The poem is written from the perspective of Eve and uses the dramatic monologue form to give her a voice and shift some of the blame away from her for original sin. Eve feels manipulated and used by both Adam and Lucifer, referring to Adam as a "chimp" who took advantage of her. While she acknowledges her role in eating the forbidden fruit, she suggests others share responsibility as well. The poem explores themes of religion, temptation, motherhood, and the oppression of women throughout history whose stories have been obscured by their male partners.

1. Eve<br />It was me, they said<br />Who bit the apple, I was weak<br />The serpent got me, I couldn’t stand<br />Its hiss its smirk its dripping teeth<br />Love Lucifer was his name<br />And seduction was his game<br />Of my morals and my dreams<br />Bloody men, they’re all the same<br />The apple was how, he told me<br />By God, I was hungry. <br />I climbed the tree on Adam’s back<br />Stood on his shoulders, and<br />Fed him first. He never said no<br />He wanted more. That chimp<br />He took me for a right monkey’s<br />Both of them did, I fell for it<br />Never trust men, girls, not a bit<br />Look at me now<br />Stuck; guilty by association<br />Stand by your man, no matter what<br />Isn’t that what they always say?<br />Stick that; I said but<br />Nowhere to run. Nowhere to hide.<br />Chance and fate conspired<br />They threw my lot in with him<br />Slandered me: ‘original sin’.<br />Always get the blame we do, us women<br />Our home got repossessed<br />The clouds and manna, our Sunday’s best<br />Left the angels for the earth<br /> A blue and green ball of<br />Hell in the core with seas on top<br />An enigma. A city that God forgot.<br />Where Helen of Troy ruled the place<br />As poor Trojans fought over her pretty face<br />There they kept pets of a thousand snakes<br />Ten times that tree and higher the stakes<br />We’d be on our own together from here<br />but Adam still expected me to cook.<br /> I showed him the door and told him<br />To toil as the Good Lord said he should<br />I would have left him had it not<br />Been for the boy; our first and then<br />More, Cain, Abel, a score<br />Just for the record, remember<br />My children – they’re the only ones I did it for.<br />Character, Theme, Context, Relationships (1/3) (approx 250 words)<br />In the spirit of Duffy’s Collection The World’s Wife the character of Eve was chosen for use from the biblical story of creationism; she is a woman who has been completely obscured by her partner Adam and as a consequence has had no true voice, the same as other women in the collection who have been shadowed by their partners e.g. Samson and Delilah, Orpheus and Eurydice., King and Queen Herod. The title recognises her and gives her an individual presence as for once she isn’t instantly linked in the title with Adam. The poem’s changed the story’s the point of view which shifted the blame from being Eve’s in terms of original sin to sharing it between herself, Adam and Lucifer. <br />The themes present in Eve are common throughout Duffy’s collection. Religion is, clearly referred to in several places. Manna as one of the principal foods of heaven, the angels who are its residents, hell and God are all mentioned. The apple from the tree of knowledge is mentioned and as it is linked to Lucifer is a key symbol of Eve’s temptation.. Lucifer has been noted and referred to by that name instead of as ‘Satan’ or merely the Devil because he’d grown to seem more of a friend in Eve’s perception. <br />Childbirth is another theme as the poem’s end talks of how she would have left Adam has it not been for their children, which celebrates motherhood as does Duffy’s poem Demeter who pines after Persephone. There’s a reference to science and evolution theory disguised as an insult as she calls him a ‘chimp’ who took her for a monkey. There’s a double meaning in her words, referring to both evolutionary theory as well as insulting him and showing that she is aware of how he manipulated his version of events to favour him; this is a theme which is also linked to Duffy’s Darwin where the wife inadvertently inspires him whilst insulting his appearance. <br />Language, Form, Structure (2/3) (approx 450 words)<br />Eve has been written in the form of a dramatic monologue in the first person, with the intention of increasing sympathy for her despite the stigma she’s associated with due to ‘original sin’. This way she engages the audience through this form as she gives away some of her emotions through implying them though she may not have meant to, showing that she’s not only feeling victimised but also hurt. It’s written in the first person as are all of the other poems in the collection (e.g. I remember peeping in at his skyscraper room, in Queen Kong, Frau Freud etc), and this also helps it feel more personal to the reader as it is targeting them and forcing attention to Eve’s words. <br />In Duffy’s language style, strong visual imagery has been put in place in Eve to further hold the audience’s attention: ‘A blue and green ball of, Hell in the core with seas on top’. The vivid use of colour and strange image of fire covered in water is engaging as it seems unnatural, and the visual imagery is a technique that Duffy has used to engage the audience in a similar way in Mrs. Midas where ‘my dream-milk burned in my breasts’ because surely milk does not burn in the body. <br />Abstract concepts such as chance and fate have been personified as they are said to have ‘conspired’ together, thinking and plotting like a human and this has been done by Duffy too in Little Red Cap where she writes ‘Words. [..] warm, beating, frantic’; giving words human emotions and feelings. <br />There is an end focus on the lines where Eve sounds particularly outraged: ‘on Adam’s back’ and ‘That chimp’. The end focus shows that her frustration is focused on Adam, naming him as helping her and then insulting him. This is a technique that Duffy has employed in Queen Herod : ‘kill each mother’s son’ and ‘do it. Spare not one’ where Queen Herod is upset about any potential that any boy could then grow up to break her daughter’s heart.<br />