Therefore, it can be seen that Shelley comments on the role of women in society by depicting women as beautiful and important, yet characterising them as passive members of society.
Similarly, we see that Baudelaire shares a similar opinion of women in his literature, however conversely he chooses to characterise them as powerful and superior to men. His depiction of women as beautiful can be seen in his poem 'Head of Hair', in which he writes of his dear lover Jeanne Duval. Here he writes "I'll gladly drug myself on mingled scents/ essence of cocoa oil, pitch and musk". In this line we see Baudelaire express his addiction to Duval's beauty by describing himself metaphorically as a gladly out-of-control drug addict when he writes "I'll gladly drug myself". We see him continue to use metaphors when he lists the sweets scents of "essence of cocoa oil, pitch and musk" to describe the beauty he is addicted to. Here Baudelaire also uses synaesthesia as he relates visual beauty to nasal beauty, as well as choosing exotic scents to symbolise Duval's exotic African background. Converse to Shelley however, we see Baudelaire characterise women as superior to himself as a man when he writes "while other spirits sail on symphonies/ mine, my beloved, swims along your scent". Here Baudelaire uses an extended metaphor in conjunction with synaesthesia by comparing the spiritual joy one feels when listening to a symphony (aural stimulus) with the spiritual joy he feels upon encountering the beauty (both nasal and visual) of his lover. So it can be seen that both Baudelaire and Shelley depict women as beautiful and important in their literature, however they chose emphasise this importance by characterising them in two different ways.
The two texts also discuss the theme of religion– an issue of ever growing tension in the world today – yet both composers are of different opinions as to its importance.
