Romeo And Juliet And Havisham Comparison

Similarly to ‘Romeo and Juliet’ the poetry here explores the theme loss of love as well. ‘Havisham’ is a poem in a perverted form. Carol ann Duffy, followed other poets such as; Robert Browning in writing monologues from the view point of disturbed characters in history. The character Havisham comes from the novel ‘Great Expectations’ by Charles Dickens, it is said to believe that Dickens was inspired of the character from a wealthy recluse that he would encounter. Duffy is thought to have chosen the character because she prefers to tackle difficult characters amongst history, and attempting to encourage the reader to explore alternative ideas. The character was chosen because of her fitting background on love, which relates largely to loss …show more content…
The very first sentence is a oxymoron, ‘Beloved sweetheart bastard’, which provokes a sense of confusion amongst the reader. Furthermore with the location of this phrase being right at the beginning it sets a mysterious yet aggressive tone for the poem, this is initiated also by the use of explicit language if we focus on the word ‘bastard’. Moreover ‘Beloved’ which begins with a hard ‘b’ sound, as well as the initial predominance of darker vowels contribute to the dark atmosphere. Throughout the first stanza the severity of Havisham’s anger is developed, including a description of her appearance ‘dark green pebbles for eyes’. This quotation outlines that she has suffered physically as well as mentally from the madness, in addition by describing her eyes as ‘dark green’ there is clear evidence of irony due to the fact that green represents freshness, harmony and growth. Finally, in the first stanza, Duffy emphasises a sub-theme that the character is rotting away. This is highlighted on the last line of the verse as it says ‘ ropes on the back of my hands I could strangle with’. This shows the reader that she is decaying as she has extreme thoughts that relate to …show more content…
‘Spinster’ is a derogatory term to describe a woman to old to marry, this word could also be used for a deeper meaning. Carol Ann Duffy, who was a feminist, may have used this purposely to explain an idea behind the poem. Also the poet has used bird imagery in the second line here. ‘Cawing’ is used to portray how Havisham is committing animalistic behaviour due to her deranged thoughts. The semantics here refer to her rage, as she cries ‘nooooo at the wall’. Duffy transitions this verse to the next like all three, with the use of enjambment for effect. In the penultimate verse the main sub-theme is sex and feelings of necrophilia.There is sexual references evident such as; ‘fluent tongue in its mouth in its ear’, which underlines the sexual passion Havisham has. The necrophilia contributes alongside the lunacy helps the reader to envisage the characters warped thoughts. Furthermore Duffy resembles Havisham as a disturbed character she attempts to dehumanise her sexual desires to prove this, the poet accomplishes this by saying ‘it’s’. Ultimatley, Carol Ann Duffy sums up the relationship in a excellent phrase ‘red balloon bursting’, which highlights how fragile love is. Finally when Duffy uses an onomatopoeia ‘bang’ comically shows the reader how love is