Analysis Of Heaney's Punishment

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Heaney looks at the very human society functions, both in ancient and present times. This us summed up at the end of the poem;

"who would connive
in civilized outrage
yet understand the exact
and tribal, intimate revenge" (Stanza 11)

Heaney here, writes that he does not only feel empathy and sympathy towards the "little Adulteress", but is also able to detach himself from his emotions and look at her death as a function of an ancient tribal system. The role which the bog woman played in her society is further elaborated to the role in which she would have played in contemporary society;

"When your betraying sisters,
cauled in tar,
wept by the railings" (Stanza 10)

This comparison of the woman's sacrificial death in the past, and in modern Ireland in the present, is a concept which is far more complex than the poem initially portrays. Heaney recognizes that the death of the woman in the past was necessary to keep their society functioning which is seen in his choice ...

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