Medusa

How does the writer present power in medusa and another poem In medusa, Duffy uses the character of a female to show power. “Be terrfied”. This quote is a short sentence which emphasises her power and that when she looks at you, it doesnt take long till you are turned into stone. The sentence also creates a sinister tone in a way that she wants you t be afraid of her because she was once destroyed now she wants to destroy others as she has the power to do so.
Duffy later on uses the verb “shattered” which links with the word “spattered”. This demonstartes the strength of her power to destroy, her power is so strong that anything that comes in her way either ends up “shattered” or “spattered”. The verbs also infer that with power comes jelousy because Medusa destroys everything that appears to be positive and beautiful. They might also suggest that the way she has destroyed inncocent life is a way to say that she is out of contro herself.
The poem structured around her transformation, and the escalating scale of the living things she turns to “stone”. She starts with a “buzzing-bee” and her victims increase in size until she changes a “dragon” into a “volcano”. Finally she turns her attention to the man who broke her heart. In her last line Medusa says “look at me now”. this line, given great structural emphasis, is hugely ambiguous.

It could be a heart-felt plea for attention as well as, of course, a heavily ironic threat and reminder of her capabilities. The paradox for Medusa is that she has become trapped by her own power. Duffy may be suggesting that the negative and destructive qualities of revenge will eventually undo their perpetrator. In the same way power is a major theme in Ozymandias, what was once so magnificent – a symbol of the king’s great power – is now “sunk… shattered… lifeless”.