Thursday, March 13, 2008

Wordsworth "The Thorn"

Although it is placed under the theme of nature, it can also fit under the theme of love, sex and marriage.
“The Thorn” is not only about the love lost of Martha Ray, but an obsessive love between the speaker to Martha Ray.
The speaker becomes fascinated by her story to the point of obsession and to the point where as an audience we are unsure if the speaker has become insane. Images in nature further spark the speaker’s obsession; by fooling him into thinking he has actually encountered Martha Ray. Perhaps he has, but all the aspects of Martha Ray can be explained by nature

Ex. her cries – occur when there is a strong wind;
The scarlet of her cloak – there are flowers in the mountain of the same color;
Even when the speaker claims to have seen her he was caught in a storm – there was rain and mist that could have easily impaired his vision.


Monica Sandoval section 1B TA Waldo

1 comment:

Tanya said...

interestingly, the speaker criticizes people for doing the same thing that he does, namely attempting to construct the weeping woman's identity. in the end, the moss comes to represent his strangling of the woman with his many opinions of her character.