Comparing Love and Hate in the Poems, Havisham and The Laboratory

The world’s two most influential things have done nothing but caused conflicts throughout the years from Helen of troy right down to the Nazi war machines occupations of Europe, no I’m not talking about hay-wire dictators or powerful armies I’m talking about love and hate.

Not only do these emotions help to make our lives a lot more interesting but both can sometimes cause pain in a mental state as well as an emotional or physical one.

Both of these emotions are extremely interesting as one can turn into another quite easily. Love for example can easily be transformed into hate by being unrequited, changes like this are traditionally known as alchemy which is a major theme in both poems. Although the alchemy in “The Laboratory” is literally visible in the whole setting of the poem in the other poem “Havisham” it is totally metaphorical because the woman does not literally change into something new on the outside but emotionally deep down she does and referring to these changes as alchemy is the only way these changes can be fully described.

One of the connections that are made through the poems is poison, whereas the woman in “The Laboratory” is buying a poison to kill her lover the woman in “Havisham” is almost being poisoned by her own hatred for her lover who jilted her at the altar. We know this because on verse one line three “Not a day since then I haven’t wished him dead. prayed for it so hard I’ve dark green pebbles for eyes”, this can be interpreted a few ways, one of which is is that her eyes have literally turned green like the mythical green eyed monster which is usually associated with being envious of somebody, perhaps envious of her lost lover and how he is probably not suffering as much from hi...

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...three line two to four where we are told “ some nights better , the lost body over me, my fluent tongue in its mouth in its ear then down till I suddenly bite awake.” The sex in this verse is in clear view of the reader , this is a dream about her having sexual intercourse with her long lost lover and although this is a dream about something generally done with love and passion the acts of “Havisham” clearly become more violent , one minute she is kissing him in the mouth , then in the ear then she starts to go down to his genitals until suddenly biting upon them and destroying the intimacy which was created by the thought of the sexual acts , not only is this a form of an innuendo which links both of these poems together this is also an example of how looks can be deceiving and this is one of several main connections which exist between these two pieces of writing.