Miss Havisham
Mrs Robinson's Year 7 students have been studying Charles Dickens and looked closely at his description of the Great Expectations character, Miss Havisham.
They were then set the task of writing a diary entry as if they were Miss Havisham.
Why not help our students upgrade their writing by any comments about 'What Went Well' or 'Even Better If...' at the bottom of the page. We would love to hear what you think!
Mrs Havisham
He’s late! I’ve been waiting for years
and he still hasn’t turned up.
My dress is tattered and I think it is
turning yellow,
I cannot tell.
It is really dark only the candles
provide light
And my eyes filled with hope that one
day he will return.
I do not move from my stool I am very
patient,
I can wait.
J. Naylor
Miss Havisham
Dear diary,
This is the day when
I was rejected those horrible forty years ago. In all of these forty dreaded
years I have been in this very room ever since my one happy day; even that
turned out horrible! The shame thinks I’m a chair, it likes to sit on me.
It is not fair, the love of my life doesn’t know
what he did to me! It is really unfair.
J. Hooton-Forester
Miss Havisham
Yo, you’re all rubbish, I won’t even bake you radd-ish, uh, yeah. Last time I saw you, you bailed away and left me, jailed to sway, uhh, yeeeeeah. Now I’m in me dress, left in this stress of this eternal time, did that even rhyme?
Got a little boy, Pip be his name, he was rather scared , just the same. Came to meet and greet, he ain’t see ma’ feet ‘cause it left under this dress, surprised I ain’t deaf though. Speaking of the dress, I’m a bit skinny and but I’m not that fiddly.
Yo, it’s Pip gonna whip you up a rhyme yo, so let’s go bro. I am Pip made to satisfy Havisham’s sick fancy, but she’s just sick in general lookin’ like she’s supposes to be in a funeral, looks dead as a doorknob but still walkin’ as she talks to me, tellin’ me to play like I ain’t baby. Heard of her story, makes me a bit sad but not my fault her guy bailed out.
Miss Havisham got left to sway (oh yeeeeah) but I ain’t putting’ my dress away (dress away) ‘cause it reminds me of the struggle that changed my life since I’ll never be a wife. Got pip playin’ in the corner (Yeah, playin’ in the corner) now I’m gonna sit down and look at myself in the mirror, now that I’VE DESTROYED YOU.
Sit down miss Havisham and look at me, eyein’ me up and down is a bit creepy . Dressed in my blue rags, ain’t mindin’ much, just came her for a job and I’m not gonna shut my gob. I’m a young and wild spirit, not literally though, but lookin’ at you I think you might be. So I’m really scared, down own an iron bough So I’m afraid I can’t van-quish you.
E. Shaw
Miss Havisham
I
remain paralysed, stale in this dressing room, unmoving. Frozen in the same
spot. My dress is frail and yellow with ongoing years. All the white of life is gone. There is no
sign of it’s presence. My eyes don’t see the times of happiness, the times of
joy. Instead I sit… frozen in time, waiting for it all to change. A dozen
thoughts swam through my mind, taking over my soul.
A. Bennett
Miss Havisham
I never leave this room. I wouldn’t
even leave if this building was on fire. My wedding dress is ripped and
stained, but I don’t care. My clocks have all stopped, just like my lonely
heart. Nothing in this world will make me happy again. The joy in me drifted
away like a bag in the wind when he left me. Why do I still care about him; why
don’t I just move on? I can’t. He is the only love in my life. I will either
pass away weeping in this room or happily with him. He left me at our marriage
and I haven’t seen him since.
J. Rumsey
Miss Havisham
I will sit in this room and wait for my love even if he shall never come. I shall never move from this arm chair. Why should I? I will only be disappointed again. My dress is old and withered. My flowers are dead like my inside. There is no reason to be happy anymore. He left me! One my wedding day! He will come …he has too. I will be forever lonely without him.
M. Barker-Boulton
I am sitting in this room, lonely; that’s how I like to be. Left alone. All because of one stupid man who made me like this. I still have hope. Maybe one day he’ll come back. He wasted my life. I will not move; if this means I die in this old, worn-out chair I won’t bother, I have no future. I’ve given up. This time in my life is depressing. I shall never smile again. Why should I?
L. Watson
Miss Havisham
Dear diary,
Today is the anniversary of the day that my partner showed his true colours. Let’s just hope that I can get
through today, although now I know what a stupid man William
was. At twenty-to-nine, all clocks will stop, to show
everyone what pain I felt at that exact time thirty six years ago.
However, here I sit… constantly
waiting… waiting… waiting for William to come back. Here I sit… in my ripped up
yellow-ish, tattered wedding dress and
vail. Here I sit… scaring anyone who passes by…
A. Kerner
Miss Havisham
I will sit in this chair, In this room, in this house. I will not change out of this withered, creased dress. The light is dim just like my heart, all alone and that’s how it will be. Why should I smile? No one ever comes to see me not even him.
