Yage
When I first read ‘Havisham’ by Carol Anna Duffy, I was only able to view Miss Havisham as someone that had deep seeded anger that built up inside her over a long period of time. Her violent nature and language created by her distorted psyche. Her twisted mind was created by an unfortunate in the past when her lover, Compeyson, left her at the altar. This heart breaking incident caused her to become an enemy of the male sex. She is blinded by the idea of taking revenge on the man that she used to love. She has “prayed” for the days she can take revenge on Compeyson. Her modes of violent and destructive expression are created as a result of the incident in the past that her broken life revolves around. Through the first stanza, expresses her hatred towards Compeyson and oh she has "prayed" for the day to take revenge. The description for her eyes as "dark green pebbles" show two aspects about her personality. "Green" shows the sense of envy she has for the happy life she could have had if Compeyson had not left her. The "pebbles" describe the her cold heart that has hardened after the unfortunate experience in the past. The "ropes" on the back of her hands is used to describe her wrinkled and vain-filled hands that have aged through the progression of time. Miss Havisham's eagerness for revenge is shown when the reader becomes aware of the years she has spend to "strangle" her past lover. The second stanza starts with "Spinster.", which is a singled worded sentence. "Spinster" is written as a short sentence to emphasize Miss Havisham's hatred towards her current state. It is as she spitting out the word. The single worded sentence also shows Miss Havisham's solitary state without the company of a loving partner. This further emphasizes the lonely world Miss Havisham lives in due to her unpleasant personality that anger and hatred have shaped. When she sits in bed "cawing Nooooo at the wall", her feelings of unhappiness and sadness towards her life can be shown. Another description with colour is used as her dress is "yellowing" to show the progression of time since the day she wore her wedding dress. As Miss Havisham stares at her reflection in her full-length mirror, she cannot recognize the figure that is reflected in it. She refers to the figure in the mirror as "her" because she is unfamiliar with what she is seeing. This sort of identiy crisis indicates that Miss Havisham is still stuck in her past, when she used to be young. Her hatred towards men and the vengeful personality have blinded her from noticing her time that has passed from the day she was left at the altar. She questions, "who did this to me?" as she is unaware of herself being the own cause of her destruction. Once again, color is used for description at the beginning of the third stanza. She describes curses as “Puce”, which is a murky and dark color created by a mixture of brown and purple which creates a sense of dark and evil nature. The unpleasant events ("lost body over men, my fluent toungue in its mouth in its ear") are described as her "better". This further emphasizes her twisted mind. Violent diction is used as she "bites awake" from her dream. The last stanza beings with an oxymoron as love is juxtaposed with hate. This illustrates her sense of hatred that love brought along after her unfortunate experience. Again, the colour "red" for the bursting balloon to create a sense of anger and embarassment from the past event that Miss Havisham descrbes as right "in my face". If something happens in someone's face, the event would have to be something that would take someone off guard and be seen as violent, rude, and unpleasant. This describes Miss Havisham's state of mind on the day she was left at the altar. "Bang" is used as an onomatopoeia for the bursting balloon. It also shows Miss Haisham's sense of shock from her experience. Again, Miss Havisham's violent nature can be shown when she stabs at a wedding cake. The last two lines show Miss Havisham's broken state of mind. "Give me a male corpse for a long slow honeymoon" makes a reference to necrophilia, which illlustrations her distorted pysche. The "corpose" also suggests that she lives a life of the dead as she has experienced an emotional and mental death in the past. In the last line, "Don't think it's only the heart that b-b-b-breaks.", Miss Havisham refers to not only her broken heart but also her broken mind. After reading "Havisham" a few times, I felt a sense of sympathy and pity for Miss Havisham. Although she may appear as an unpleasant character, she is a victim of an unfortunate past who was given betrayal in return for her love. Her extremely distorted mind only indicates the deep love she had for her past lover, and her unpleasant personality is a result of her deeply hurt feelings. |
Erin
When I first heard about Miss Havisham, I had no idea who she was because I had never read Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations. Sparknotes provided context, and I had to research Miss Havisham and who she was. “Havisham” by Carol Ann Duffy seems like a dark and disturbing poem from the mindset of Miss Havisham herself, but it is deeper than that. I feel that Duffy chose to exclude "Miss" from the title of the poem in order to create distance from Miss Havisham. Duffy's removal of "Miss" takes away from Miss Havisham's identity as a spinster. Overall, the title as only "Havisham" supports the idea that Duffy's intention was to induce sympathy/empathy for Miss Havisham. Throughout the poem, Duffy brilliantly exposes Miss Havisham’s vengeance as well as evokes our sympathy for Miss Havisham. The first stanza immerses the reader into Miss Havisham’s mind. By using paradoxical diction, “beloved sweetheart bastard”, Duffy pinpoints who Miss Havisham’s great anger is directed towards. I felt quite frightened because of Miss Havisham's violent mind because Miss Havisham longs and prays for death upon Compeyson. Metaphors such as “dark green pebbles for eyes” and “ropes on the back of my hands” convey the impression that Miss Havisham is cold-hearted, envious, as well as a growing in misery and aging. I found it fascinating how through the language she used, Duffy was able to create a frightening and disturbed character right in the first stanza. In the second stanza, Duffy begins by emphasizing Miss Havisham’s identity as a “spinster”. Miss Havisham deteriorates in her room in her “yellowing” dress, which serves as a reminder of her broken heart when she was left at the altar. As Miss Havisham “caws nooooo at the wall”, we get a sense of despair through Duffy’s onomatopoeia. The image of Miss Havisham isolated and cawing at the wall also conveys her loneliness and dissatisfaction. The poem continues to illustrate Miss Havisham’s vengeful mind, but also her psychological broknness. She has become twisted due to the events in her life. Duffy continues to use disturbing diction to show Miss Havisham’s disjointed mind. Duffy also creates Miss Havisham’s disjointed mind through the use of both long and short sentences. Miss Havisham’s mind has been engulfed in “puce curses” where puce suggests an unattractive purplish-brown color. Puce also sounds like “puke” or vomit, which is also an unsightly image. Miss Havisham, both violent and mentally distorted has a “lost body”, while her “fluent tongue in its mouth in its ear […] till [she] suddenly bite awake”. In the last stanza, Duffy consistently refers to Havisham’s wedding mishap. The onomatopoeia of the “red balloon bursting” in Miss Havisham’s face indicates the deep and unavoidable humiliation of being left at the altar. The color red also suggests Miss Havisham’s embarrassment and shock. The onomatopoeia of “Bang” suggests the popping of the balloon which supports the notion of Miss Havisham’s inescapable humiliation. Miss Havisham’s increasing madness shows when she stabs at a wedding cake. Then she desires a male corpse for a “long slow honeymoon”. The desire for a male corpse suggests a reference to necrophilia, which is the sexual attraction to corpses. This heightens her mental instability. The semantic fields of decay and murder are very disturbing. Duffy characterizes Miss Havisham as violent but also suggests Miss Havisham’s broken state of mind because Miss Havisham says, “Don’t think it’s only the heart that b-b-b-breaks”. Not only is Miss Havisham’s heart broken, but also her psyche. Overall, Duffy builds sympathy towards Miss Havisham because the atrophy of her mind and heart. |