Havisham Flashcards
Beloved sweetheart bastard
Oxymoron: reveals the focus of the speakers conflict - both love and hate. Sweetheart has connotations of someone you address affectionately and in an endearing form. Bastard has connotations of a despicable person. Very stark contrast
Since then
The wedding day. Refuses to mention it trying to forget it
Prayed for it
Not only wished for his death but she has prayed for it hard. Taken on a distinctly sinister tone
Dark green
Green is the colour of jealousy and greed and sometimes even sickness. Her husbands betrayal has left her overwhelmed and becoming mentally sick with jealousy
Pebbles for eyes
Pebbles are hard and small. His betrayal has left her hardened, closed minded, cold and jealous
Ropes on the back of my hands I could strangle with
Ropes show how much havisham has aged(veins) and how she has hardened over the years. Havisham is conveying a violent side with intent to harm him with her bare hands
Spinster
Negative word for an unmarried older woman. Denotes her bitterness and what her deepest thighs are
I stink and remember
She hasn’t washed since then. She sees her life as decay and memories. Remembers suggests that she has been stewing for decades recalling every bit of unhappiness
Cawing Nooooo
Carrot cakes so suggest she is animalistic and she has gone a bit crazy and mad and unpredictable like animals can be. Shouting at a wall also emphasises this
Yellowing trembling
As if the dress is waiting or be put back on she literally trembles and is scared to even touch that dress because of the memories
Skewed mirror
Slewed suggests turned, broken and warped like a funhouse mirror. Full length of her entire body - yellowing, decaying, wasting away. Could be drunk?
Her myself
Havisham doesnt recognise herself and what she has become. Identity crisis. Blaming herself for what she has become
To me?
Enjambment. New unexpected layer. Suddenly it seems she believes that this isn’t all her fault. Someone has done this to her and she can’t take the blame
Puce
Colour of deep red to purple brown suggesting old blood which represents old wounds
Sounds not words
She can no longer access language to express her emotions and feeling - pain is so deep it is indescribable
Some nights better
She dreams of a man and dreams of having intimacy once more
The lost body
She depersonalises him and in the moment he is just a body
Bite awake
The suddenness end the fantasy and wakes her and us as the reader to the viscousness of the attack
Loves
Enjambment - finally we get a lingering word on the last line of stanza - builds expectation
Hate behind
Oxymoron - loves hate - she doesn’t trust love as it has let her down. Also shows her confusion - she’s trapped between hating and loving him
A white veil
Triple meaning - white suggests innocence and veil represents in feminist terms that she is concealing something
A red balloon bursting
Suggest her anger finally building up and outraging or either the embarrassment building up on her cheeks as she is flushed with sheer shame
Bang
Onomatopoeia short sentence is used for effect highlighting the shock and suddenness of the betrayal
I stabbed at a wedding cake
Emphasises her anger at the time and metaphorically shows her opinion on marriage
Corpse for a long slow honeymoon
Provided she could have a honeymoon she would ensure that she inflicted pain to this man as she desires seeking revenge on him which highlights her bitterness and anger
B-b-b-breaks
Stuttering style suggests she is breaking down/crying/collapsing because her heart is broken and also her mind and body. May also refer to the time her heart has been broken for
