Great Expectations By Charles Dickens

Estella is brought up in an abnormal childhood. Miss Havisham constantly teaches her to be brutal and harsh towards men and gives her bizarre and odd views of men and life. She is lectured and manipulated by Miss Havisham from the moment she can walk and grows to become an ‘emotionless robot’. As children, Estella plays “hard to get” and “too good for you” towards Pip who ends up falling for her. Estella, through her corrupted views of life, makes Pip eat off the ground and treats him like dirt.

As mentioned before, Pip possess and inability to fully express his feeling about those around him. When he first encounters Estella, he knows that is a physical attraction but Estella’s cold and indifferent actions toward Pip leave him longing for someone he cannot create a true connection with. Furthermore, Estella has the one of the greatest influence on Pip’s identity in the novel once he obtains his expectations and attempts to alter his personality to mimic that of a genteel individual. Pip describes the anguish he feels about his background as “a most miserable thing to feel ashamed of home” insinuating that the only way to win Estella over is to disregard his humble beginnings in Kent. Which leads to his desires to become a gentleman in London in hopes that he will be better suited for Estella.

With a beautiful angelic face and a cold-heart Estella serves an important role as Pip’s love interest in the story. Although she is everything that Pip should never want in a friend, that doesn’t stop him from loving her. In the novel, Estella is an important character in both the literal and figurative

Pip then goes on to address the reader directly and explains that “[t]hat was a memorable day to [him], for it made great changes in [him],” (Dickens 70). After meeting with Estella several times and becoming extremely fond of her, despite her bipolar attitudes towards him, Ms. Havisham suddenly decides to recompense Pip for his time and then tells him that he no longer has to come back to the Satis House. Everyday after this, Pip continuously thinks of Estella and of how he must become a gentleman in order to be at the same level as Estella and eventually marry her. Another character Biddy (whose relationship to Pip is somewhat complicated) begins acting as Pip’s teacher and Pip says “[w]hatever [he] acquired, [he] tried to impart to Joe,” because “[he] wanted to make Joe less ignorant and common.” Pip’s plans to become a well-mannered gentleman to be worthy of high-society and to be worthy of Estella’s affection are two goals or “great expectations” that Pip sets for himself that ultimately carry the plot of the novel along.

It is said that right before someone dies, they see their life flash before their eyes. They are said to see the things most dear to them. However, no one on their deathbed regrets the amount of money that they have. In the moment of clarity, most realize that a number on a paycheck is not as important as emotional and mental possessions. People always tell each other that money can not buy happiness, yet most end up spending every waking moment thinking about money. Why do people waste their time and energy pursuing something that is not what they truly need? Often, they use social class to fill a void in their lives that can not be filled by materialistic possessions. Many people realize this, but it is often too late. Charles Dickens demonstrates the effects of social climbing in his novel, Great Expectations. This novel explores the connections and effects of human nature and society, which are the two most powerful forces that guide people’s decisions. Some may say that social climbing is good, but as will be proven, pursuing social class for the wrong reason can result in disastrous consequences. The motivation to obtain higher social status leaves those who pursue it dissatisfied with reality and with a wider void in their lives as shown by Pip, Estella, and Magwitch.

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.

She adopted her when she was young just so she could love her. But, in the end she turned her into a such a monster that it even back fired on her. She's also regretful of putting her past on her and made her try to take revenge for her. Now, Estella inside of her has no heart and she believes what Miss Havisham wanted her to believe about love. Miss Havisham now knows the truth about Pip's love for Estella and it kills her to see that she caused a lot of pain for Pip by changing Estella. The love Miss Havisham wished upon having from a guy was in Pip for Estella and she sees she messed it up all for

