Havisham - The Theme of Conflict Anonymous 10th Grade

Carol Ann Duffy’s sinister dramatic monologue, Havisham, is a skillful interpretation of one of literature’s most infamous women. Throughout the text, Duffy deals with the idea of conflict – both in Havisham’s relationship with men and with herself as we are invited to witness the inner turmoil from which she suffers. Herein, this essay will explore how Duffy creates an appropriate mood for her subject matter through expert use of language, imagery and structure and how effective this mood is to our understanding of the central idea as a whole.

From the poem’s outset we are made aware that the speaker is one who is in the midst of great turmoil – she is suffering from conflicting emotions, as is made clear from the uneasy “Beloved sweetheart bastard” of the first line. Such adept use of oxymoron immediately creates a bitter mood: we are at once aware that Havisham is a creature who is capable of great love, yet great hatred at the same time. As readers, we are unsure what to make of the speaker at this point – she appears to are someone who cannot make up her mind about her own feelings, having been scarred by the ghosts of her past. From this bitter opening, the idea of conflict is evident as we see that Havisham cannot think...