Cain 1

Erin Cain

Dr. Auge

Literary Criticism

13 December 2018

“In His Own Image”: Intertextual/Feminist Critical Reading Response

When looking at poetry in an Intertextual and Feminist approach it is crucial to look at

what Adrienne Rich and Helene Cixous have studied and created in this form of criticism.

Adrienne Rich says that there is a need to break from the hold of the past. Critics must revise the

old texts where bonds must be broken. Rich says that revising poetic impersonality and

connecting emotions to the creation of something new and different is “an act of survival” for

women. Helene Cixous brings Rich’s idea into a deeper level of thinking. She calls for a

rejection of tradition. She then claims that women must write out of their own bodily

experiences. Finally, she says that from this there will be a new, innovative form of writing that

will be produced. Eavan Boland exemplifies the ideas of Rich and Cixous through her ability to

represent the reality of women. Boland’s writing is honest, vulnerable, and representative of the

female human experience. She brings light to the pieces of womanhood that the patriarchal

society has repressively pushed away. “In His Own Image” by Eavan Boland is spoken from a

female exhibiting to others the toxic world she lives in. This speaker represents any women who

has had their identity, body, or life taken from them. This is her rescuing, reclaiming, and

repossessing it all. In “In His Own Image”, Eavan Boland uses satire to show how women are

constantly manipulated by men in their public and private lives.

 Cain 2

Eavan Boland uses a piece of Genesis from the Bible and a Greek myth to play on the

reality of women and revise their prior meaning. The title of the poem “In His Own Image” plays

on Genesis Chapter 1 Verse 27. The Bible reads, “God created man in His own image, in the

image of God He created him; male and female He created them.” Society has made things out to

be fully created, led, and representative of the male life. Females are always secondary, even in

the Bible. The speaker of the poem shares the horrible truth of her situation. It is in the male

image that females are confined. The Bible is referenced again in the fifth stanza of the poem

saying, “What a perfectionist! / His are a sculptor’s hands:” (31-32). God is referenced as a

sculptor that creates all things in his image. In this poem the man is imitating the Christian God

using violence to alter her into his own image. The God-like male featured in this poem forces

the woman to mask her true self in every way. His abuse is constant every night he gets home

and even as he is away during the day. When he is gone it is shown that she places her identity in

him through the duties he has created for her. Boland uses satire here saying that the man is a

“perfectionist,” like God, yet he is completely abusing the woman in every way just so she fits

the mold he has created for her. His dominance and imitation of God has manipulated and taken

away the woman’s way of thinking and her image of her own identity.

The myth that Boland plays on is the Greek story of Pygmalion and Galatea. This is the

story of a Greek sculptor who despised women. He was disgusted by women because of the

prostitutes he had seen in the city he lived in. He saw women as flawed and awful beings that he

wouldn’t waste his time with. He turned to sculpting and created a woman out of ivory that he

named Galatea. Pygmalion made Galatea look perfect, in his eyes, and without any flaws.

Eventually, he became so infatuated with her that he started to treat her like a real human. Each

time he hit her with his chisel, he fell more and more in love with her. He would kiss her, talk to
 Cain 3

her, and bring her gifts, as if she were a real woman. Many find this ironic because Pygmalion

detested all women, yet he fell in love with one who could never love him back.

Eavan Boland takes the story of Pygmalion and Galatea and revises it in “In His Own

Image”. She uses satire to tell the story of a drunk man coming home and being displeased with

his wife who has been working hard and keeping the home in order all day. He then starts to hit

her and beat her until he sees the beauty he wishes to find in her. She becomes “a new woman”

(37). The woman in the poem has been created, changed, and manipulated to please the male.

