Havisham

1
Havisham

• Carol Ann Duffy

2

• This poem is a monologue spoken by Miss Havisham,
  a character in Dickens' Great Expectations.
• Jilted by her scheming fiancé, she continues to
  wear her wedding dress and sit amid the remains
  of her wedding breakfast for the rest of her
  life, while she plots revenge on all men.
• She hates her spinster state - of which her
  unmarried family name constantly reminds her
  (which may explain the choice of title for the
  poem).

3
Structure

• The poem consists of four, four line stanzas or
  quatrains which are unrhymed. Many of the lines
  run on, and the effect is like normal speech.
• The first provides the reader with the theme of
  revengeNot a day since then / I havent wished
  him dead. (lines 1-2)
• Verses two and three develop a description of her
  life and state of mind.
• The final verse returns to the ideas of death,
  violent hatred and marriageGive me a male
  corpse for a long slow honeymoon (line 15)

4
Style.

• By the end of the poem, the speaker has abandoned
  direct address a male corpse (line 15)
  implies a generalised hatred of the male sex.
• The final line implies that even language itself
  has broken down for the speaker dont think
  its only the heart that b-b-b-breaks (line 16).

5
Themes

• The poem shows a personality in collapse, knotted
  up , twisted by the rejection she has experienced
  and her desire for revenge.
• Names in the poem trace the history of her
  emotional lifebeloved sweetheart bastard
  spinster corpse