Look at Havisham and 3 other poems. Compare how the poets treat the theme of revenge.

1

• Look at Havisham and 3 other poems. Compare how
  the poets treat the theme of revenge.

2

• In your introduction you need to name all four
  poems and relate them to the question.
• Now write your introduction, beginning with this
  sentence
• Havisham, a poem about a woman who has been
  jilted at the altar, is a description of a
  womans anguish and hatred for her fiancée, which
  leads to her considering specific acts of
  revenge. The Laboratory, however, depicts a
  woman who, having been rejected by her lover,
  actually acts upon her hateful and bitter
  thoughts and goes on to kill her ex lovers new
  mistress.

3

• Similarly, My Last Duchess is unlike
  Havisham for the narrator also acts on his
  anger and kills his wife for revenge. The poem
  Kid could be seen as more similar to
  Havisham as Robin also has revengeful thoughts
  about Batman being sad and alone, and the action
  that he takes is nowhere near as violent as in
  The Laboratory and My Last Duchess. His
  revenge is more emotional than physical.

4

• Now you need to write your second paragraph.
  Focus on Havisham and The Laboratory,
  discussing how the poets use of emotive language
  conveys confused feelings of love, hurt and anger
  and how this leads to thoughts of revenge.
• Make sure you use an example from the text and
  analyse.
• P
• E
• E

5

• When you bring in another poem, use a
  compare/contrast sentence opening such as
• This is similar to
• We also see this in Brownings poem...
• Talk about how The Laboratory uses similar
  violent language, making sure you use examples
  for comparison.

6

• The opening line of Havisham, Beloved
  sweetheart bastard is a very powerful oxymoron,
  which highlights how she hates him but she is
  still in love with him. This is similar to Kid
  because although Robin hates Batman, the way that
  he still thinks about him, and thinks about
  getting back at him, shows that deep down he
  really still cares for him. The violent and
  emotive language in The Laboratory is very
  similar to the language in Havisham. In the
  The Laboratory violent verbs such as mash,
  burn, bite, and the use of assonance in the
  poem, emphasise the anger of the narrator and how
  she has her mind set on one thing.

7

• Now move on to considering how the desire for
  revenge affects the women, focusing on their
  similar loss of femininity. Remember to use
  phrases which introduce textual references and
  back up your points
• This is highlighted by the phrase
• The poet emphasises this idea by using the
  repeated image of...

8

• The line Spinster. I stink and remember
  highlights her obsession, as it shows how
  thinking of her ex has taken over her femininity
  and dignity she no longer thinks about her
  appearance as she knows no-one else will want
  her. This again could be compared to The
  Laboratory because the womans mind becomes so
  filled with malice and revenge that she seems to
  lose her femininity. This is highlighted when she
  starts to imagine taking poison in delicate
  accessories such as an earring. Items which
  usually symbolise femininity become instruments
  of death.

9
The narrator is too bitter to dance with anyone
else, and will only allow the old apothecary to
kiss her, as she thinks it no longer matters.
This is like Havisham, where the narrators
feelings of isolation and worthlessness are
highlighted in the one word sentence Spinster,
showing that this is now how she views herself.
Duffy is commenting on a society that values
women simply by their marital status.
10

• You are now going to bring in My Last Duchess
  and will find more points of contrast than
  comparison. Use sentences which introduce these
  differences
• Unlike Havisham, we see a different tone in the
  narrators language ...
• In contrast...
• However, in My Last Duchess...
• Try to incorporate the quotations you use within
  your sentences. Focus on how the Dukes language
  is cold and he shows far less emotion than we see
  in Havisham.

11

• Unlike Havisham which is a powerful and
  emotive poem, My Last Duchess uses very cold
  and detached language. In this poem the
  narrators revenge is driven more by power and
  pride than by the upset and anguish of
  Havisham. The narrator displays disgust that
  she ranked my gift of a nine-hundred year-old
  name with anybodys gift which shows the Dukes
  arrogant character.

12
The poem is very different from Havisham in the
way that the Duke shows no emotion at all towards
the killing of his wife. The way he describes
having her killed is cold and detached I gave
commands then all smiles stopped together. The
line, I call that piece a wonder, shows how the
Duke was only interested in having her as a wife
to show off, and prefers her as a painting to
being alive.
13

• Now relate this back again to Havisham, showing
  that you can compare the two effectively.
• Use the starting sentence,
• This attitude to revenge contrasts starkly with
  Havisham, who...

14

• This attitude to revenge contrasts starkly
  with Havisham who speaks passionately and at
  times erotically about her lover and arguably
  would even have him as a corpse. Like the
  opening oxymoron, the image of wanting a corpse
  for a honeymoon highlights Havishams confusion.
  She still loves him and has sexual desires for
  him, yet at the same time she revengefully wishes
  he was dead.

15

• Refer back to My last Duchess, linking with the
  other poem you have discussed in detail, The
  Laboratory.
• Comment on how these poems are similar because of
  the lack of remorse for the revenge taken.

16

• The way that the Duke freely tells of how he had
  his last wife killed, and the clear message he
  sends that he will do it again, is similar to the
  way the narrator of The Laboratory shows no
  remorse about killing her lovers mistress.
• Both Brownings narrators seem powerful and
  convinced of their right to revenge the Duke
  because of his injured pride and that he chooses,
  never to stoop, the jilted lover because of the
  way her man was ensnared and stolen away from
  her.

17

• Finally, refer to your last poem Kid
  starting by linking it with My Last Duchess as
  this will follow on from your previous paragraph.
  
• Discuss how the theme of power and revenge is
  addressed in Kid
• Start with the sentence
• The sense of power and control in My Last
  Duchess is reflected in Kid because in this
  poem Robin takes his revenge by becoming stronger
  and revelling in the fact that Batman is now a
  nobody.

18

• This is shown from the phrase Big shot it
  highlights Robins jealousy and anger at living
  in Batmans shadow. It also has an element of
  sarcasm because of the image we get of Batman at
  the end of the poem. Here the hero is reduced to
  a lonely man stewing over chicken giblets. The
  way that Robin uses clichés and phrases from his
  former life, Holy-robin-redbreast... shows how
  he does still think about and care for Batman
  because he is throwing his words back at him.

19

• Now link your points back to the essay title and
  the poem named in the question, Havisham.
• Try to discuss the paradox of both love and hate
  that we see in these two poems.
• Start with the sentence
• The paradox in the poem of Robin not wanting to
  live in Batmans shadow but being upset about
  being ditched is like Havisham because...

20

• ...although she hates her ex and wants to take
  revenge on him, she still loves him. This is like
  Robin as he takes pleasure in thinking about
  Batman as a miserable and lonely old man. He
  tells us he has grown up and moved on, yet the
  immature way he lingers on his revenge and too
  earnestly assures us of his now being The real
  boy wonder, demonstrates that actually he is
  ironically still a Kid.

21

• Finally, conclude your essay, bringing together
  all 4 poems and focusing clearly on the question
  again.
• Begin with the sentence
• The way that Robin takes pleasure in thoughts of
  revenge is like The Laboratory...

22

• The way that Robin takes pleasure in thoughts
  of revenge is like The Laboratory, in which the
  narrator gleefully looks forward to seeing her ex
  lover suffer and seeing his mistress die.
  Brownings Duke, on the other hand, appears to
  take no pleasure in the revenge which he has so
  chillingly already exacted. His nineteenth
  century portrayal of a single minded dominant
  male is more like Dickens one dimensional Miss
  Havisham than her modern and passionate
  counterpart.