PERSONAL RESPONSES
HENRY'S PERSONAL RESPONSE
When I first read Havisham by Carol Ann Duffy my first initial response was confusion. Why was she angry? Why is she like this? Were the questions that came to my mind. I did a bit of research and found that it was based on the novel “Great expectations” by Charles Dickens. I found that Miss Havisham is a character in this novel. I read the back story and all of a sudden everything made sense. She was a rich lady stood up by a Spinster that made her fall in love with him. The poem was about her suffering and emotional distress at what had happened to her.
This poem was good for many reasons but the one that really stuck out for me was that the poet although used the voice of Miss Havisham also had some of the ideas of herself come through. For example in the 2nd and 3rd stanza Havisham questions whether her suffering has been at the fault of the spinster or herself. Duffy does this by having Havisham question it herself at the end of the second stanza “who did this” then at the start of the 3rd “to me?” This gives off the impression that Duffy believes that some of the blame lies on Havisham’s failure to move on. The ideas of Duffy also come through in the title of the poem. The title is just “Havisham” not Miss Havisham. This shows perhaps a lack of respect and a disliking of the character.
Duffy also exposes the emotions and state of mind of Havisham quite well to the reader. Duffy shows the emotions and state of mind by portraying Havisham as an old Necrophilic madwoman who is struggling to move on from the things that have been done to her. She does this by mentioning in the 3rd stanza “give me a male corpse for a long slow honeymoon” this refers to necrophilia and Havisham’s refusal to give up the past. Another part of the poem that shows the state of mind of Havisham would be the last line “Don’t think it’s only the heart that bbbbreaks” The repetition of the “b” sound and the allusion to her mind is a good way of showing Havisham’s madness.
Another good point of this poem that resonates with me is the vivid descriptions and good use of inter textual references. In the first stanza the 1st line is “Beloved sweetheart bastard.” For me this sums up the feelings of Havisham in a nutshell. The use of oxymoron shows her mixed feelings and her inability to move on as she can’t let go of her love for her ex fiancé but now also hates him for what he has done to her. It also rolls of the tongue quite well due to the use of the repetition of the ‘B’ sound. The reason the descriptions were so good for me was that Duffy used the technique metaphor very well. One example would be from the 1st stanza “dark green pebbles for eyes ropes on the back of my hands I could strangle with” The use of the objects ropes and pebbles lead to a vivid image in the readers mind of exactly how Havisham looks. The ropes were meant to be veins while the dark green pebbles her eyes.
This poem was a good insight into the mind of Miss Havisham and for me was entertaining in terms of utilization of language and language techniques.
When I first read Havisham by Carol Ann Duffy my first initial response was confusion. Why was she angry? Why is she like this? Were the questions that came to my mind. I did a bit of research and found that it was based on the novel “Great expectations” by Charles Dickens. I found that Miss Havisham is a character in this novel. I read the back story and all of a sudden everything made sense. She was a rich lady stood up by a Spinster that made her fall in love with him. The poem was about her suffering and emotional distress at what had happened to her.
This poem was good for many reasons but the one that really stuck out for me was that the poet although used the voice of Miss Havisham also had some of the ideas of herself come through. For example in the 2nd and 3rd stanza Havisham questions whether her suffering has been at the fault of the spinster or herself. Duffy does this by having Havisham question it herself at the end of the second stanza “who did this” then at the start of the 3rd “to me?” This gives off the impression that Duffy believes that some of the blame lies on Havisham’s failure to move on. The ideas of Duffy also come through in the title of the poem. The title is just “Havisham” not Miss Havisham. This shows perhaps a lack of respect and a disliking of the character.
Duffy also exposes the emotions and state of mind of Havisham quite well to the reader. Duffy shows the emotions and state of mind by portraying Havisham as an old Necrophilic madwoman who is struggling to move on from the things that have been done to her. She does this by mentioning in the 3rd stanza “give me a male corpse for a long slow honeymoon” this refers to necrophilia and Havisham’s refusal to give up the past. Another part of the poem that shows the state of mind of Havisham would be the last line “Don’t think it’s only the heart that bbbbreaks” The repetition of the “b” sound and the allusion to her mind is a good way of showing Havisham’s madness.