Dickens shares an event that creates changes in two characters… Pip and Miss Havisham had unfinished events in their lives that needed to be resolved. He used this event to bring some closure for them. Dickens clearly wrote about how much Estella meant to Pip. Where was she? Did she marry? Is she being mistreated? Miss Havisham was suffering from guilt about how she handled the Pip/ Estella relationship as well as from her own broken dreams of marriage. She was filled with guilt. She says, “I want to pursue that subject you mentioned when you were last here, and to show you that I am not all stone. But perhaps you can never believe, now, that there is anything human in my heart?” She also agreed to help Pip with his financial problem, begged his forgiveness and answered his

Love her!" (pg. 636). Miss Havisham knows that Pip has fallen for Estella, and wants the two young adults to form a relationship. Even though Estella has been condescending and rude towards Pip, Miss Havisham tempts him into this situation which most likely will not end well for Pip. After going through such a traumatic affair in her life, she appears to attempt to lead Pip into a similar dilemma.

The character Estella is imprisoned within herself because of her inability to love. Ever since Estella was a child when it came to a boy, Miss Havisham taught her to "break his heart" (54). Being taught to break boys' hearts imprisons Estella within herself for she is confined and excluded from others because it is extremely difficult for her to care for or form bonds with people. Estella finally realizes what Miss Havisham has done to her when she tells Pip, "there are sentiments, fancies . . . which I am not able to comprehend. When you say you love me, I know what you mean as a form of words, but nothing more" (336). This statement shows Estella's grief with her total incapability to love or form any emotional attachment to another. This grief is a change in Estella from the coldhearted behavior

Regularly refered to as Dickens' initially persuading female character, Estella is a remarkably unexpected creation, one who hazily undermines the thought of sentimental love and fills in as a severe feedback against the class framework in which she is soiled. Raised from the age of three by Miss Havisham to torment men and "break their hearts," Estella wins Pip's most profound love by honing intentional brutality. Not at all like the warm, winsome, kind courageous woman of a customary romantic tale, Estella is icy, pessimistic, and manipulative. In spite of the fact that she speaks to Pip's initially ached for perfect of life among the high societies, Estella is in reality even lower-conceived than Pip; as Pip learns close to the finish of the novel, she is the little girl of Magwitch, the coarse convict, and hence springs from the least level of society.

Most readers are appalled at the cold-hearted and cruel ways of Estella, but any criticism directed at her is largely undeserved. She was simply raised in a controlled environment where she was, in essence, brainwashed by Miss Havisham. Nonetheless, her demeanor might lead one to suspect that she was a girl with a heart of ice. Estella is scornful from the moment she is introduced, when she remarks on Pip's coarse hands and thick boots. However, her beauty soon captivates Pip and she is instilled as the focal point of his thoughts for much of the remainder of the novel. The fact that Pip becomes infatuated with her is also not Estella's fault. By no means is there any evidence that she loved him. She does not flirt with

After reading Great Expectations by Charles Dickens the reader notices how Pip and Estella change throughout the novel. Pip is a poor boy who becomes a gentleman. Estella was adopted by Miss Havisham and became spoiled and rude. When they meet at Miss Havisham’s Estella denounced Pip for a stupid clumsy laboring boy (43), which killed his pride.

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

Estella also is a victim to her guardian in the novel. She too is never given the chance to be her own person and live life to its fullest. Estella is conditioned by her guardian, Miss Havisham, to make men suffer, and in return it is Estella who will be made to suffer for her guardian's actions. Miss Havisham is a severely disturbed old woman who has adopted Estella. Miss Havisham was abandoned on her wedding day and as a result she forever maintains hatred toward men. Thus for her dirty work, Miss Havisham uses Estella to meet this purpose. Pip concludes that Miss Havisham "had done a grievous thing in taking an impressionable child (Estella) and had manipulated into the form that her wild resentment, spurned affection, and wounded pride, found vengeance in". Miss Havisham makes Estella have a fear of men being close to her and not to allow herself to become attached to them emotionally. Dickens’ made Estella an almost identical copy of Frankenstein: trained to perform specific tasks for the pleasure of their guardian. However someday, they crack and see the illness in their lives. Estella was Miss Havisham’s toy. Estella never