Character Of Miss Havisham

Charles Dickens’ aptly titled novel Great Expectations focuses on the journey of the stories chief protagonist, Pip, to fulfill the expectations of his life that have been set for him by external forces. The fusing of the seemingly unattainable aspects of high society and upper class, coupled with Pip’s insatiable desire to reach such status, drives him to realize these expectations that have been prescribed for him. The encompassing desire that he feels stems from his experiences with Mrs. Havisham and the unbridled passion that he feels for Estella. Pip realizes that due to the society-imposed caste system that he is trapped in, he will never be able to acquire

The Presentation of Miss Havisham in Chapter 8 and in Chapter 49 of Great Expectations by Charles Dickens

The main storyline has to do with Pip’s expectations of becoming a gentleman. To do this he received help from a secret benefactor. For the first half of the novel Pip is convinced that Miss Havisham is the one doing this so one day he and Estella can be together. Dickens creates a story around Pip’s assumption to make this a very logical explanation. Coincidentally right after Pip realizes and confirms he was wrong about his benefactor, an unexpected character reappears. “You acted nobly, my boy,” said he. “Noble Pip! And I have never forgot it!” (Dickens 248) These words ring out of his benefactor’s name. Who appears to be the escaped convict from the beginning who threatened him, known by the name of Magwitch. Magwitch reveals that ever since that day in the graveyard when Pip returned to give him what he requested he has found a job to help Pip out for what he did for him. By doing this secretly for all this

In addition with the heart of Miss Havisham being deceived and broken, Miss Havisham lives her life deceiving those she can and encourages Estella to break the hearts of the innocent. The townspeople were convinced, along with Mrs. Joe, that Miss Havisham was the wealthiest woman around when in all honesty, the only thing she owned was her home, the Satis house. After Pip discovered his fortune and is sent to London, Miss Havisham allows him to believe that she is, in fact, his benefactor when she is not. “Yes... I let you go on” (Pg. 305) This is as bad as lying to Pip because she is misleading the poor boy instead of being honest with him. Once Pip falls in love with Estella, Miss Havisham makes him believe that she had the intent of Estella marrying him. Be that as it may, again, the old woman is shown deceiving Pip. Every year, on the birthday of Miss Havisham, several relatives of the old woman visit the Satis house in order to see if Miss Havisham has died and dispersed her fortune without notifying anyone. In

An imagine Charles Dickens has left in my mind is Miss. Havisham. I see this faceless, all bone, yellow skinned lady wearing one shoe and a wedding dress. Miss. Havisham was originally described on page 47 and she was described as a weary, wore down woman and I was having fun imagining this peculiar lady. I see her like Maleficent, because she was written as very boney, again on page 47. I just imagine her cheekbones being very prominent, like Maleficent. I also see her like looking kind of deranged because on page 47 Dickens wrote; "She uttered the word with a eager look, and with a weird smile". I think the weird smile part is what lead me to believe she looks deranged. I can't see her face, but I can see her features like; sunken eyes, that

and I, but to obey our instructions. We are not free to follow our own

As if a ghost flew by, the woman was no longer her former self. She shielded herself with the snow, almost vanishing out of existence with no trace left behind. The woman was strange according to Charles Dickens. Yet only a few years later the white woman would inspire the character Miss Havisham. Miss Havisham is from a book called Great Expectations, the book was written by Charles Dickens during the Victorian era. In addition the book has many intriguing characters with their own intricate backstories. Character like Miss Havisham, Pip, and Magwitch. Each one of them are imprisoned by previous actions accompaned with mistakes.

