured, stank in the grey bags of my lungs"
     • "I'm foul mouthed now, foul tongued, yellow fanged"

3. Fuelled by JEALOUSY

   • "a jealousy grew in my mind, which turned the hairs on my head to filthy snakes"
     • "and your girls, your girls"

4. Duffy uses powerful IMAGERY to create the character of a strong, powerful woman

   • Her tears are bullets
   • sibilant 's' sounds spit out the force of Medusa's rage
     • "filthy snakes"
       • "soured, stank"
     • "as though my thoughts hissed and spat on my scalp"
   • The alliterative effect of the 'f' sound, emphasises Medusa's self disgust
     • "I'm foul mouthed now, foul tongued, yellow fanged"
   • Images of destruction
     • "I stared at a dragon. Fire spewed from the mouth of a mountain"
     • "I looked at a ginger cat, a housebrick shattered a bowl of milk"

5. Poem ends with an ambiguous statement which could be interpreted as a threat

   • "Look at me now"
     • This is ambiguous because it could mean two things: Medusa is filled with regret at what she has become OR her glance will turn you to stone

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