Another good point of this poem that resonates with me is the vivid descriptions and good use of inter textual references. In the first stanza the 1st line is “Beloved sweetheart bastard.” For me this sums up the feelings of Havisham in a nutshell. The use of oxymoron shows her mixed feelings and her inability to move on as she can’t let go of her love for her ex fiancé but now also hates him for what he has done to her. It also rolls of the tongue quite well due to the use of the repetition of the ‘B’ sound. The reason the descriptions were so good for me was that Duffy used the technique metaphor very well. One example would be from the 1st stanza “dark green pebbles for eyes ropes on the back of my hands I could strangle with” The use of the objects ropes and pebbles lead to a vivid image in the readers mind of exactly how Havisham looks. The ropes were meant to be veins while the dark green pebbles her eyes.
This poem was a good insight into the mind of Miss Havisham and for me was entertaining in terms of utilization of language and language techniques.
RACHEL'S PERSONAL RESPONSE
Before learning who Havisham was and figuring out the intertextual references of the poem, I thought the poem would be about a love sweet and long-lasting after reading the first three words of the poem: "Havisham Beloved sweetheart..." However, by the fourth word, the atmosphere of the poem suddenly changed from romantic to dark. I didn’t understand why she would want to kill someone who she loves, but I thought that she would have a good reason since she prayed for it so hard that her eyes turned into dark green pebbles. At first, I did not know what the ropes on the back of Havisham’s hand could mean, but I could understand she wanted to kill “him” since she wanted to strangle “him” with it, whoever “him” is. I thought the ropes referred to the marks one gets after praying with the beaded Catholic bracelet. However, Miss Havisham in Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations does not expose her religion and thus, this can only be a guess.
After I read the word “spinster”, I started to realize that she must have been hurt by a man she loved regarding marriage since spinster by definition refers to an unmarried woman. I learned that she was left standing at the altar by her fiancé, Compeyton, from a quick summary of Great Expectations. Thus, she remained unmarried because her heartbreak and betrayal was so big that she couldn’t bring herself to trust other men ever again. Although unmarried woman nowadays is respected in society, the phrase “I stink and remember” showed me that it was not respected back in the 1800’s. Being unmarried by an old age meant that the person was unlucky in life.
The fact that the character “caw[ed]” for several “whole days” made me sympathize with her, pity her. I deduced that “the dress yellowing” was a white wedding dress since spinster has a connection with marriages. And Havisham turned away the mirror because she did not like looking at her reflection, which showed the damage someone did to her. However, after learning from Charles Dickens’ novel that Havisham purposely wore her wedding dress because she did not want to change anything made me see her from a new perspective. I can understand that losing love can feel so painful but remaining angry and vengeful, preventing herself from moving on, is very unhealthy for her health and relationships with the people around her. As it turns out, her obsession for vengeance blocked Pip from being able to win over Estella and allow them to live happily ever after.
The phrase “Puce curses that are sounds not words” confused me. If she hated her lover, why wouldn’t she curse at him with words? But I believe Duffy wanted to suggest that her pain was so great that she could not formulate her emotions into words. She could only cry out in pain, in sounds. The word “puce” represents being broken since bruises are usually a red, brownish purple color.
I felt pity towards Havisham as she spoke to me, “Some nights better, the lost body over me…” as she imagined making love with her fiancé. But sooner or later, she had to wake up from her dream, even suddenly like a “bite” which takes her back to the reality of betrayal and disappointment.
I couldn’t understand why love and hate could be connected together as an oxymoron the way Duffy wrote it. However, I believe she wanted to say that a person can feel both love and hate towards another person, just as Havisham does. Behind her veil, standing at the altar, Havisham felt love towards her lover. But after reading his letter signaling his departure, she began to feel hatred towards him. Duffy illustrated that feeling of both love and hate towards the same person by saying that both emotions are behind the same white veil.
A red balloon seemed too random in this poem, but this whole poem is full of surprises and fragmentations that cause readers to be astounded and left wondering at the same time. I thought the red balloon may suggest Havisham’s heart bursting “Bang” since her heart broke when she was jilted at the altar. But it also symbolizes the perfect marriage she wanted. She wanted a love so strong and so perfect that the lovers would remain committed to each other and live together till the day they died. But that turned out to be false, thus the balloon burst.
“Give me a male corpse for a long slow honeymoon” is the phrase that convinced me that Havisham is insane and obsessed to make her ex-fiancé pay for what he did. I interpreted this line as an expression that she wants to make men feel pain, hurt them, injure them throughout the whole duration of their “honeymoon” if anyone were to make it to the wedding ceremony. But when she said, “Don’t think it’s only the heart the b-b-b-breaks”, I could only think of her mind and mental state breaking down, losing control of herself which is why she is blubbering at the end. Or perhaps it’s due to the fact that she is trying to inflict pain on the male corpse which is affecting her speech to be disconnected since she is using her strength to injure it.
