Carol Ann Duffy - Havisham (Overview - Business Office 2)

This is the 2nd utilisation of the overview to Carol Ann Duffy's poetry form "Havisham" which covers stanzas i in addition to 2 of the poetry form inward damage of content. 

Read utilisation 1 which gives a brief biography, discusses the poem's construction (meter in addition to rhymes), the sounds acquaint inward the poetry form in addition to analyzes the persona of Miss Havisham (what is known almost her from Great Expectations in addition to how Duffy treats her case) here.

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 Carol Ann Duffy - Havisham

Content

• stanza 1
• starts off every bit if she were writing a love missive of the alphabet (“Beloved sweetheart”), so comes “bastard” in addition to nosotros know it’s non going to hold out a pretty poem
• full stops inward the middle of lines in addition to enjambment at the destination of lines shows her choppy & racing thoughts ⇒ disturbed nation of mind
• inability to escape / disassociate her heed from him
• beginning with the thought of him, she reverts to herself (“Not a twenty-four lx minutes catamenia since so I haven’t wished him dead.”)
• the tragedy of this adult woman is that though he has ruined her (socially, emotionally, mentally) she cannot hold out rid of him -- mentioning him entails mentioning herself
• she cannot assist but recall of herself in addition to the nation she’s inward when she thinks of him
• she is caught inward a cruel cycle of love in addition to hatred
• this foreign union is acquaint throughout the poetry form & culminates inward necrophilic fantasies
• another ingredient inward the tragedy is time:
• “Not a twenty-four lx minutes catamenia since so …” is the 2nd thought she has later on her honey bastard comes to mind
• for Miss Havisham, fourth dimension has ravaged her every bit much every bit her memories have
• her eyes take hold turned to rock (“pebbles”), her hands are ropey (tough, wrinkled every bit rope, veins protruding from ageing inward transparent flesh)
• thoughts of killing him or wishing him dead
• although this powerfulness at foremost hold out the number of understandable wrath or a want for vengeance, when nosotros read the terminal stanza, her motives powerfulness seem to a greater extent than logical than previously expected
• Miss Havisham knows she has grown frigid later on existence jilted, she is dead to the world, has a mutual frigidity heart: who but a “male corpse” could hold out a suitable mate for her?
• by killing her onetime fiancé, she would non only guarantee his faithfulness or his permanent presence past times her side, but also total compatibility vis-à-vis  her acquaint nation of heed (the dead move with the dead, so to speak)
• dichotomy / juxtaposition
• opposites prevail inward the entire poem
• love – hate
• she addresses him straight – refers to him inward the 3^rd person
• she prays – she wants to kill him (i.e. she is acknowledges God past times praying in addition to embraces the devil inward her thoughts)
• dark light-green pebbles for eyes
• her eyes (often called ‘the windows to the soul’) take hold turned to stone: the sense of betrayal has left Miss Havisham with a soul, heart, mind, in addition to eyes made of stone, all emotion in addition to warmth gone from them
• if nosotros relate the rock eyes to the myth of Medusa (the Gorgon capable of turning men to rock if looked upon), the motive for vengeance intensifies
• Medusa, every bit described past times Ovid inward Metamorphoses, was a beautiful woman:

Beyond all others she
was famed for beauty, in addition to the envious hope
of many suitors. Words would neglect to tell
the glory of her hair, most wonderful
of all her charms

green is the coloring of money, greed, envy

·          she was raped past times Zeus inward Athena’s temple in addition to for this insult, Athena replaced her fine locks with snakes in addition to cursed her with a stare that would plough all who looked upon her to stone

·          Medusa was punished for having been a victim, inward other words: she was violated past times a god, so made to endure for having been a ravishing beauty, never existence able to aspect at a human existence i time to a greater extent than inward her life (all men would  move every bit dead every bit the wall she cries ‘Noooo’ to inward stanza 2)

• dark green: the coloring of money, envy, greed, ambition
• ropes on the dorsum of her hands
• as mentioned earlier, the nature of twisted fibers reminds i of the fine lines ageing peel presents, so Miss Havisham is aware of her decaying torso amongst her decaying mind, dead social life, disintegrating existence
• rope is connected to binding, restricting, imprisonment which is what Miss Havisham’s torment all these years has been
• she is unable to rid her heed of her longing for Compeyson in addition to his betrayal (she is jump to her thoughts, so to speak) thus turns those cords on her hands to a weapon to sweat to destination this bondage (by killing him, she frees herself or obtains a dead human for her lover)