It could have been an accident or it may not be. Miss Havisham realized that she has caused so much pain to Pip, she said mean things to him and set up Estella, which is her adopted daughter with Pip. Pip had fallen in love with Estella since the minute they had met. She had treated him bad too, she would say mean things to Pip and he did not care and he was used to people treated him that way. Also it could be because of her wedding day, she was sitting in her rotten wedding dress and that could be a reminder of that

She implores Pip to forgive her for making him suffer heartbreak to satisfy her own “wild resentment, spurned affection, and wounded pride” (710). It is only after Miss Havisham’s death that Pip realizes that wealth—whether referring to his own wealth or Miss Havisham’s—often brings out the worst of a person’s character, including his own. He realizes that his dreams to become wealthy and “bestow…a gallon of condescension upon everybody in the village” are petty, and that he is slated to lose everyone he loves to his own greed

The character Miss Havisham serves as the prime example of self-swindling and explores the negative effects of it. Desperate for love, Miss Havisham swindles herself into believing that Compeyson’s romantic interest in her is genuine despite his “systematic” affection that obviously depends on her wealth (Dickens 161). Similarly, Miss Havisham’s devastating heartbreak leads her to trick herself into believing that genuine love does not exist. Because of this self-swindling, Miss Havisham ironically secludes herself from friendship and companionship, the only “natural and healing influences” that could have saved her from the eventual decay of her character (Dickens 356). Likewise, Satis House, from which “daylight was completely excluded,” reflects the lack of growth and enlightenment caused by

I think just as much as she wanted Pip to fall in love with Estella, she wanted Estella to fall in love with Pip. Dickens talks about Estella's mood swings when it came to her treatment of Pip (chapter 12) and how Miss Havisham seemed to enjoy them; it leads me to believe that Estella was having strong feelings for Pip but being trained that they were to be fought, crushed, and ignored, which must have lead to some pain, inner conflict and confusion for the young girl. Miss Havisham, I think, wanted Estella to learn this feeling of passion young, and wanted her to learn how to reject them young. It would also explain why she always loved Pip, even though she denied it. It was the only love she really ever experienced, but was never allowed to

One day Pip is taken to play at a large house, the house belongs to the character Miss Havisham who is portrayed as an extremely eccentric person. It is during these visits that the young Pip meets Miss Havisham’s daughter Estella, who never displays any form of affection for Pip and treats him contemptuously. Nevertheless, Pip falls in love and it his dream to become a gentleman and marry Estella.

Dickens depicts an eccentric and rather malevolence women who has been jilted on her wedding day. therefore, she has stopped all clocks and sits in her yellowing wedding dress. Furthermore, leaving her in an agony. Consequently, that agony and misery turned into hatred towards men. When Miss Havisham employs Pip to play with Estella, Pip sees an " old brick and dismal " house which reflective the owner. Furthermore, this shows the reader that Dickens tried to give a hint on how Miss Havisham appearance might be or could be, Alternatively he wanted to show that Miss Havisham has stopped caring on her appearance as she has stopped time and rots within the house and the house within her.

Her shoes were white...she had a long white veil...' here Dickens uses repetition to further strengthen his point, and effectively portray the theme of isolation. As already noted, Miss Havisham's character is very melodramatic, and highly unrealistic, but her theatrical character is used as a weapon by Dickens to strongly emphasise his belief that the rich of the time were arrogant and selfish. The very fact that she took the decision to separate herself from the rest of society brings up two different points, the first is that she only had that option open because of her wealth, and it is because of her stubbornness and arrogance that she chooses this path. Here Dickens is trying to emphasise the point that the rich have an open door of choice, which the poor don't have, but their sheer arrogance and stubbornness makes them choose to ignore going through the hard way, and trying to piece back together their lives, rather they opt to take the easier way out and completely separate themselves from the rest of society. The second point that Dickens is trying to put across is that the women of the time were over-reliant on men, when Miss Havisham was jilted on her wedding day, she chose there and then, that she would no longer be able to go on, because of the need of a manly figure in her life.

With her plan of revenge in mind, Miss Havisham deliberately raises Estella to avoid emotional attachment and treat those who love her with cruelty. A specific quote in the book, where Miss Havisham tells Pip that he must love Estella at all costs, sheds light on Miss Havisham's vengeful character. One can draw parallels from the life of Miss Havisham to the life that she