Upon reading the prose and poems, I gain the impression that Miss Havisham is certainly a strange, old woman. Whilst in the novel I pity her, she seems a broken woman. But in the poem, I view her as a malevolent and decrepit creature. Duffy's use of the oxymoron, "Beloved sweetheart bastard" is shocking but also presents a distraught woman, shattered by grief.

The character of Miss Havisham was denied `true love' when she was jilted at the alter. I think Dickens captures the crippling effects of disappointment, but it is Duffy who adds currents and undertones of anger, despair and frustration, effectively and powerfully.

I really enjoyed the imagery that Duffy uses and how it links with Dickens' descriptive text. Dickens makes Miss Havisham sound tired and worn, " Now, waxwork and skeleton seemed to have dark eyes", whilst in the poem Duffy presents Miss Havisham as less...