Devils Wife

Devils Wife
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‘The Devil’s Wife’ ‘The Devil’s Wife’ is a dramatic monologue that is spilt into five parts depicting the thoughts and feelings of Duffy’s adopted persona – Myra Hindley the infamous Moors murderer. Throughout the poem we learn of the events surrounding meeting Brady, the murders, the trial, its aftermath and overall her conscience towards these events whilst serving life in prison. The overall title of the five individual poems – ‘The Devil’s Wife’ – portrays that the adopted persona hasn’t, as of yet come to terms and accepted the monstrosity of her actions.
The title suggests that Brady himself was the Devil and Myra due to a corrupt, influential relationship followed his actions and obeyed his rules. Moreover the first glance at the poem is somewhat deceiving but, as we shall see this first thought can be misjudged, when we examine the structure of the individual poems. The title of the first poem is crucial as it portrays the first part of the story. The title ‘Dirt’ can be analysed as referring to how Brady and Hindley were portrayed in the media and what kind of monsters they were.
Moreover it can also be seen as the term used at funeral services as it relates to soil and rituals such as burials. The term also refers to the impurity and the lack of physical cleanliness that Brady and Hindley stole from their victims. The opening line of the first poem: ‘The Devil was one of the men at work’ is somewhat chilling. The first line implies that day to day people that we relate to could potentially be dangerous to our wellbeing, and have the potential to even commit crimes such as killing. Carrying on through the poem we see Hindley reflecting on her first and foremost impressions of Brady himself.
She begins by describing Brady in a negative and futile way; she starts by saying ‘He fancied himself’ and ‘Looked at the girls/ in the office as if they were dirt’. These two sentences imply that Brady generally had a negative view of women, and also thought that they were not always innocent. This makes him appear cold and unnerving. In addition she then goes onto state that ‘He didn’t flirt and that he was ‘Different’. This suggests a certain attraction on Hindley’s part; and that in a way Brady stood out from the others.
The phrase he was ‘sarcastic and rude’ seems to reflect her personality as she was ‘insolent’ and would ‘stare him out’. It becomes somewhat clear that there are similarities between Brady and Hindley already – and at times seem as bad as each other. The final few lines of stanza one instigates Hindley’s growing affection towards Brady. Her growing need for him is implied in her further statement; she was ‘on fire for him’. Besides the sexual attraction, this phrase may relate the image of Hell, suggesting that the raw passion between them may become morally deprived and perverted.
In the final few lines of this poem, Hindley’s passion is evident but later contrasts with the lack of emotion in
the final verse of the poem. In the first few lines of stanza two, we again begin to see the contrasting similarities between Hindley and Brady when she states she ‘scowled and pouted and sneered’ and ‘gave/as good as she got’. The consistent harsh sounding words can be looked at as the portrayal of the harshness of the personas of Brady and Hindley. Moreover, the thought that Hindley is being affected by Brady’s wickedness is repeated in this stanza when Hindley’s persona sates ‘put two fags in his mouth’.
Also the fact that ‘fags’ sound like’ fangs’ gives another aspect to the evilness of Brady, like the image of a vampire. By using the image of a vampire it gives us the impression that Brady was the original source of evil and Hindley was just an innocent bystander and was influenced by Brady and his corrupted ways. This portrayal is further shown in the fourth line: ‘He bit my breast’. Duffy continues on by having Hindley state that Brady’s use of words was ‘foul’ which implies a frenzied influence as well as the foul nature of the crimes committed by Brady.
This is followed up by the final short sentence: ‘He entered me’. All though the obvious sexual meaning it also gives the sense of a demonic possession. Furthermore when Hindley states how she ‘swooned in [her] soul’; we associate this with being the traditional sign of female weakness, also Duffy creates the image of The Fall. The persona of Brady being the devil also leads back to the image of The Fall, which again gives the perspective of Hindley once again portraying herself as the victim of the Brady’s evil persona, much like Eve in the Garden of Eden.
Further on Duffy has Hindley state that Brady ‘made’ her ‘bury the doll’. Once again this stipulates that Hindley does not accept responsibility for the criminal acts that she participated in, through the word ‘made’. Moreover, referring to her victims as a ‘doll’ shows a lack of sympathy for them and their suffering, showing that she didn’t see them as humans. In the third stanza, the opening line is ‘I went mad for the sex’. This, once again suggests a certain power over her and a failure to conclude her responsibility. The sentence that follows; ‘I on’t repeat what he did’ represents more than one meaning. One meaning could possibly be that she doesn’t want to reveal intimate details about their sexual relationship or that she doesn’t want to reveal any details about the crimes they committed. In the second and third line the repeated ‘w’ sound gives breathless, excited, but at the same time haunting quality to them. Further on Duffy has Hindley confess to her part in the crimes. Duffy had Hindley reveal where they would search for their victims; ‘woods’, ‘playgrounds’ and ‘fairgrounds’- areas where you are most likely to find children.