I thought the poem was too depressing and morose. As Havisham was telling me her story, I felt as if I would turn crazy too, luring me in with her dark thoughts of vengeance as Estella had been.
Before learning who Havisham was and figuring out the intertextual references of the poem, I thought the poem would be about a love sweet and long-lasting after reading the first three words of the poem: "Havisham Beloved sweetheart..." However, by the fourth word, the atmosphere of the poem suddenly changed from romantic to dark. I didn’t understand why she would want to kill someone who she loves, but I thought that she would have a good reason since she prayed for it so hard that her eyes turned into dark green pebbles. At first, I did not know what the ropes on the back of Havisham’s hand could mean, but I could understand she wanted to kill “him” since she wanted to strangle “him” with it, whoever “him” is. I thought the ropes referred to the marks one gets after praying with the beaded Catholic bracelet. However, Miss Havisham in Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations does not expose her religion and thus, this can only be a guess.
After I read the word “spinster”, I started to realize that she must have been hurt by a man she loved regarding marriage since spinster by definition refers to an unmarried woman. I learned that she was left standing at the altar by her fiancé, Compeyton, from a quick summary of Great Expectations. Thus, she remained unmarried because her heartbreak and betrayal was so big that she couldn’t bring herself to trust other men ever again. Although unmarried woman nowadays is respected in society, the phrase “I stink and remember” showed me that it was not respected back in the 1800’s. Being unmarried by an old age meant that the person was unlucky in life.
The fact that the character “caw[ed]” for several “whole days” made me sympathize with her, pity her. I deduced that “the dress yellowing” was a white wedding dress since spinster has a connection with marriages. And Havisham turned away the mirror because she did not like looking at her reflection, which showed the damage someone did to her. However, after learning from Charles Dickens’ novel that Havisham purposely wore her wedding dress because she did not want to change anything made me see her from a new perspective. I can understand that losing love can feel so painful but remaining angry and vengeful, preventing herself from moving on, is very unhealthy for her health and relationships with the people around her. As it turns out, her obsession for vengeance blocked Pip from being able to win over Estella and allow them to live happily ever after.
The phrase “Puce curses that are sounds not words” confused me. If she hated her lover, why wouldn’t she curse at him with words? But I believe Duffy wanted to suggest that her pain was so great that she could not formulate her emotions into words. She could only cry out in pain, in sounds. The word “puce” represents being broken since bruises are usually a red, brownish purple color.
I felt pity towards Havisham as she spoke to me, “Some nights better, the lost body over me…” as she imagined making love with her fiancé. But sooner or later, she had to wake up from her dream, even suddenly like a “bite” which takes her back to the reality of betrayal and disappointment.
I couldn’t understand why love and hate could be connected together as an oxymoron the way Duffy wrote it. However, I believe she wanted to say that a person can feel both love and hate towards another person, just as Havisham does. Behind her veil, standing at the altar, Havisham felt love towards her lover. But after reading his letter signaling his departure, she began to feel hatred towards him. Duffy illustrated that feeling of both love and hate towards the same person by saying that both emotions are behind the same white veil.
A red balloon seemed too random in this poem, but this whole poem is full of surprises and fragmentations that cause readers to be astounded and left wondering at the same time. I thought the red balloon may suggest Havisham’s heart bursting “Bang” since her heart broke when she was jilted at the altar. But it also symbolizes the perfect marriage she wanted. She wanted a love so strong and so perfect that the lovers would remain committed to each other and live together till the day they died. But that turned out to be false, thus the balloon burst.
“Give me a male corpse for a long slow honeymoon” is the phrase that convinced me that Havisham is insane and obsessed to make her ex-fiancé pay for what he did. I interpreted this line as an expression that she wants to make men feel pain, hurt them, injure them throughout the whole duration of their “honeymoon” if anyone were to make it to the wedding ceremony. But when she said, “Don’t think it’s only the heart the b-b-b-breaks”, I could only think of her mind and mental state breaking down, losing control of herself which is why she is blubbering at the end. Or perhaps it’s due to the fact that she is trying to inflict pain on the male corpse which is affecting her speech to be disconnected since she is using her strength to injure it.
I thought the poem was too depressing and morose. As Havisham was telling me her story, I felt as if I would turn crazy too, luring me in with her dark thoughts of vengeance as Estella had been.