B. Pearce
Miss Havisham
Why should I be
happy? No one cares about me, especially William Compton. I’ve sat in our dorm
room since the day he abandoned me. I am miserable and I always will be. I will
never smile till the day I die. I cry floods of tears until I realize no fairy god
mother will save me from my miserable world. There was a painting g on the wall
of our first date but I threw that out like our relationship with a tear
between us. I sit in my old brown chair, head in my hands looking at my grey wrinkly
skin hidden by my gorgeous fishnet vail. I will not stand cause of the blisters
covering my feet, but I will not refuse to remove my diamond crested stilettos.
Hanging from my shoulders is a dress only the vicar saw. For protection I wrote
my future initials on the small ripped label but I will not change my name
until the day he arrives to call me his wife. The clocks are broken like my
heart. I changed the time to when the ruby inside my body shattered into
crystals. If I hear a tic I will unfreeze and I will cry like I did on that day
of devastation.
S. Ratcliffe
Miss
Havisham
What is the point of life anymore? Why should i
smile? Why should i move? I feel
betrayed, now and always, but one day maybe my waiting will make me happy. One
day, my love of my life may come back to me. Nobody can tell me what to do. I will
wait if I want to! It is like my life is not wanted in the outside world
anymore. My dress is ripped just like my heart. I am lonely. I will never be
seen or happy unless my lover comes back to me! However, for now, I am the sad
Miss Havisham, and I always will be.
J. Pilling
I
am angry, I am distraught. One day I will get my vengeance. My clocks are
frozen in time, as am I. I am forever in an endless loop of the traumatic
events that happened on my special day. I am in a nightmare I will never wake
up from. It is dark as I don’t want anyone to see me like this. I try to forget
it but I can’t. I will never be as I used to be. I am bitter, I never smile.
There is no reason to anymore. I am lonely, I will sit in my wedding dress and
wait, to see if he will ever come back, ever love me again. I live in an
enormous house, but I will stay confined in this room, in my chair as my
horrible wedding day has paralysed me and I will never get over the shock of
that day. I wish I was dead. There is no reason I want to live for. What have I
done to deserve this terrible fate? I will never forgive him for ruining my
life. Revenge will be mine!
D. Simmons
Miss Havisham
My breath feels constricted; my body feels frail; and my whole sense of hope is disappearing through my lifeless, grasping fingers; and yet my supposed carers say my life has been full. In my opinion, my livelihood should have been ended at the starting days of my misery.
My wedding dress has become baggy but I cannot help but dwell on the dreams I once had. It seems so pointless to give up now, everyone already despises me. Even my workers talk ill of me behind my back. So what have I got to lose. Alas, my long gone lover.
R. Bright
Miss
Havisham
I
am all alone with no one to talk to. I sit in the same chair for years on end
hoping, praying that my love will finally come to me after so many years of
depression. The anger is unbearable from my wedding day onwards I can barely
cope with the tragedy that happened. My eyes are filled with hope but
everything else about me feels anger and hatred after what happened on my
supposed special day.
J. Trivass
Miss Havisham
I await in this room, the atmosphere is dim. I have no friends, no, family, no one to talk to. These past phew years I have spent in this room have been the most painful years of my life.This rancid room is makiking me more chlostophobic as tye days pass bye due to the foul smell of my pale rotting body and my surroundings.WHY? Why do I bother living in this nightmare of a life. I still await for him to come back,I know he wont but I guess im just relying on hope now.
J. Fairhurst
Mrs Havisham
I sit
here, waiting for a shimmer of hope to fly through my window.
My dress is tatty, my face is
yellow, I feel shallow.
The events that shall haunt
me for eternity are still fresh in my mind, plaguing me forever.
I shall never forgive him for
the crimes that he committed against me.
He betrayed me! I refuse to
let go, for he ruined my life.
The dress that I longed for
him to see hangs wrinkled on my shoulders.
A. Griffin
Miss Havisham
I sit in
this room and wait for my lover to return. My dress used to be crisp and white
but now it is faded and yellow. I am forever depressed. I am Miss Havisham.
I’ve never smiled since that day. It is hard to speak without my emotions
taking over. I am Miss Havisham. I have withed with my dress over the time.
Everything that was white has now faded. I am Miss Havisham.
E. Hodgkinson
Miss Havisham
I
sit. Not moving. Waiting for him to come. Waiting to be named Mrs.Compton.Im as
still as a stone. Why should I move? Darkness is my home and I will never
leave. Why should I? My dress drapes over the side of my great arm chair. My
dress is a light yellow now and shrivelled up. Why did you not come?
A. Sim
Miss Havisham
I
sit in this room day by day, night by night. All I eat is stale bread. I never
smile, why should I? It was years since William crushed my
hopes
and dreams. I sit here hoping to see him come back one day. I am as dead as my
clocks. I died at 8:40 just like my clocks. The mice scatter round the room
eating the crumbs of the stale bread. But still all I can think about is
William.
L. Pritchard
Miss Havisham
I
am Miss Havisham, I’m still waiting for him to return;
I miss him; I loved
him. I still do. My brain is stuck in time but my body is not. I am aging,
starving and tired. I will never move from this chair, I will never change out
of this dress. One day my wedding will go on. I have stared at the clock for
years on end now. At twenty to nine we were supposed to be married. But the
clock stuck there. Just like I’m stuck in this
chair. Why should I move?
