Guiseppe Flashcards
Why is the mermaid referred to as ‘butchered’?
-Dehumanises the mermaid and reduces her status
What is significant about the listing of ‘doctor, a fishmonger, and certain others’?
-Lists two contrasting figures of doctor who gives life and fishmonger who takes life
What is the language like at the start of Giuseppe?
-the language is blunt and factual
Quote where the speaker changes pronouns for the mermaid?
‘She, it’
‘She screamed like a _____’
-woman
-suggests mermaid is human
‘anyway an egg is not a _____’
child
they took a ____ golden roe’
ripe
What is used as a symbol of the mermaid’s capacity to love?
her ‘wedding ring’
What is the structure like in this poem?
Irregular stanza structure throughout and lacks rhyme scheme.
What is revealed at the end of the poem?
‘my uncle, the aquarium keeper’
the speaker’s uncle was responsible for the mermaid’s safety yet killed her.
‘The only …’
captive mermaid in the world
Analyse ‘the only captive mermaid in the word’
presents the mermaid as unique and valuable
‘butchered on the dry and dusty ground’
dehumanises the mermaid and suggests the men view her as an animal
‘a doctor, a fishmonger, and certain others’
Syndetic listing emphasises widespread immorality. Juxtaposing figures as one preserves life and one takes life. This underscores the contradictory and confusing way that the mermaid is seen.
Analyse the change in pronouns ‘She,it’
Ceasura seperates the mermaid from her human identity as an attempt from the men to rationalise their crime.
‘The priest who held one of her hands’
represents morality and he is complicit in this crime which the men use to rationalise and justify their immorality.
‘But she screamed like a woman in terrible fear’
Argument marker undercuts the men’s previous attempts to deam her as inhuman. They have now acknowledged her human identity.
-This contrasts with ‘she was only a fish’ ‘she was simple’
‘They took a ripe golden roe’ ‘an egg is not a child’
-This increases the brutality of the men’s actions
The colour imagery suggests the mermaid is pregnant and presents her pregnancy as valuable.
‘but refused when some was offered to him’ contrasts with…
‘just a fish’
- colloquial language suggests the doctor feels doubt surrounding rhe justification for their crimes.
‘Someone tried to take her wedding ring’ ‘the ring stayed put’
-Change in pronouns to ‘she’ form ‘it’
-mermaid’s wedding ring is a symbol of her human identity
-the men feel a strong sense of regret and guilt
‘,the aquiarium keeper,’
-Parenthesis suggests the speaker’s uncle’s role was to protect and preserve the mermaid and he butchered her.
‘but couldn’t look me in the eye,’ ‘for which i thank god’
The speaker gains a sense of solace from the fact that his uncle is ashamed and recognises his wrongdoing.
