Havisham By Carol Ann Duffy Creates a persona

Havisham By Carol Ann Duffy

• Creates a persona • Monologue • Miss Havisham – character from Great Expectations by Charles Dickens – jilted on her wedding day by her fiancée.

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 haven`t wished him dead. Prayed for it Image suggests hard and cruel so hard I`ve dark green pebbles for eyes, Enjambment: lines run over ropes on the back of my hands I could strangle with Veins – a metaphor 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)

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 Image of a crow “CAWING” in bed cawing Nooooo at the wall; the dress WITH AGE yellowing, trembling if I open the wardrobe; the slewed mirror, full-length, her, myself, who did this BROKEN/DESTROYED (VIOLENCE? ) 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?

She cannot express her anger and bitterness in proper words (compare line 6) Enjambment: lines run over 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 Sexual references to Their relationship Then down till I suddenly bit awake. Love`s VIOLENCE

oxymoron Wedding dress/white For virginity VIOLENCE hate behind a white veil; a red balloon bursting Alliteration of `b’ and `p’ sound suggests ANGER 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. 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

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 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.

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

. 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.

`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

• 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

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