Langauge is a key element in portraying and developing the attitudes of the person in many poems. This essay will comare and evaluate the language used in each poem and how these are used to present the attitudes of each speaker.
In Havisham, Duffy alerts us to the person'a attitudes very early on with an emphatic oxymoron; "beloved sweetheart bastard". This portrays Havisham's contradictory feelings towards her lover, that she hates him for what he has done yet, despite her hatred, she clearly still loves him. In contrast, Shakespeare - in Sonnet 130 - uses the embedded phrase in line 13 ro show his sincerity of his admiratino towards his wife. This is very effective in showing Shakespeare's attitudes as it clearly states that the person loves his wife. Unlike Havisham, despite his early critisism of his wife, Shakespeare's feelings are assured whereas Havisham seems tconfused as to whether she loves her fiancee more than she hates him. Furthermore, Duffy's use of harshly consonated words such as "spinster" show that Havisham has a negative attitude towards love. On the other hand, Shakespeare highlighs his love in the rhyming couplet, wher the "are" sound suggest his attitude is that love provides tranquility and fulfilness, unlike the destructive attitude of Havisham.
However, there are some similarities. Both personae show two differetn attitudes in the poems they are in. Havisham clearly shows that she feels both affection and vengefulness towards her lover which is shown by the enjambment "love's hate". Also, the "puce curses" she "sounds" suggest that she feels her fiancee deserves to be punished horribly for what he did althought the "b" sound in the last line shows that all she realyl wants is to be loved again. Similary, Shakespeare introduces the reader to the unexceptional qualities of his wife: the fact her breath "reeks", he "dun" coloured breats, her "black" wired hair and that she is not a "goddess". This creates the impression that, although he "loves to hear the speak", his attitudes towards her are that she is repulsive and unimpressive. However, like Havisham, there is a second attitude in the poem; made more prominent by the indent of the rhyming couplet, which suggests it is the most important attitude. The seconnd attitude is that she is exception and she is impressive, the use of the word "heaven" gives the reader the impression that Shakespeare worships her.
Anne Hathaway's attitudes are that her love with Shakespeare is infallible, heavenly and substainable. Indeed, the description of their gusts "dribbling their poose" suggests that she feels no one can compare to the love and interaction her and Shakespeare share. On top of this, the alliteration of "l" in line 12 suggests she finds their relationship emotionally - and physically - pleasurable. In contrast, the person in "The Labratory" is not bothered by the fact her husband has a missteress but more so by the fact a woman is havingf sex with her husband. The use of monosylable (lines 5 and 6) and heavily stressed words ("pound" in line 10) suggest that she is not stopping to think why her husband may have chosen another woman, moreover that it seems to be a terriotial issue. This is unlike Anne Hathaway as she takes pride in their strongbond and their relationship is fulfiling yet the persona in "The Labratory" seems to only care about being married to a man. Her husband doesn't have relationships with other women because he has a wife, not because he wants to, or has reaosn to, remain loyal. The persona seems contempt with that as she never considers the factg she may not be right for him. However, both personae are protective of their husbands and both feel that their relationships are best, albeit for different reasons. The plosive consonants -"which is the poison to poison her, prithee?" - in "The Labratory" suggesst she is bitter and angered by the thoought anyone else could have her husband, she believes her and her husband's relationship is infallibe. Liekwise, Anne Hathaway believes their guest's "dribbling prose" is proof that everything else is unworthy, compared twith her relationship with Shakespeare.
All four poems use language effectively to present attitudes. AS a reader, I prefer "The Labratory" as the fast pace and emphatic language show that the persona is relatively clueless about why her husband has a misstress and so resorts to desperate mesaure instead of working things out logically, which I find comical. It shows that, after more than one hundred years, much of societies' attitudes havn't changed!