Not My Best Side

In U.A. Fanthorpe's poem "Not My Best Side" the dragon, the maiden, and the knight do not portray the same thoughts and personalities as they do in the traditional stories. The main idea of the poem directly lies within in the title, because each character is showing a different less appealing side, then they would in the conventional tale.

Dragons, for example, are usually giant fearless creatures who destroy anything and everything in their past. They capture maidens, and kill knights, and there confidence is extraordinary, but the dragon is this poem shows none of those characteristics. The majority of his section is filled with complaints about the painting that he is in. He doesn't like the angle is was painted at, and he is upset that two of his feet weren't in the painting. He also has no interest in the maiden that he has captured, he actually finds her quite ugly. All he is worrying about is what people are going to think of him, when usually a big strong dragon doesn't care, all they want to do is kill, and capture, but this dragon shows little confidence or interest in those tasks.

Traditionally maidens are supposed to be pure at heart and pure at mind, but this maiden is in no way like that. She is very much attracted to the dragon who has captured her and she has no interest in being rescued, by the possibly ugly knight. Her lust towards that dragon is very strong, and her supposed "pure" mind is actually quite dirty. Unfortunately, her little crush must end because the dragon was defeated, which meant she might as well run off with the Knight who "saved" her, because she needs to think about her future.

The knight in this story cares little about the maiden he is saving and more about his credibility as a Knight. He has all the latest horse, and weapons, and he is the most qualified to slay the dragon. He wants to finish the job that was assigned to him and he doesn't understand why this maiden won't just get out of his way so he can rescue her and add another achievement to his already stacked resume. He portrays a more modern mind then the customary knight, and work is most important to him.

Each speaker from each section is showing a different side, then readers would usually see or expect, and the sides they are showing are pretty unpleasant which is why the poem is called "Not My Best Side". There is also humor added to the usually serious love story.