Havisham
Explore the way violence is presented in the poem ‘Havisham’ by Carol Anne Duffy
Carol Anne Duffy bases her poem ‘Havisham’ off of a repulsive character from ‘Great Expectations’ by Charles Dickens. Miss Havisham is introduced to us in the story as a spinster who was left at the alter after being deceived by her brother and her ‘lover’. Since the day, she reveled in her grudge against them for breaking her heart and she became dominated by her obsession of a perfect marriage, perfect partner and perfect life. From this poem, Duffy displays how Miss Havisham’s desire for everything to be impeccable has caused her into a violent state that glares from within.
Miss Havisham is portrayed as a repulsive vicious character through the multiple references to Medusa, who in greek mythology is known to be cursed by Athena to be so hideous that her looks can turn any onlookers into stone. From stanza one, the narrator said that Miss Havisham has ‘dark green pebbles for eyes’. Her dark green eyes are pebble hard and glows just like medusa’s does according to images. ‘Trembling if I open the wardrobe’ is like the dungeon some mythical stories had of medusa being trapped in a deep underground dungeon because of how revengeful she was for her curse, Athena therefore caging her so that she cannot harm anyone, this showing us the image that Miss Havisham was too dangerous to allow the doors to open in fear that she might go out and endanger innocent lives since she mentioned getting ‘a male corpse for a long slow honeymoon’ to fulfill her desires. The word ‘slewed’ suggests the awkward way her appearance must be, or maybe how disgusting her hair or dress has become, perhaps hinting towards how the snakes are twisted on medusa’s head.
Strangle, spinster, stink, corpse and more, these uses of the ‘s’ sounds are very suggestive that Miss Havisham has become very much like a snake. The usage of sibilance by Duffy reflects a sinister tone to how Miss Havisham feels, the
Carol Anne Duffy bases her poem ‘Havisham’ off of a repulsive character from ‘Great Expectations’ by Charles Dickens. Miss Havisham is introduced to us in the story as a spinster who was left at the alter after being deceived by her brother and her ‘lover’. Since the day, she reveled in her grudge against them for breaking her heart and she became dominated by her obsession of a perfect marriage, perfect partner and perfect life. From this poem, Duffy displays how Miss Havisham’s desire for everything to be impeccable has caused her into a violent state that glares from within.
Miss Havisham is portrayed as a repulsive vicious character through the multiple references to Medusa, who in greek mythology is known to be cursed by Athena to be so hideous that her looks can turn any onlookers into stone. From stanza one, the narrator said that Miss Havisham has ‘dark green pebbles for eyes’. Her dark green eyes are pebble hard and glows just like medusa’s does according to images. ‘Trembling if I open the wardrobe’ is like the dungeon some mythical stories had of medusa being trapped in a deep underground dungeon because of how revengeful she was for her curse, Athena therefore caging her so that she cannot harm anyone, this showing us the image that Miss Havisham was too dangerous to allow the doors to open in fear that she might go out and endanger innocent lives since she mentioned getting ‘a male corpse for a long slow honeymoon’ to fulfill her desires. The word ‘slewed’ suggests the awkward way her appearance must be, or maybe how disgusting her hair or dress has become, perhaps hinting towards how the snakes are twisted on medusa’s head.
Strangle, spinster, stink, corpse and more, these uses of the ‘s’ sounds are very suggestive that Miss Havisham has become very much like a snake. The usage of sibilance by Duffy reflects a sinister tone to how Miss Havisham feels, the