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. 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 half arranged, her watch and chain were not put on.
But, I saw that everything within my view which ought to be white, had been white long
ago, and had lost its luster, 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. 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.
DRAW THIS WOMAN
‘Havisham’
Learning Objective:
To be able to explore and explain the
way in which relationships are presented
through language in ‘Havisham.’
Background
• Miss Havisham is a character from
‘Great Expectations’;
• She is jilted by her scheming fiancé
before they are married;
• She remains in her wedding dress for
the rest of her life whilst plotting her
revenge on all men.
Questions...
1. What is this poem about?
2. Why does the poet omit Miss Havisham's title
and refer to her by her surname only?
3. Why does the poet write ‘spinster’ on its own?
What does Miss Havisham think about this word
and its relevance to her?
4. What is the effect of “Nooooo” and “b-bbreaks”? Why are these words written in this
way?
5. What is the meaning of the image of ‘a red
balloon bursting?
6. Does Miss Havisham have a fair view of men?
7. What do you think of her view of being an
unmarried woman?
8. How far does the poem show Miss Havisham as
being responsible for her own misery? How does
it support her feelings of self-pity and revenge?
Stanza 1
• Look at the title of the poem. Why do you
think it only uses her surname?
• Comment on the oxymoron ‘sweetheart
bastard’ of the first line.
• How is envy suggested in the first stanza?
• ‘Prayed for it/ so hard I’ve had dark green
pebbles for eyes…’ What do these images
suggest about Miss Havisham’s feelings?
Stanza 2
• ‘Spinster.’ Why does this word get its own sentence do
you think?
• ‘I stink …’ What is the effect of this strong verb?
• ‘Whole days/ in bed cawing Nooooo at the wall;’ - what
does this image suggest about the woman?
• What’s the double meaning of ‘trembling’ in line 3?
• ‘her, myself’ – what do these pronouns show us about
Miss Havisham’s view of herself?
• Look at the enjambment on the last line of the stanza.
What is the effect of this and what does it add to the
poem here?
Stanza 3
• ‘Who did this/ to me?’ Who did? Him, or her,
do you think, and why?
• ‘… the lost body over me,’ – whose body does
this line refer to? What is happening here?
• On line 3, in what sense is Miss Havisham’s
tongue fluent?
• Comment on the use of the phrase ‘bite
awake’.
Stanza 4
• ‘Hate behind a white veil; a red balloon
bursting/in my face.’ What do these violent
images suggest about her view of love?
• What is the effect of the use of the
onomatopoeia ‘bang’?
• ‘Give me a male corpse for a long slow
honeymoon.’ What is she imagining here?
• Describe the effect of the strong plosives in ‘bb-b-breaks’. What has broken?
Final thoughts
• Why do you think the poem is unrhymed?
• How does the lack of end-stopping affect the
fluency and pace of the whole poem?
• Pick out the places where you feel sympathy
for Miss Havisham and then pick out the
places where you feel disgusted by her? (You
could construct a simple table in order to help
you pin particular lines down.)
Oxymoron shows combination of
feelings
Enjambment
Beloved sweetheart bastard. Not a day since then
I haven’t wished him dead. Prayed for it
Metaphor
so hard I’ve dark green pebbles for eyes,
ropes on the back of my hands I could strangle with.
Metaphor used to emphasise strength of
hands.
Her means of
revenge.
One word sentence is what
society sums her up as
She sees her life as decay and memories
Spinster. I stink and remember. Whole days
in bed cawing Nooooo at the wall; the
Makes her
sound like an
dressanimal
yellowing, trembling if I open the wardrobe;
the slewed mirror, full-length, her, myself, who
did this
Turning or twisting
Sounds like she
no longer
recognises what
she has become
Suggesting that at
night she is able to
dream
Purplish-red
to me? Puce curses that are sounds not words.
She asks who has
made her this way
The man she might
have married
Some nights better, the lost body over me,
my fluent tongue in its mouth in its ear
then down till I suddenly bite awake. Love’s
What is the effect of
‘bite awake?’
Use of oxymoron to show
unstable mixture of Havisham’s
feelings.
Suggests celebrations that did not
take place. What else might ‘red’
suggest?
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.
Don’t think it’s only the heart that b-b-b-breaks.
Combines
both love
and
revenge
Stammered words to
suggest a kind of collapse