Title: 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.
9The 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.
12The 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.