‘Havisham’
By Carol Ann Duffy
‘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 woman, and that the figure upon
which it now hung loose had shrunk to skin and bone.’
‘Great Expectations’ (I.VII)
Carol Ann Duffy’s comments on the poem:
‘HAVISHAM’ is an exploration of love turned to hatred through the
bitterness of rejection and was inspired by Miss Havisham, a
character in Charles Dickens’ novel, ‘Great Expectations’.
In my poem, the title is HAVISHAM, to indicate a move away from
“Miss” Havisham- this is my creation now, and the poem is in
Havisham’s voice. The removal of Miss suggests she no longer feels
like a woman/is somewhere between a Miss and a Mrs and has lost
her role in life.
Havisham is a woman driven mad with loss and rejection and the
poem is a hymn of pain and rage as she moves in and out of dream
and awakening, always remembering the love of her life who jilted
and betrayed her.
In many ways, HAVISHAM as a poem is the opposite of ANNE
HATHAWAY.
FORM
Free verse. No rhyme scheme or formal metre
and the poem. The jerky rhythm of the lines is
dictated by the voice of the character, a voice
filled with pain and bitterness.
The lack of rhyme and the presence of enjambment help to create
a more defined voice in the poem. However, while this can often
produce a more natural, realistic speech pattern, in this case it has
the opposite effect: Havisham’s voice is choppy and stilted, which
emphasises the lack of order and structure to her thoughts.
Regularity of the stanza and line lengths
tedium/monotony of her life now without her lover.
This poem is a monologue spoken by Miss Havisham.
–
suggests
Discussion Questions (mainly stanzas 1-2)
• The opening phrase is an oxymoron. What does it reveal about
Havisham's feelings for her former fiancé?
• What is the effect of the alliteration of the harsh B sound? Find other
examples of alliteration. Do they all reveal a vindictive side to the
character or does Duffy cleverly make the reader consider the
character in a different light?
• Find and analyse examples which show the angry/aggressive
aspect of her character.
• The central image of Havisham is the one about the mirror. How
does Duffy go on to develop the idea that Havisham has some
realisation that she has changed and that she must take some of the
responsibility for this herself?
use
of ‘b’/alliteration
–
as if words
are
OxymoronicPlosive
minor sentence
– suggests
speaker’s
frantic/crazed
state
Missing
punctuation
in ‘Beloved
sweetheart
Awkward sentence construction/syntax
- reiterates her
hatred
want of
to emotions
admit
howand Conveys
of mind asspat
doesout
notin–speak
in(doesn’t
full grammatical
sentences.
bastard’
emphasises
intensity
confused/chaotic state of mind. Indirectly refers to wedding (‘not
much
he speaker’s
meant to her
how much
shecome
is
inner anguish
/conflict.
conveys
lack and
of control
(words
a day since then.’) unable to speak of it by name – conveys her
suffering
in his
absence.)
pouring out
without
restraint.)
distress/pain. Disturbing intensity of wishing him dead.
Beloved sweetheart bastard. Not a day since then
I haven’t wished him dead. Prayed for it
so hard I’ve dark green pebbles for eyes,
ropes on the back of my hands I could strangle with.
Corruption of religious beliefs – prays for his death. Enjambment
emphasises intensity of her prayers. Consequences of this = corruption of
her soul? Eyes now = hard/cold pebbles (metaphor.) Green = connotations
ofLiterally
envy/jealousy.
stuck in time, paralysed as a ridiculous parody or imitation of a
bride whose love has been rejected. In giving a voice to Miss Havisham,
Has
become
so fixated
on hiscorrosive
death, that
she of
doesn’t
etc. Hands on
are
Duffy
exposes
the terrible,
effects
such eat
an experience
skeletal
withpsyche.
veins bulging (metaphorical ropes.)Even these have dark
the human
connotations for her – strangulation. = an allusion to Dickens’ novel, in
which Estella’s natural mother strangled a rival with her unusually strong
hands. Emphasises her vindictive/vengeful character.
Spits the word out with disgust /contempt at what she is. Deliberately
isolated in a sentence on its own to emphasise Miss Havisham's own
feelings of isolation in a society in which women were often defined by
their marital status. Positions word at start of stanza/line to show its
importance and impact this name has on her.
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
‘whole days’
2 occur
emphasises
simultaneously
all lines/words
that
(stink
wasand
lostis
remember)
including
timejumbled
so
The construction
and
order of the
deliberately
Symbolism
ofaround
colour
– ‘yellowing’
age,
now– she
– remains
remember
static
inthe
=
time
to
inconveys
decay
thewhat
dress.
physically,
‘cawing’
and her
‘slewed’
turned
as
she
too
rejects
she decay,
sees, almost
and
confused
toto
emphasise
speaker’s
irrationality
and
passing
of time
yet
the
memory
and
her
pain
notasfade
onomatopoeic
mentally
shriek
etc.
Disgusted
emphasise
at
the
herself
animalistic/visceral
–do‘stink’
not recognising
herself.
Detachment/distance
emphasised
through
Enjambment
suggests
ambiguity
ofShe
the
last
line’s
meaning.
Is so
she
muddled,
tormented
state
of mind.
presents
herself
the
victim still,
and
aggrieved,
wears
the
quality
behind
and
what
her
she
agony
has
–allowed
almost
another
no
longer
to
human.
doherself
to
‘the
usewas
of
third
person
pronoun
–she
either
doesn’t
see
or
admitting
she
hasthat
done
this
to‘her’
herself
or
does
she
see
herself
as
the
this
a haunted
wrong
was
done
to
her
and
she
isdress.
determined
to
exact
wall’
=isall
her/succumbed
– no
friend/family
toquest
their
power/hold
towho
express
over
her
her
doesn’t
want
toshe
admit
this
is her.
