Havisham

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Havisham

• By Carol Ann Duffy

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• Creates a persona

• Monologue

• Miss Havisham character from Great Expectations
  by Charles Dickens jilted on her wedding day by
  her fiancée.

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Alliteration of b and p sound suggests ANGER
I.E. the wedding day
OXYMORON SUGGESTS LOVE/HATE
Beloved sweetheart bastard. Not a day since
then I havent wished him dead. Prayed for
it so hard Ive dark green pebbles for
eyes, ropes on the back of my hands I could
strangle with
Image suggests hard and cruel
Enjambment lines run over
Green for jealousy Indicating her Bitterness
the Green-eyed monster Green like a monster.
Theme of violence in poem (compare with
Stealing/ Education for Leisure/ Hitcher)
Veins a metaphor
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Single word Sentence denotes Her bitterness
i.e. because she has never washed since her
wedding day
WORD EMPHASISES HER GRIEF AND DESPAIR
Spinster. I stink and remember. Whole days in
bed cawing Nooooo at the wall the
dress yellowing, trembling if I open the
wardrobe the slewed mirror, full-length, her,
myself, who did this
Image of a crow CAWING
WITH AGE
AS THOUGH IT IS SOMEONE ELSE WHO HAS DONE THIS.
SHE CANT BELIEVE THAT THE WOMAN IN THE MIRROR
WOULD DO THIS. SPLIT PERSONALITY? DISTURBED?
BROKEN/DESTROYED (VIOLENCE?)
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Enjambment lines run over
She cannot express her anger and bitterness in
proper words (compare line 6)
to me? Puce curses that are sounds not
words. Some nights better, the lost body over
me, my fluent tongue in its mouth in its
ear Then down till I suddenly bit awake. Loves
Sexual references to Their relationship
VIOLENCE
6
oxymoron
Wedding dress/white For virginity
VIOLENCE
hate behind a white veil a red balloon
bursting in my face. Bang. I stabbed at a
wedding cake. Give me a male corpse for a long
slow honeymoon. Dont think its only the heart
that b-b-b-breaks.
Alliteration of b and p sound suggests ANGER
She would rather have him dead than have him
reject her shows how bitter and twisted she is
Sobbing and suggests violence a veiled threat
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She was dressed in rich materials - satins, and
lace, and silks - all of white. Her shoes were
white. And she had a long white veil dependent
from her hair, and she had bridal flowers in her
hair, but her hair was white. Some bright
jewels sparkled on her neck and on her hands,
and some other jewels lay sparkling on the table.
Dresses, less splendid than the dress she wore,
and half-packed trunks, were scattered about.
8
She had not quite finished dressing, for she
had but one shoe on - the other was on the table
near her hand - her veil was but half arranged,
her watch and chain were not put on, and some
lace for her bosom lay with those trinkets, and
with her handkerchief, and gloves, and some
flowers, and a prayer-book, all confusedly
heaped about the looking-glass.
9
It was not in the first few moments that I saw
all these things, though I saw more of them in
the first moments than might be supposed. But,
I saw that everything within my view which ought
to be white, had been white long ago, and had
lost its lustre, and was faded and yellow. I
saw that the bride within the bridal dress had
withered like the dress, and like the flowers,
and had no brightness left but the brightness
of her sunken eyes
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. I saw that the dress had been put upon the
rounded figure of a young woman, and that the
figure upon which it now hung loose, had shrunk
to skin and bone. Once, I had been taken to see
some ghastly waxwork at the Fair, representing
I know not what impossible personage lying in
state. Once, I had been taken to one of our old
marsh churches to see a skeleton in the ashes
of a rich dress, that had been dug out of a
vault under the church pavement. Now, waxwork and
skeleton seemed to have dark eyes that moved
and looked at me. I should have cried out, if I
could.
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• Havisham by Carol Ann Duffy is a poem about
  violence. Write about attitudes to violence in
  this poem, one poem by Simon Armitage and TWO
  from the pre-1914 bank. You should refer to
• Why they committed (or tried to commit) the
  violence
• How they feel about their violent tendencies
• How each speaker expresses these feelings

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• How each speaker expresses these feelings
• Havisham alliteration, violent/powerful verbs,
  enjambment, oxymoron, metaphor
• Hitcher slang casual language for violence
• Laboratory powerful verbs, alliteration
• Man He Killed colloquialisms, hesitation and
  repetition

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Havisham Technique
alliteration a red balloon bursting in my face.Bang
Violent/powerful verbs
enjambment
oxymoron
metaphor