Hindley then explains that she would ‘walk round on [her] own’ luring her younger victims to their death. Duffy then makes it plainly obvious that
Hindley from here on cannot hide from her responsibility as she states that she was ‘alone’. The perception that she has a ‘Thumped wound of a mouth’ suggests that she may a victim of physical abuse. In addition, the rest of the poem portrays a cold and emotionally detached persona, which in stanza two ‘gave as good as [she] got’ and by the end is ‘nobody’s Mam’ – presenting to emotional attachment towards her younger victims.
In the last few lines of this poem we are instantly reminded of the photograph taken after her arrest. The photograph itself portrays her unresponsive attitude which leads to the further hardening of the hearts of the public. This is a connection to the next poem; ‘Medusa’. The overall impression of Hindley in ‘Dirt’ is somewhat challenging. At first Duffy implies that Hindley was the victim of Brady’s personality and was influenced into their evil plans. But as we read further on we begin to see some clues that suggest that we should distrust these reflections.
The most obvious reason to distrust these reflections is the structure of the poem. In each of the three poems there are six lines. This leads back to the number associated with the antichrist in the bible – 666, the number of the devil. Before analysing this poem, we must refer to the mythological references in this poem. The title ‘Medusa’ has the meaning ruler or queen. Medusa was believed to be one of three siblings, and was said to be cursed by the gods. Originally she had been very beautiful and was said to have caught the attention of Poseidon – lord of the Earth.
Poseidon was rumoured to be short tempered and was a dangerous force linked to earthquakes. In the temple of Athena – the virgin goddess, it was told that Medusa was either seduced or raped by Poseidon. Athena, after finding out about the desecration of her temple decided to punish Medusa by turning into a repulsive monster, with snakes for hair and a stare that would turn men’s heart to stone. It was said that Medusas blood had been used by Asclepius, the god of healing. One of her veins produced blood with remarkable healing properties – powerful enough to raise the dead.
The other was lethal. In this poem, Duffy portrays Hindley’s reaction to her jail term and the confession to further crimes. In the first line of stanza one she states that; ‘we’d buried the doll’ which is similar to the crime mentioned in the first poem. A metaphorical view of the victim is brought forth right as Hindley does not appear to look at their victim as a living person. The repetition on ‘I’ is an eventual perception of guilt. Moreover the use of the word ‘But’ prevents her from confessing too much.
The title of this poem is relevant as it becomes clear that Hindley has the power to remove the pain and suffering of the victims’ families by revealing what she knows or to keep quiet about everything and continue to let them suffer. This gives us this relevant
image of Medusa’s veins. In stanza two, the repeated words ‘Nobody liked’ – tying in with the closing line of stanza one – implies the resentment towards her by the public. In a way it also deems her a vanity sense, as she is feeding or the attention that she is receiving – negative attention – but attention all the same.
The metaphor that’s used in line two; ‘He held my heart in his fist and squeezed it dry’ once again portrays the image that was presented in the first poem, that Brady is it blame. The extent of this blame is to be seen in the closing sentence of this stanza: ‘I didn’t care’. This once again shows a remorseless attitude. In stanza three, Duffy once again uses the repetition of ‘I’ which seems to imply a lack of control in her speech patterns. This might suggest a break in the persona as Hindley grasps the seriousness of the situation. Duffy then gets Hindley to refer to her reaction to being sent to jail.
Hindley mentions being ‘locked up, doubled locked’ implying the length of her sentence, and also the fact that she had locked away the memories with her. The use of the contrasting word ‘chucked’ portrays the haphazardness of the authorities. Hindley was sentenced to life; therefore the key to her cell was not intended for safe keeping. In stanza three the length of her punishment is expressed by the phrase; ‘dying inside’ which suggests that Hindley will be in prison for until the day she dies and her hope of ever seeing Brady again is also dying as well. Hindley contradicts herself as she till insists that Brady compelled her to do the criminal acts that she participated in but then states that she; ‘wrote to him every day’ using a ‘private code’ suggesting that she was just as involved as Brady himself. In this stanza Hindley refers to herself as ‘The Devil’s wife’ who highlights the similarities between herself and Brady, and in the eyes of the media she was ‘worse’ than Brady. The ultimate reason for this was the fact that women are the gender that nurture and care for children, but instead Hindley took part in a remorseless act that shocked the public.
