Compare and Contrast The Representation of Men in Eileen McAuley's The Seduction' And Thomas Hardy's Tony Kytes the Arch Deceiver.
Tony Kytes the Arch Deceiver' is a short story written earlier in time than the narrative poem The Seduction. Nevertheless, both texts portray the male characters in a negative light, as they both fail to realise the consequences that they may have caused, by trying to manipulate the women involved. Both writers put across two relationships each in a different form where the male character is deceiving towards the opposite gender in order to get the outcome that pleases him. .
The two texts are about relationships where the male character wants the best for himself, hardly ever thinking about the female person, who without there would be no relationship. The writers show how young people can make mistakes for the sake of just being in a relationship without really thinking about the consequences they may bring. The male characters in both the short story and the poem fail to realise that women have feelings and rights too and shouldn't be used and messed around for their own pleasure. .
A similarity between the two texts is the irony shown in they're titles. The title of the poem being The Seduction' is ironic as in reality, to seduce, means to romantically persuade a person with intimacy. The context of the poem gives the view to the reader that this incident isn't a result of a seduction but simply one out of greed and foolishness. He deserts the girl to fend for herself and his child. He leaves her to overcome the mental and physical consequences and turns the summer of her sixteenth year' and pink smiling faces' into a misery. It brings out the reality of how cruelly women can be treated. The girl's mistake of trying to look older than she was in her dress sense easily attracted the boy. She got herself drunk; as a result the boy took advantage of this.