Compare How Sadistic Personalities Are Presented in Havisham, Education For Leisure And Hitcher

In Havisham, Education For Leisure and Hitcher, the poets all convey sadistic personalities using a variety of techniques. All the poems include various forms of imagery that is used to strongly communicate different characteristics of each of the characters in the three poems.

In Havisham is a poem conveying the thoughts and emotions of a woman who was jilted by a man on her wedding day. The narrator is stuck in the past unable to move on with her life. She is clearly broken hearted and wants to wreak revenge on all men. Carol Anne Duffy opens this poem with an oxymoron; ‘beloved sweetheart bastard,’ this strong statement instantly shows the reader that the subject of the poem is bitter and angry and this impression is only strengthened as the poem progresses. Duffy uses a fairly regular rhythm with a range of 9 to 12 syllables to reflect her determination to get revenge. In contrast to this, the poem is written in quatrains, however the second and third stanzas do not end with full stops so are not strictly quatrains. The slight imperfection of this format is reflected in the content. The woman’s emotional instability is shown to the reader through Duffy’s use of onomatopoeia. In using the word ‘cawing’ the narrator dehumanises herself perhaps to reflect that she feels inhuman because of what this man has done to her. Carroll Ann Duffy also uses metaphors such as ‘I’ve have dark green pebbles for eyes,’ I feel that the use of the word ‘stone’ indicates that the narrator has an emotional barrier. Duffy cleverly uses colours to convey emotions, she refers to the narrators eyes as green, although the narrators eyes may literally be green, the use of the colour green metaphorically imply that she is jealous. Duffy also uses the colour red, which implies that the narrator is angry. The poems tone is not only angry and bitter, but is also quite violent as the narrator articulates that she has hands that she ‘could strangle with.’ The closing line of the poem is foreboding; ‘don’t think it’s only the heart that b-b-b-breaks’, as it implies that she would like to inflict upon him physically, she same amount of pain that she has suffered emotionally.

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In Education for Leisure, Duffy also explores anger and violence using a central sadistic character. Unlike Havisham, Education for Leisure is written in perfect quatrains, this rigid structure reflects the characters determination. This is also reflected in the poems fairly regular rhythm. This poem has a strong opening like Havisham, which instantly conveys that the narrator of the poem is disturbed and abnormal; ‘Today I am going to kill something. Anything.’ The use of the word anything supports that the narrator is disturbed as it implies that he has no limits. Duffy uses the same technique in Education for Leisure as she does in Havisham, the concluding line of the poem end on a foreboding note as it implies that the narrator has caused physical harm to someone; ‘The pavements glitter suddenly. I touch you arm’, this line is sinister and supports the tone that is present throughout the poem. The narrator of this poem is deluded and self-obsessing, which is contrasting to Havisham, as the narrator of that poem was obsessive over the man she wanted revenge on. Unlike Havisham where the narrator has a reason for wanting to hurt somebody, the narrator in Education for Leisure appears to be killing at random purely to take out his frustrations.

Simon Armitage reflects this theme of random violence in Hitcher. Unlike Education for Leisure, the form of Hitcher is irregular, and Armitage uses enjambment to reflect the narrator’s erratic behaviour. However Hitcher does reflect the callous tone of Education for Leisure and this is illustrated when the talks about hitting a man ‘six times with the krooklok in the face.’ This line also illustrates Armitage’s use of enjambment as the line ends after ‘krooklok’ then continues on the next line.

The narrator of this poem appears to be psychotic as he says ‘the outlook of the day was moderate to fair’, after he has killed. This implies to me that he feels as though his day has improved after he has taken someone’s life. This is reflective of the characters in both Havisham and Education for Leisure, however I feel that in Havisham the narrator’s behaviour is not as callous as that of the narrators’ in Hitcher and Education for Leisure.

Armitage does not use any oxymorons or metaphors in this poem but his use of graphic description is just as effective in creating a strong image.

Each poem uses different devices to create powerful imagery. Although the narrators’ are sinister on different levels all of the poems portray vivid images of callousness and frustration.

Chantel Sheridan 11.6

English