How Does Wislawa Szymborska's "Advertisement" Reveal the Thoughts/Feelings of the Speaker?
- The thoughts of "Advertisement"'s speaker present an inversion of the overall message of the poem, as the speaker is portrayed as seductive and potentially evil
- The speaker's attempt to seduce or coerce the reader is shown through lines like "All you have to do is take me" and "have faith in my chemical compassion". A lot of the speaker's seemingly ill-intent is made clear through the use of prerogative sentences.
- Seduction and coercion are also very evident in rhetorical questioning. "What are you waiting for-", "Who said you have to take it on the chin?" The speaker, the drug being sold, is attempting to encourage the audience to buy into it
- Direct address is used to make it clear that the speaker wishes to target and single out its market, leaving them with a feeling that the actual motives could be sinister
- Use of the line "You'll thank me for giving you four paws to fall on" insinuates that the speaker wishes to turn the reader/buyer into a beast or something less than human through the imagery stemming from the figurative language
- Heavy use of "s" sounds, sometimes in consonance, creates a luring, serpent-like quality to the speaker. Possibly an allusion to the biblical serpent, who also promises greatness from something that ends up causing harm (12-15 line)
- Use of consonance in line 17, "chemical compassion", makes the speaker's role as "salesman" more evident, as it mimics the structure of a slogan or tagline for a product. It also simultaneously uses a word associated with good and a word associated with bad. "Compassion" and "chemical." These also display the questionable morality of the speaker.
- "Salesmen" role further displayed in line structure. Sentences begin short and clipped but grow as the poem continues and tone shifts.
- Tone shift occurs at full on line 20, where it becomes more demanding and less positive compare opening of "I'm a tranquilizer" to "sell me your soul. There are no other takers. There is no other devil anymore."