Comparing Carol Ann Duffy's Havisham and Robert Browning's The Laboratory

Comparing Carol Ann Duffy's Havisham and Robert Browning's The Laboratory

In the poem “Havisham”, Carol Ann Duffy presents the subject as an old, embittered woman with “ropes on the back of her hands”. In “The Laboratory” by Robert Browning the subject is a strong and determined, but very jealous and embittered, young woman. Both poems are written in the first person in the form of a dramatic monologue.

Carol Ann Duffy writes about the feelings of rejection, isolation and desolation that a woman who has been jilted at the alter by her husband might feel. I think that feelings such as this in both of the poems have been based on either literature or historical events, for example “Havisham” was most likely based on Miss Havisham, a rich lady in the novel Great Expectations by Charles Dickens and “The Laboratory” was probably influenced by the celebrated French murderess (who has been said to have poisoned her family).

Oxymoronic phrases are used throughout the poem “Havisham” such as “Beloved Sweetheart Bastard” and “Love’s/hate” to express the ambivalence that this woman ...