Animals (Motif)
Throughout the poem, the speaker unleashes his violent and destructive tendencies on a series of animals. The varieties of animals involved escalate steadily in terms of intelligence, size, and above all, similarity to humans. The speaker begins with a fly, moves on to a fish, and ultimately hints at having killed his pet bird and cat. Moreover, Duffy makes clear that this has been a longstanding habit. His pet bird shows signs of having been harmed by him before, and he mentions killing flies during his schooldays. Clearly, animals have served as a form of practice for the speaker while he works up to his ultimate act of violence.
Shakespeare (Symbol)
Shakespeare symbolizes the speaker’s sense of isolation and exclusion. When remembering his experience of school, he does not recall enjoying lessons or building skills. Instead, he remembers that Shakespeare’s writing felt like “another language.” Whether because of external deprivations or his own innate tendencies, the speaker found reading Shakespeare to be alienating and bewildering rather than interesting and enjoyable. Now, he likens the death of an insect to the language of Shakespeare, suggesting that his violence and his joyless educational experiences are linked to one another.