Through the final line saying, “I am a new woman” there is an implication for male

representation for women versus the female reality (37). The myth of Pygmalion is a perfect

example of how ignorant men can be by ignoring the reality of women and the conditions they

have continually been put through. The man of this poem shapes the woman, physically and

emotionally, to fit his desires, just as Pygmalion did to Galatea. The poem reads, “His are a

sculptor’s hands:” (32). The woman is being told that his hands are the Creator’s. His hands have

control, are important, and will form her, just as Pygmalion did. Eavan Boland uses the story of

Pygmalion and Galatea to tell a modern version of the male manipulation of women. The woman

in this poem becomes just a statue, an object, like Galatea, for the man in the poem. This Greek

myth and “In His Own Image” show how women become a muse and an object created from the

patriarchal culture showing what an “ideal” woman is. Through this, the reader encounters a

woman who is manipulated and has fallen victim of male manipulation because all she has left is

to accept the male representation of herself. There is a certain image set up for women, by men,

that they are forced to confront. Women are repeatedly told by society that they are not enough

or not worthy of good things. Why does society tell them this? Because young boys are being

taught that it is acceptable to tell women what to do, that they are in charge, and that they get to
 Cain 4

set the standards for society. They choose standards that benefit them though. They force women

to feel like they must look, act, and be a certain way to succeed in life, both emotionally,

sexually, intellectually, and physically. Men believe that they have the right to control and form

women to make them however they want them to be, as Pygmalion did. But, many women have

no choice because violence will occur with any attempt at standing up for oneself, as seen in “In

His Own Image”. This poem exposes the patriarchal system that continues to be literally

dangerous for some women, like the one in this poem. Boland uses the female voice to make

known to readers that this is a reality for women living in the world, and many times they are

forced to put up a mask to hide the truth of what is happening to them. The way that Eavan

Boland revised both Genesis and the Greek myth of Pygmalion and Galatea brought to light a

modern twist on the abuse that men have forced on women for centuries.

Because of the forceful constructs society has accepted by the patriarchy, Helene Cixous

calls for women to write out of their bodily experiences. Eavan Boland’s “In His Own Image”

accepts this call and voices a woman’s thoughts as she is being manipulated to believe that she

must be the “perfect” representation of a woman for her husband. In the first stanza, the woman

lets her domestic “duties” to start defining herself. She knows nothing better. She literally sees

herself in her kettle, and this implies to the reader that she is defining herself as a domestic

housewife and that’s all. She says:

and my cheek

coppered and shone

in the kettle’s paunch,

my mouth
 Cain 5

blubbed in the tin of the pan—

they were all I had to go on. (5-10).

All she knew about herself was what the male-dominated society had taught her to believe. Her

identity was founded in her domestic duties. The next stanza brings the reader into her thoughts

of confusion as she looks to redefine her identity and search for her own meaning and purpose.

Finally, it says, “And then he came home tight” (16). Her husband comes home drunk and she

feels relief. In the next stanza she says, “Such a simple definition! / How did I miss it?” (17-18).

The minutes the man walks in to the home she goes right back to her old definition of self. She’s

been manipulated so much that she just accepts his abuse. She says, “that all I needed / was a

hand / to mould my mouth” (20-22). She goes on to say, “to scald my cheek, was this

concussion” (23-24). She finds herself in him and the life that he has designed for her. She feels

complete with him because she hasn’t known anything different. The abuse that her husband has

constantly given her and told her taught her to believe that she was only enough when he was in

control. Boland finishes the poem saying:

His are a sculptor’s hands:

they summon

form from the void,

they bring

me to myself again.

I am a new woman. (32-37).

 Cain 6

The female reality and voice is being completely covered up by the man as he “summons” her

and brings her back to the horribly constricting life that the patriarchal society forced her into.

Eavan Boland brings out the depressing reality of many women’s thoughts that have been so

manipulated and destroyed by the situation they have been confined to.

Eavan Boland takes Genesis 1:27 and the Greek myth of Pygmalion and Galatea and

revises them. She uses satire to share with readers that the patriarchal society has made a false

representation of women. They have ignored the female reality of abuse, comparison, and loss of

identity that many women have to go through. Eavan Boland has given voice to women who are

confronted with abuse in their lives by placing her as the speaker of this poem. Boland gives

power to the voice of women. By writing satirically, she is able to engage her readers, women

and men, giving them the option to follow the manipulation of the many controlling men before

them or stand up for the many women’s voices that are being shut out.