• stanza 2
• while at the start of the 1^st stanza reference is made to him, the 2^nd stanza begins with a reference to herself: what she says almost herself places her inward a dove hole (how others would form out her)
• the concept of the spinster:
• like all classifications, it robs yous of your rounded personality, limiting yous to i characteristic
• in Miss Havisham’s case, she is seen (and sees herself) only through the prism of marital status:
• women tin either hold out married or not; at that spot is no other airplane of existence for them
• she sees herself trapped inward this classification that others take hold imposed on her
• the term ‘spinster’ most importantly ties marital condition to age:
• women seen every bit spinsters were older than what was deemed the appropriate historic catamenia to marry
• Miss Havisham i time to a greater extent than highlights her historic catamenia every bit silent around other destructive forcefulness inward her life amongst her onetime fiancé’s betrayal
• therefore, non only is she doomed past times a gild that confines her to a one-sided existence (married/unmarried), but also past times fourth dimension (society sees her every bit as good old to take hold whatsoever chances of marrying, which she herself sees every bit she looks at herself inward the slewed mirror)
• note that the connotation linked to the discussion ‘spinster’ is negative vs. the manful somebody equivalent of ‘bachelor’
• connection of the discussion ‘spinster’ to spinning (wool spun to create yarn for looms):
• tied to the needlework/weaving/embroidery skills single women had to learn
• women would pass years preparing their trousseau every bit utilisation of their dowry
• therefore the thought of a spinster is i of a adult woman who stays hours at domicile sewing every bit she waits for a spousal human relationship offering (image of domestication)
• allusion to Penelope who wove a burial enshroud every bit she waited for Odysseus to provide from the Trojan War is evident (though Penelope wasn’t a spinster): such women are faithful but ultimately betrayed past times someone (Penelope was delaying a betrothal to the suitors acquaint at the palace every bit she waited for her hubby to provide from the state of war past times undoing the operate done on the shroud. She was betrayed past times Melantho, i of her favored maids) every bit Miss Havisham was betrayed past times Compeyson
• imagery connected to the senses of smell, touch, sound: “stink”, “trembling”, “cawing”
• all connected to ageing:
• smell of older people: due to an increase inward 2-Nonenal, a inwardness industrial plant life inward torso odor that produces a greasy odor; Miss Havisham must stink profusely every bit she doesn’t launder daily
• shaking (medically termed ‘essential tremor’) may prepare later on the historic catamenia of 40
• vocal cords weaken: for women, the hormonal changes that accompany menopause campaign the song folds to move stiffer, spell fewer glands create the mucus that lubricates them, important they sense dryness resulting inward a rougher voice
• objects acquaint inward this stanza: bed, wall, dress, wardrobe, mirror
• these are the implements of torture inward her prison, every bit it were: they all remind her of a utilisation of her life that is dead
• her world  is reduced to a room with 4 walls (in fact, non fifty-fifty 4 walls every bit only i is mentioned), a bed, a wardrobe, her clothing in addition to a mirror
• each object carries implied suffering with it
• bed:
• it is non a house of rest: she spends “whole days” cawing “Nooooo”, in addition to inward stanza iii her nights are tormented past times thoughts of her fiancé instead of sleep
• it is non a house of love-making: it is an empty bed without a spouse
• it is a constant reminder of the loveless life she leads
• wall:
• the only roommate with whom she communicates
• a stony interlocutor who only echoes her sorrow (brings dorsum the audio of the “Nooooo” she cries to her ears)
• it is a reminder of the absence of interaction, human companionship in addition to a reflection of herself
• dress:
• her marriage dress: she doesn’t state it’s a marriage dress, but nosotros know this from Dicken’s description of her inward Great Expectations, in addition to because of the definite article used inward the poetry form ⇒ it’s “the” dress, non “my” clothing or “a dress”
• it is a constant reminder of what she went through: the betrayal, lost joy, lost love, world humiliation
• “yellowing”: coloring of sickness  & madness (cf. Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper”), cowardice, betrayal
• a reminder of the i time white clothing that represented innocence, purity, chastity, goodness, a life that could take hold been spent together with a spouse/companion
• wardrobe:
• it is the house nosotros see every twenty-four lx minutes catamenia to clothing before nosotros exit the business solid to demo ourselves to the world: it carries social significance inward that it is the keeper of our social trappings (as Shakespeare would lay it)
• from what nosotros know of Miss Havisham inward Great Expectations, she doesn’t take her marriage dress, so the wardrobe is an exclusively useless slice of slice of furniture inward her life, much similar social gatherings she would postulate to clothing for take hold become
• the wardrobe is thus silent around other reminder of a defunct social life
• Note: inward the poem, it is ambiguous whether she is wearing the clothing or it is hanging inward the wardrobe in addition to trembles when she opens the door
• mirror:
• is acquaint within the wardrobe:
• if Miss Havisham never takes off her marriage dress, why would she postulate to opened upwards her wardrobe door?
• her postulate to aspect at herself inward the mirror seems to hold out the plausible reply to this question
• i.e. Miss Havisham is driven to aspect at herself, strives to scrutinize herself “full-length”
• her preoccupation with herself (her shattered existence, ageing) is evident inward her description of her physical characteristics (eyes, hands, stench) in addition to thoughts throughout the poem
• this preoccupation with herself is the number of existence a recluse but also feeds her mental illness
• is an ultimate symbol of introspection (cf. Sylvia Plath’s poetry form “Mirror”, the evil queen’s “Mirror, mirror on the wall” query inward the fairy tale Snow White) in addition to self-awareness: she is looking for answers how all this came almost (hence the split upwards inquiry at the destination of stanza 2 + foremost of stanza iii – “who did this / to me?”)
• what does the mirror tell her:
• being “slewed”, it gives her a slewed icon of who she is
• Note: interesting is also the fact that “slew” is the past times of “slay”, thus the icon the mirror shows is of a ‘slain’, dead somebody (killed past times betrayal), if nosotros concede that whatever characteristics the mirror has are a reflection of the somebody looking at it
• being a full-length mirror, it enables her to run into a total moving painting of herself
• she sees “her, myself”: she sees her disassociation, mental illness, her shattered being, a somebody torn betwixt love in addition to hate, life in addition to death
• key discussion = “who” at the destination of this stanza
• if “who” is a inquiry word: so she is honestly trying to empathise who could take hold done this to her, a reasonable catch felt past times those who grieve later on existence dealt an unfortunate manus inward life
• if “who” is a relative pronoun: she is blaming herself for having brought almost this fate = it is myself who did this to me (but with a inquiry score at the destination betraying her confusion in addition to ambivalence almost where to house the blame)

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