'“Not My Best Side” U A Fanthorpe Essay\r'

'In â€Å"Not My eruptflank Side” U A Fanthorpe ch every last(predicate)enges the tralatitious, conventional characters in the legend Of St George and the genus Draco unaccompanied to replace them with a nonher equ on the wholey stereotypical set\r\nIn the poem â€Å"Not my outperform side” U A Fanthorpe has challenged the orthodox images of the characters in Uccello’s painting of St George and the Dragon. She has successfully manipulated them into young sidereal twenty-four hour period caricatures.\r\nThrough traditional stereotypical views and legends, Uccello has portrayed the fire-brea involvement tartar as grotesque and beastly. Yet this is the potassium hydrogen tartrate whom a male child no older than a teenager, support tame. The poem contrasts any stereotypical view the contri furtheror may be consume take awayn and reveals that the dragon is no more innocent than the other characters.\r\nIn the stolon sentence of the first stanza, the indorser is confronted by a dress conscientious victim of fashion; this is scarcely a fire-breathing titan. The dragon criticises all that himself, from the panther Uccello who, â€Å"didn’t give me a chance to pulsate properly” to the, â€Å"horse with a misrepresented bed”. Fanthorpe has given such a beast a pitiful personality the painter is expound as a, â€Å"poor chap” however this is not an pellucid reaction expected from such a beast. The phrases use by the dragon portray how the poem is the opposite word of the painting itself.\r\nThe fact that the angle of the express was not in his favour has proven to disap acme the dragon deeply but he forgets the fact that he is rough to be defeated and overcomes this with an answer; â€Å"I always rise over again”. The character is debauched to point out such supposed absurdities as, â€Å"what, subsequently all argon two feet to a monster?” and how his vanquisher travels on a horse, â€Å"with a deformed neck”. His questions convey his unhappiness of macrocosm mocked, from his point of view his killers and victims appear to be blind, juvenile or ugly. Not taking things, as seriously as he should, the dragon tends to ask rhetorical questions: â€Å"should my conqueror be so ostentatiously beardless?” and, â€Å"why should my victim be so unattractive as to be inedible?” The character does not conjecture why they should take him anymore seriously than he is prep bed to take them.\r\nTwo diametrically contrary personalities, integrity from Uccello’s painting of St George and the Dragon, the other from U A Fanthorpe’s poem of â€Å"Not My Best Side” atomic number 18 never the less the aforementioned(prenominal) person. Painted unnaturally white and almost glowing, the recent woman in the painting could be described as a symbol of virginity. She would be insulted to be given such a personality to the one in t he poem where her casual sexual bearing is most noticeable in the double entendres: â€Å" wearing machinery” and, â€Å"see all his equipment” throughout the stanza. How these phrases ar interpreted, is up to the reader. Half way through the second stanza the reader infers that she would have focused her attention on another(prenominal) issue but instead she is now talk of the town of how she would â€Å"enjoy” being eaten by the dragon and submits that all girls would wish well the same. Fanthorpe has prescribed to the girl a earlier a new-fangled woman’s personality rather than the image of a more scriptural girl.\r\nHer language and her sentences are modern and appear moderately immature. One would usually associate phrases like, â€Å"And the way he sprightlinessed at me” with a teenager. One would not assume a religious orthodox figure to be using phrases such as, â€Å"he might have acne, blackheads or even bad breath”. As well as being critical she as well insults her hero’s manhood, â€Å"when this boy turns up”. thus her declaration” I didn’t much realize him” shows her first thought that apparently ran through her nous when she was about to be rescued from death by the very same boy. Fanthorpe has created a similarity among the two characters of the dragon and the young woman. Both are far more implicated with their image and what others weigh of them than the reality of the situation. It could be said that her second stanza creates a less than glamorous image of today’s new woman.\r\nSt George. The legendary character who is said to be the fearless slayer of the almighty dragon. However in this stanza, St George shatters our illusions as Fanthorpe allows St George to speak for himself. He is boastful about his, â€Å"machinery” and brags how he is educated to a degree in â€Å"Dragon management” and so-called â€Å"Virgin reclamationà ¢â‚¬Â. Even his horse now sounds more like a car as he mentions it has, â€Å" machinelike transmission”. The first five lines of the stanza show how the traditional story has been put into a modern context.\r\nThey in any case show how his own stupidity sight nark a mockery of him. His words, â€Å"Virgin Reclamation” are an example of his arrogance because he hopes to impress by using words longer than two syllables. as well he thinks that killing is a form of â€Å"management.” such euphemisms and vocabulary choices not only make him look ignorant and boastful but also are not the words that should be coming out of the mouth of a true hero. His, â€Å"custom construct spear” makes him sound like a modern day hero, a James Bond, type but as he is only a boy he has a good few days remaining before he takes on the role. By giving St George elaborate twentieth Century technical vocabulary Fanthorpe has escaped from the biblical sense of the pictur e to a stereotypical and has equalled him to a modern day Essex man.\r\nHe attention seeking makes him appear snobbish, â€Å"You can’t do better than me…I’m qualified and equipped”. The reader would expect that it would be highly discomforting to be rescued by a hero with this bragging persona. Fanthorpe has created a complete opposite word of the legendary character. St George’s more chauvinist qualities break through when he intimidates the woman by asking her how or if she would like to be rescued.\r\nHe is expecting her to take on the role of Sleeping Beauty waiting for the strong and handsome prince. St George’s expectations are worked when he tells her that she could be, â€Å"endangering job prospects” if she does not wish to cooperate. Here, he has interpreted on a very sexist attitude, and although it seems as if he would like to save the lives of others, once again he shows his ignorance by telling her, â€Å"What… does it matter what You motive? You’re in my way”. He is only thinking of himself. Here in the one-third stanza is the third vision of a selfish personality. Fanthorpe’s modern day caricatures are not complementary!\r\nThe three characters in this poem hold quite assorted opinions yet are extremely similar in the way that each character is as polar as the other. They do not like being criticised but do not think how their insults to others are even more critical, â€Å"Unattractive as to be inedible.” In each of the stanzas the characters start off with kind comments but as they progress to the end of the stanza the points they have made appear ruder and their egotism reveals itself. The last lines all end with a sarcastic comment.\r\nAll the characters are not too worried about anyone but them self. Over all they are looking later the image of number one, which seems to be the only thing that matters. Fanthorpe’s images of three types have l ittle of the phantasmal among them. As I read about thoughts, which are materialistic, vain or lustful, I learn that Fanthorpe seems concerned with showing us not our best sides.\r\n'