Wisława Szymborska “Portrait of a Woman” Interpretation
“Portrait of a Woman” is a poem written by Szymborska in her early 70’s. In this piece she takes the challenge and attempts to create a generalised depiction of a women.
Shortly after the poem starts though, it turns out that a task like that is either very, very hard or maybe even completely unattainable. Each women has a different back story, a different physique, different ambitions, different viewpoints that define her and make her unique and one of a kind.
It’s hard to draw one exact, general, applicable to every woman portrait as they all have that incredible ability ( which can be sometimes good but also bad) of adapting to almost every situation. Women have multiple sides to themselves, which show only in certain situations meaning it’s hard to state when a woman completely uncovers and shows her self fully.
The whole poem is built up on contrasts and contradictions. The verse “Sleeps with him like a random stranger, the only one in the world” implies womens different perspectives on relationships with men.
The contradictions Szymborska uses also emphasise the societies stereotypes about women. “Weak, but she will bear the weight” is a contrasting, ironic approach towards emphasising how the stereotype of women still being the weaker part of society is completely irrelevant and not true as it is impossible to be weak and yet still manage to put up with all the dilemmas and complications women encounter on an every day basis.
Szymborska shows both in a beautiful and ironic way how women have the ability to regain themselves in so many various roles from a lover, a cook, a housewife to a trust system, a person with unconditional love a person being there for better and for worse.