Using the word ‘howling’ ultimately suggests that somewhere in the persona there is something broken. Though, it could have a number of meanings. On one side it could mean that she was howling through remorse, but on the other it could be a sign of madness. Moreover the term ‘howling’ is an animalistic sound which could refer to the savagery of her nature. In the last line of the stanza she states; ‘If the Devil was gone then how could this be hell? ’ which supports the idea of hell ultimately being where she is as she is just as evil as Brady. The overall impression of the poem is reflected in the last three stanzas.
In reflects on her punishment and the lack of sympathy to her predicament. Though Hindley never once expresses remorse for her victims or their families,
and it appears that Duffy purposely avoids doing so to keep the negative view forth right. The structure of this poem has changed, as it has increased from three stanzas in poem one to four stanzas in poem two. This could be seen as a breakdown, but the rhyming indicates careful crafting, which instigates manipulation on Hindley’s part. In the third poem the title represents Hindley’s religious conversion.
Duffy instigates Hindley’s self indulgence from the first stanza by using negative words such as: ‘Never’; ‘not’; ‘didn’t; ‘couldn’t; ‘wouldn’t; ‘can’t; ‘never’. The constant use of negative words repeated through the poem and portrays the realisation of what life in prison is really like. The denials throughout the poem do not fit with statement made in the previous poem that she remembered something – ‘I know’ was repeated – neither do they tie in with statement ‘it was him’ stated at the end of the first stanza. It is made evident that herself importance is being increased here.
This is supported by the authority figures that she demands to see in the second stanza: ‘a lawyer a vicar a priest/ … a TV crew … a journalist/ … a shrink … my MP’. These figures can be her way to manipulate the public and launch an appeal. Duffy then has Hindley rant for the rest of the poem about how it’s ‘Not fair not right not on not true’. The last two lines of this poem repeat this statement ‘not in the room’ but then turning it round to ‘can’t remember no idea’. This poem seems to imply that the reader is somewhat trying to push out the reality of her situation.
The poem could suggest that Hindley is suffering from breakdown and madness or Duffy could be implying that Hindley is willing to do anything to reduce her sentence. The form of the poem seems to support this idea. This poem is shorter than the others and could be seen as evidence of a breakdown, but the rhyming scheme is cleverly constructed. The fourth poem ‘Night’ highlights the public’s debate over the consideration of Hindley’s release. In the last line of the first stanza the word choice; ‘Suffer. Monster. Burn in Hell. ’ Sums up the reaction of the public and the media.
Stating that these words ‘crawl from the walls’ could once again instigate madness of some sort but the structure of this sentence deems this to be untrue. Ultimately Hindley then has to face the ‘long fifty year night’. Referring to the bible, we are allotted fifty years to live on earth, but Hindley was sentenced to fifty years in her early twenties concluding the ‘fifty year night’ being her allotted time on earth. In the second stanza we see Hindley contemplate, at some point, confess to the crimes that she and Brady committed: ‘When morning cones, / I will finally tell’.
In 1987, Hindley further confessed to two other murders, in hope of launching her appeal. Fortunately the public opinion did not soften. In the final stanza of the poem the only feature is the
word ‘Amen’. The word ‘Amen’ means ‘so be it’ and would possibly imply that that the persona has finally accepted the consequences of her actions. The use of a biblical term is somewhat ironic as it shows a cold person fitting religious teachings for her own ends. This relates to the line – ‘The Devil can cite scripture for his own purposes’ – ‘The Merchant of Venice’.
In the final poem or the sequence, Duffy had Hindley pondering on the effect of her crimes. The first verse is ten lines long each line implying to a way of execution: ‘If I’d been stoned to death’. The poem itself is called appealed which is slightly contradictory as criminals tend to appeal to prove their innocence, but it appears here that Hindley is begging to be killed. Having Hindley repeat the word ‘If’ portrays a sense of regret that she has not been executed, and unconsciously reinforces the argument surrounding capital unishment and the death sentence. The ten punishments that are listed, somewhat refer to the biblical Ten Commandments – each of these commandments Hindley has remorselessly broken. Nine of the punishments, although deemed brutal, are over in a relatively quick fashion. But Hindley’s punishment, of life in prison, could be seen as the most effective as it forced Hindley to face up to her actions and the public’s view of her. The second stanza is equivalently short which seems to instigate that Hindley has finally accepted responsibility for her actions.
The first word ‘But’ portrays this change in her. It causes us to reflect before the rest of the question ‘what did I do to us all to myself / when I was the Devil’s wife. ’ Hindley finally starts to accept how her monstrous crimes affected society. The friends, the families, everyone lost some part of their innocence when the truth about the horrific crimes that were committed came out in court. Duffy instigates the true evil and the m
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