How does Rossetti tell the story in Maude Clare

Maude Clare

'Write about the ways in which Christina Rossetti tells the story in Maude Clare'.

In the poem 'Maude Clare' Rossetti has used the theme of empowered women and relationships. Throughout the poem there is a clear love triangle between Thomas, Nell and Maude Clare. It is obvious to the reader that Maude Clare is important to the poem as her name is the title. This may already symbolise that she is the protagonist in the poem to which Rossetti has based her poem. The readers begin to see the importance of Maude Clare as her name frequently appears throughout the poem.

The story is told through many different narrators. With Maude Clare being dominant speaker, and having more speech throughout it than anyone else, Rossetti may have done this to again show that Maude Clare is the focus of the poem. Because of this the readers will see Maude Clare as the dominant female, even though she isn't the one getting married, and technically she shouldn't be the main focus of the story.

Rossetti was interested in figures locked in embra...

English: Christina Rossetti, portrait by her broth...

portrait by her brother

This is further exaggerated as Thomas only has very little dialogue in the poem, of which he repeats Maude Clare's name and "hid his face", however this is after attempting to "match her scorn with scorn", so by having Thomas hide his face Rossetti is portraying him as weak, and unable to stand up for himself against such a strong character in the poem. By having him only say Maude Clare's name and not his new bride it may suggest to the reader that she is the only thing he thinks of, and she is always on his mind. This is supported as the unnamed narrator outlines Thomas' actions towards Maude Clare; "My lord gazed long on pale Maude Clare", indicating that the...