'Carol Ann Duffy's 'Anne Hathaway' presents a challenge to stereotypical ideas of women as the weaker sex.' How far do you agree with this statement?

Carol Ann Duffy's 'Anne Hathaway' calls into question whether or not Carol Ann Duffy is challenging the stereotypical ideas of women as the weaker sex. In this essay I will be analysing Duffy's 'Anne Hathaway' and making my own assumption as to whether or not Carol Ann Duffy challenges stereotypes or not.

Carol Ann Duffy uses 'Anne Hathaway' to challenge the stereotypical themes that have been picked out by female literary critics, these themes are: the immoral and dangerous seductress, the eternally dissatisfied shrew, the cute but essentially helpless woman, and the unworldly, self-sacrificing angel. In Duffy's poem, Anne Hathaway doesn't fit into any of the stereotypes of a woman.

In the Elizabethan times, the husband owned all possessions, which included the wife and all possessions that she held dear to her, in other words, the husband had complete control over the wife and the household. Duffy's poem 'Anne Hathaway' doesn't challenge the stereotypical ideas of women as the weaker sex, as Shakespeare has to bequeath their marital bed to Hathaway, for her to cherish - “Item I gyve unto my wife my second best bed...” The husband owning the wife's possessions and herself, is stereotypical of the male patriarchy that was around in the Elizabethan times, that with standing, the same patriarchy can be found in today's society within some cultures, and so Duffy's poem 'Anne Hathaway' doesn't challenge the ideology that the weaker sex of the two, is women.

Duffy seemingly portrays Anne Hathaway as her husband's equal, by creating a poem that has 14 lines, more commonly known as a Sonnet, which was a signature move for Shakespeare. It is not coincidental that Duffy did this, it could be suggested that Duffy