Storm and Great Expectations George Herbert\'s Poem

¶ … Storm and Great Expectations

George Herbert's poem "The Storm" showcases a variety of themes which have been long present in literature, film and other art forms for hundreds of years. This poem, by focusing on the presence of the storm, speaks to the inherent, yet unavoidable struggles of man via the journey of life. To struggle is organic; it's natural and as inescapable as a storm carved by nature. It's equally as natural to not to succumb to the storm, to rage and fight against the storm and to continue on one's path. This poem brings a range of works from art and literature to mind. Most notably, the film adaptation of "great Expectations" emerges as strongly evocative.

Great Expectations directed by Alfonso Cuaron (1998) was an adaptation of the novel by Charles Dickens. This film was able to portray the inherent and inescapable struggle of a poor boy born to a poor family, but who struggled to achieve artistic success. This desire and fight to achieve artistic success (and with it financial success) was not simply stemming from the innate desire to "better himself" or to "make something of himself" but so that he could secure the love of the "old money girl," Estella Havisham. These plot points alone put a more human narrative on the vivid imagery described in Herbert's "The Storm."

"IF as the windes and waters here below

Do fly and flow,

My sighs and tears as busy were above;

Sure they would move

And much affect thee, as tempestuous times

Amaze poore mortals, and object their crimes" (Herbert).

What's most remarkable about this stanza is that it so poignantly zeroes in on the inherent pain which is portrayed as unavoidable. The tears and sighs are almost portrayed as commonplace, as commonplace as the winds and waters of the storm. By connecting these human emotions with the elements of the storm, several objectives are achieved: first, the pain of human emotion is heightened. By comparing tears and sighs to a storm, one gets a clear vision of the unbearable pain that can occur with a human being. At the same time, the stanza almost appears to make a case for these emotions, in saying that it is capable of amazing morals and even objecting to their crimes. The writer is making a clear case for the poignancy of human emotion.

Human emotion is poignant through the 1998 version of Great Expectations. As the main character fights for success, fights against his social class, and fights for the girl he loves, he experiences a range of human emotions which one would expect in such circumstances: pain, fear, desire, hope, anxiety, shame and many others. The girl who is the object of his desire, however, represents the person who dismisses and ignores the storm: she turns away from it. As this dialogue below reveals, she has taught herself to deny human emotions and the human bonds that come with them.

Finn: What is it like not to feel anything?

Estella: Say there was a little girl.

And from the time she could understand, she was taught to fear.

Say she was taught to fear daylight.

She was taught it was her enemy, that it would hurt her.

And then one sunny day...

...you ask her to go outside and play, and she won't.

Can you be angry at her?

Finn: I knew that girl, saw the light in her eyes. That's still what I see.

Estella: We are who we are.

People don't change" (Glazer).

This dialogue is revealing for a number of reasons. In it, Estella discusses the being taught the fear of men, and being taught that men are the enemy since she was a little girl, and how since that was fundamentally her socializing, no one can blame her for that. However, what's she's really discussing is a fear of love. She's explaining how she was taught to fear love from a young age, and that's what she's done -- and how essentially she can't be blamed for it. In this speech Estella is akin to someone who is denying the storm or rendering herself helpless in front of the storm. She's denying herself autonomy and agency and she's turning away from human emotions -- as ugly and unpleasant as they may be. So much of Herbert's poem engages the idea of embracing human emotions: the pain of human emotions, the innateness of human emotions and the fury and wretchedness of human emotions. In a word, Herbert revels in discussing the storm of human emotions. Estella's character and with it, Finn's struggle to reach her, centers on the idea that she's been taught to fear love, and thus she avoids it. However, this is a falsity. Just because a girl is taught to fear love, doesn't mean she shouldn't love, and it doesn't mean that she's incapable of loving. In fact, it doesn't mean that Estella doesn't love -- in fact, she most likely does, she's just in a constant state of denial about it. This denial is part of the ignition which stokes Finn's fire and adds more energy to his storm, as his desire is to lover her and be loved by her and to win her.