The collection,as a whole,brings into light women who have been kept in the background while there male contemporaries monopolise the limelight. Throughout the poems of Carol Ann Duffy there is an intense focus on the female stereotype: Duffy provides various voices for different characters, reflects on time, change and loss and embraces all emotions as she contrasts and contradicts the stereotypical concept of the female position.

Carol Ann Duffy's dramatic monologue, 'Mrs Beast' is a complete contrast to the original fairy tale. The authors concentration on Belle’s virtue within her tale produces a clear moral. This is laid bare by Beauty when she says to the Beast “I am well pleased with your kind heart; when I think of that you no longer seem so ugly to me."
Beauty sees past the Beast’s outward
Appearance and hence portrays a stereotypical female character who does not objectify based on appearance..
However,the authors portrayal of
Belle as a submissive, obedient daughter to her father and servant to the Beast is anything but feminist. an in-depth analysis of Belle’s character reveals that she is in fact a stereotypical representation of Disney heroines. First, her name0 itself literally translates to “Beauty.” In addition, Belle’s appearance conforms to Disney’s ideals of beauty.
Also, it seems she has an inherent need to look after the men that are important to her. She is described as “strange”, “funny” and “peculiar” by the townspeople because she loves to read and They seem to think it is useless for a pretty girl to read.
The storybook character Belle conf orms to the “cute but essentially helpless” f emale stereotype.
However, since the 18th century both ‘Beauty and the Beast’ and ideas about women and power have been developed, taking many different forms and adaptations.
Duffy re-works the tale ‘Beauty and the Beast’ to explore her