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 half arranged, her watch and chain were not
put on.
But, I saw that everything within my view which ought to be white,
had been white long ago, and had lost its luster, 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.
IMAGINE THIS WOMAN
‘Havisham’
Learning Objective: To be able to explore and explain the
way in which relationships are presented through language in
‘Havisham.’
Background
• Miss Havisham is a character from ‘Great Expectations’;
• She is jilted by her scheming fiancé before they are married;
• She remains in her wedding dress for the rest of her life whilst plotting her revenge on all men.
Questions...1. What is this poem about?2. Why does the poet omit Miss Havisham's title
and refer to her by her surname only? 3. Why does the poet write ‘spinster’ on its
own? What does Miss Havisham think about this word and its relevance to her?
4. What is the effect of “Nooooo” and “b-b-breaks”? Why are these words written in this way?
5. What is the meaning of the image of ‘a red balloon bursting?
6. Does Miss Havisham have a fair view of men? 7. What do you think of her view of being an
unmarried woman? 8. How far does the poem show Miss Havisham
as being responsible for her own misery? How does it support her feelings of self-pity and revenge?
Stanza 1• Look at the title of the poem. Why do you
think it only uses her surname?• Comment on the oxymoron ‘sweetheart
bastard’ of the first line. • How is envy suggested in the first stanza?• ‘Prayed for it/ so hard I’ve had dark green
pebbles for eyes…’ What do these images suggest about Miss Havisham’s feelings?
Stanza 2• ‘Spinster.’ Why does this word get its own sentence
do you think?• ‘I stink …’ What is the effect of this strong verb?• ‘Whole days/ in bed cawing Nooooo at the wall;’ -
what does this image suggest about the woman?• What’s the double meaning of ‘trembling’ in line 3?• ‘her, myself’ – what do these pronouns show us about
Miss Havisham’s view of herself?• Look at the enjambment on the last line of the stanza.
What is the effect of this and what does it add to the poem here?
Stanza 3
• ‘Who did this/ to me?’ Who did? Him, or her, do you think, and why?
• ‘… the lost body over me,’ – whose body does this line refer to? What is happening here?
• On line 3, in what sense is Miss Havisham’s tongue fluent?
• Comment on the use of the phrase ‘bite awake’.
Stanza 4
• ‘Hate behind a white veil; a red balloon bursting/in my face.’ What do these violent images suggest about her view of love?
• What is the effect of the use of the onomatopoeia ‘bang’?
• ‘Give me a male corpse for a long slow honeymoon.’ What is she imagining here?
• Describe the effect of the strong plosives in ‘b-b-b-breaks’. What has broken?
Final thoughts
• Why do you think the poem is unrhymed?• How does the lack of end-stopping affect the
fluency and pace of the whole poem? • Pick out the places where you feel sympathy
for Miss Havisham and then pick out the places where you feel disgusted by her? (You could construct a simple table in order to help you pin particular lines down.)
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.
Oxymoron shows combination of feelings
Metaphor used to emphasise strength of hands.
Her means of revenge.
Metaphor
Enjambment
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
One word sentence is what society sums her up as She sees her life as decay and memories
Makes her sound like an animal
Sounds like she no longer recognises what she has become
Turning or twisting
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
Suggesting that at night she is able to dream
What is the effect of ‘bite awake?’
She asks who has made her this way
The man she might have married
Purplish-red
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.
Stammered words to suggest a kind of collapse
Combines both love and revenge
Suggests celebrations that did not take place. What else might ‘red’ suggest?
Use of oxymoron to show unstable mixture of Havisham’s feelings.