Tennyson's lone speaker is shown condemning the actions of both people and society as a whole within "Maud"; many of the speaker's social criticisms prove to be valid social criticisms of the Victorian age, in contrast to his sometimes erratic and distorted cognitive models displayed through disjunctive structural techniques within the poem. In contrast, some of the speaker's more extreme criticisms of mass social demographics such as women show signs of the mental health issues with which the speaker is afflicted in the second act of the poem. In this essay I will explore how Tennyson uses literary and structural techniques to present the speaker's resentment towards people and society in the following passage, and compare it to the criticisms of civilization later within the poem. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essayTennyson portrays his speaker as derogatory towards the nouveau riche: "to see his castle gewgaw shining, new as his title." The use of simile emphasizes the relative modernity of Maud's suitor's position and exacerbates the idea that the suitor is unworthy of his title or income, having inherited both rather than earned them. In general terms, Tennyson's speaker is critical of the capitalist state allowing the rich to purchase goods that should be beyond the reach of capital: "what can't it buy?" The rhetorical question demonstrates Tennyson's speaker's cynicism towards the state of Victorian society, where it might be implied that a man could "buy" his way in life, winning over people - particularly women - with his income . Tennyson's speaker is presented as critical of women. – Tennyson suggests that the suitor is 'rich with the grace that all women desire'. This presentation of women creates the idea that women are fickle and easily influenced by materialistic possessions. Throughout the text, the speaker appears disparaging of all "feminine" traits and appears to be both attracted to and disgusted by seemingly "masculine" qualities; critics have interpreted this to be a symbol of internalized misogyny as the speaker feels that – due to the loss of his father – he has lost his identity and, consequently, his manhood. A repeated criticism of industrialists becomes a repeated motif within the poem, particularly within the first act. Tennyson's speaker is critical of the upper class, who build their wealth on the bones of the workers who toil beneath them. Tennyson describes the objectification of the working class through abstraction; 'filthy nakedness dragging its trucks'. This dehumanization strips workers of any individuality or dignity and creates the image of a collective workforce, devoid of emotional language. This criticism reflects the state of Britain during this period of the Industrial Revolution: many workers who came to the city to work lived in unsanitary housing, worked in dangerous conditions and had to provide for their families from the pittance they earned. While this criticism can be generalized to the state of the country, the speaker's criticism is originally instigated by his dislike of Maud's father, a hatred that may be linked not only to his father's death but to his emasculation. So Tennyson's depiction of the speaker's resentment towards people could ultimately be interpreted as misdirected self-loathing...