Because I am Miss
Havisham and I am still waiting
for him to return.
C. Woods
Miss
Havisham
I
sit, waiting. My lover never came. I need some com
pany because I am lonely and
stale. I sit in this tatty, old, yellow dress, which was once white, hoping he
comes today or tomorrow or the next week. But, alas, he never came. I never
became Mrs William Compton. I miss him lots but he left me on our wedding day.
But I still hope. I feel like I need him more now as my departure day nears. He
needs to see me but departure day is almost here. I miss him. Is he here?
A. Wilkie
Miss Havisham
I sit in my room, eternally waiting for dear
love to appear on the outside of the door. I wait for William,
day and night. The amount of time I have
spent waiting has caused dust to settle on my dress. The start of the day to the end of the day, I wait. I am waiting. The gail
rushes through the open window and silently around the room. A teardrop ran down my face and the sky went black. The house creaked, it is getting old and I fear it will
fall down like a house of cards. The deadly
silence filled the area around the house. Waiting. Waiting.
L. Sudworth
Miss Havisham
I wait in this room
for the one I love most. This macabre room consuming my insides, like there is
nothing left of me. Tick. Tick. Tick. My body is as thin as a stick and I can
barely move because of the sparse amount I have eaten. Tick. Tick. Tick. Happiness
and brightness have flown away from me even though there is still hope for me
and him. All that I have with me now is devastation and darkness. My heart has
sunk to the bottom of my dress where all the rips and faded colours linger,
there is nothing to keep my heart alive; no happiness, no love, no laughter or
fun just boring me and my sorrows. Tick. Tick. Tick. This waiting has made me
remember what will happen shortly, the clocks will stop at 20 to 9. This has
made me question myself: why am I doing this for someone who left me on my
special day. My one chance of a new life has been thrown away, I guess I will
stay in this dress forever because he will never come, never has, never will, I
will never see the wonderful world again because of him the destroyer of my
dreams and ambitions. Tick. Tick. Tick. And all I’m doing about this is keeping myself
locked up in my dusty, bleak dungeon with everything I have lost. Ding! Ding!
Ding! Oh No!
A. Knowles
Miss Havisham
Dear
Diary,
As
of today, I’m still sat in this room and I feel like I want to sit in here
until my love arrives. I won’t move even though I feel extremely lonely. Some
people who come in my room probably think that I could possibly be dead: Philip
Pirrip. He looked very frightened when he first saw me. (He was probably the
most scared person I’ve ever come across).
After
going with Pip, I waited for a few minutes to see if my love would appear. 1
minute… no…
2… no. I felt distraught! I would never smile again.
Why should I? Because no-one ever smiles to me!
A. Smith
Miss Havisham
Dear Diary,
Once I wish my
love could come running to me but no. I
am a stale loaf of Bread just staring as I grow mould and my dress dissolves as
these days go by my pale face grows whiter and whiter.
I thought my lover would
be knocking but no it was a short figure he stepped in I Heard his little
speech his name was Phillip Pirrip.
He was a weird little chap, always staring like… a spy.
C. Carmichael
Miss Havisham
E. Halliday
Miss Havisham
Once again I’m sat in my dusty old dress waiting for come back but he
never comes. I keep waiting though, because one day he may come back to me. I
sit in my old dress, even though it’s tatty, because it reminds me of my one
time of happiness. I think that, if, I stay in this dress I will be frozen in
my time of happiness and never have to enter the outside world again. My
servants see to all my needs so I don’t have to do anything. I don’t even
smile, why should I? I don’t need to; I have
nothing to smile about.
E. Meredith
MISS HAVISHAM
Still I am here today years after, it still brings tears to my eyes. I sit in the darkness in hope. After all these years I am still waiting for my lost love to return. My dress of yellow that used to be white is all worn and tatty. I refuse to move and will wait in sadness. I am embarrassed of what I have become. How could someone ruin my special day! I sit in my chair, my head buried in my hands, recalling every moment I remember. It was tragic. The flowers in my hair are all dead, like me inside. I just want to go back to the day when I was happy. In my head I imagine what it is like to smile but I don’t want to, there is no reason to smile…why should I? I am stuck in a nightmare, I can’t wake up… I will never wake up. My veil is still dragging on my knotty hair and my heels are broken and scuffed at the bottom.
I have no flesh on my veiny, bony hands and I cannot bare to look at them I will wait as miss Havisham.
L. Malone
Miss Havisham
Why have I been cursed with this pain? Why can’t I get a fairy tale happy ending? The worst part is I have been drowned in my own pain and sorrow that I have become a bitter old lady. I feel so statue like, so dead to the world. For a first few weeks, I sat waiting for him to come back, to come back to me. I can’t move on, I am frozen in a life full of disbar. Every time I try to move on a dagger sinks deeper into my heart waiting till the day it can rip it open. The clocks never move from the day the first crack in my heart appeared. Always, icy tears stroll down my bare cheeks always reminding me about that dreadful day, that killing moment. Nobody knew my pain and nobody will ever know it like I do. Sadly, that’s my undoing so I am left to be a bitter old lady.