Emphasises
her
mental
fragility.
victim
and
questioning/calling
out
inand
pain
did
this
topain
her?
revenge.
The
irony
ishas
that
this
lust
for
vengeance
istoo.
utterly
Evokes (cf.
our
with
pity
etc.
lastexacerbates
line of stanza.)
self destructive
and
only
her pain.
Discussion Questions (mainly stanzas 1-2)
• What does the phrase ‘bite awake’ suggest about the reality of
Havisham's life?
• What is her attitude to men in general? She wants a ‘corpse’ to share
the ‘honeymoon.’ What do these words reveal about her view of her
life since her abandonment?
• There is another side to the character. Duffy shows us a woman who is
suffering torment to the point that she is losing her mind. (What is
suggested by the final line?) How does Duffy convey Havisham's pain?
• Throughout the poem, Duffy makes use of enjambment to create the
cadence of speech and to emphasise important words/phrases. Find
examples of this and explain what is revealed about the character
through the structure and emphasis.
‘Puce’ – brownish purple colour. Synaesthesia (one sense used to
Continuedanother:
animalistic
quality toaswhat
shewords
has become
– her
describe
sightsound
if the
themselves
have
hatred Has
has connotations
left her almost
mute, unable to articulate her
colour.)
of rage.
emotions through language so now can only vocalise her bitter
anger through
sounds.
‘curses’
conveys
her continuous/unending desire for revenge.
Intensity of grief implied by inability to articulate/express herself in
words.
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 bite awake. Love’s
Abrupt change in direction, a glimpse at the softer side of the speaker.
Deliberate choice not to use pronouns for her lover – instead
‘lost’
either with
the loss
of the lover
or ifnow,
theyshe
did recalls
In contrast
to suggests
her ineptitude
language
earlier,
uses ‘the’ and ‘its.’ Creates a sense of distance from him, while
his
vacancy/emptiness/lack
of
The have
use ofsex,
present
in the
verbshe
‘bite’
reminds
us that,
how her
tongue
usedsuggest
totense
be fluent
and
could
skilfully
use it to
simultaneously depriving him of his humanity, and therefore
connection
withhere,
her.
Lack
ofanger
punctuation
– suggests
despite
the passing
of
years,
her
have
seduce
her
lover.
Even
the
strength
ofand
herbitterness
hatred
continues
to
makes it easier for her to continue to hate him. Could also
intensity
ofall
emotion
want
to
pause
inasher
not abated
and
are
raw today
as when
she was
first
permeate
and taint
ofjust
heras(doesn’t
most
pleasant
memories
she jolts
suggest she dreams of sex as they never had a chance to
of bites
a tender
awakejilted.
so recollection
suddenly she
her moment
tongue. with lover.)
consummate their relationship so it is hazy/unclear imaginings.
Use of plosive b emphasises sense of loss. “bite” suggests the sudden
terror of her situation which allows her no rest, jolts her awake.
Enjambment & oxymoron imply confusion of feelings. Exposes
just how inextricably linked these two seemingly opposing
emotions are. There is something almost possessive and
distinctive about the specific and enduring type of hate that is
provoked through the betrayal of love.
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.
Command and assonance reveal her desire for revenge and the pleasure
which
she wouldwith
derive
from(symbolises
it. “male” dehumanises.
Sheand
wouldballoon
rather he
Contrast
red
passion/love)
‘white veil’ – connotations of virginity, purity and a wedding day. Veil =
was (symbolises
dead than have
him
reject her – –indicates
her bitter,
distorted
view of
hercake
hopes/dreams)
her intense
for
him/hopes
Wedding
is stabbed/destroyed
aslove
itthehas
no
a covering
over
theis broken
face
which
we
can’t
see/ever
truly
The
last
word
up notsuggests
only to imitate
sound
herself
od relationships.
for and
the future
have been destroyed.
just
like
her.her
understand
depths
of
emotions,
andinstill,
what but
she to
expresses
ofpurpose
the the
speaker
finally
breaking
down
anguish,
conveys
intensity. the extent of her mental and emotional
emphasise
Could
also allude to what
Miss
to Pip in ‘GE’ –ofseeks
Onomatopoeia
shows
theH does
suddenness/shock
her revenge
lover’s on
Hate is the only
emotion
is able
feel. Without
it
disintegration.
Hatred
andshe
anger
haveto consumed
and
all men
due to the
one who
This makes
her happy:
‘honeymoon.’
departure.
‘Bang’
in itshurt
ownher.
sentence
also serves
to awaken
the
she would
be utterly
numb
and with
so The
in purity
many
waysnow
it is become
The white
veil every
normally
has
destroyed
facetassociated
of
her being.
final statement
speaker from her reverie and prompt her back to the miserable
only that
by
preserving
and
her
loathing and
something
the
speaker
hides
behind.
dress/veil
= a costume
implies
a fractured
mind
andnurturing
a brokenThe
spirit.
Subverts
associations
of the
honeymoon
with
joy‘bang’
and happiness
realityour
of usual
her present
existence.
‘Stabbed’
paired
with
builds
hatred
that she herself
has a purpose
to her life.
to almost
hide/protect
from herself/her
reality/the present.
into something
much more menacing
on her aggression/hatred
towards him.
Themes
• The corrosive nature of hatred on the human psyche
• The complexity of love/relationships
• Nature/profundity of love/loss/loneliness
Discussion Questions
• How far does the poet want us to sympathize with Miss
Havisham?
• Perhaps the most important part of the poem is the question ‘who
did this/to me?’ How far does the poem show that Miss Havisham
is responsible for her own misery, and how far does it support her
feelings of self-pity and her desire for revenge?