Great Expectations Miss Havisham

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

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

Miss Havisham bewildered everyone around her. Being that she never resolved the past and is still in fact stuck in time. Her outfit was yellowed yet still sparkled.The socks”once white,now yellow, had been trodden ragged”.With this in mind Havisham being stuck in the past in not normal. Life is supposed to grow and change, but she ignores change. But despite everything she strangely is is aware of her old age. “So the days have worn away, have they?” After saying this then quickly redirecting the topic, she states, “I don’t want to know” to Pip’s answer to the date. Even her room is described, “heavily overhung with cobwebs.” It is as if she never set a foot in the room. The furniture is also falling to pieces. For

Ms. Havisham shows herself as a cruel, heartless women bent on revenge. The vengeful glee she gains from Pip’s pain shows her disillusionment. Vicariously trying to gain revenge on her would-be fiancé using Estella and Pip, she seems to have little concern for the consequences of her actions. Shown in her dialogue, Ms. Havisham gives no time for Pip to respond, repeating the same words, similar to how she simply relieves the few moments where she was hurt: constantly isolated from

Miss Havisham in the novel “Great Expectations” is a mean, prideful, selfish, old woman who has a big change of heart due to the actions of the protagonist, Pip. “Miss Havisham was a spoiled Child, her mother died when she was a baby, and her father denied her nothing”(page 120). She became comsumed by pride and greed. Later, “there appeared upon the scene a certain man, who made love to miss Havisham”(page 120). The man acted as if he loved Miss

Question: How does Dickens in his portrayal of Miss Havisham explore the theme of isolation?

The reader gets a true glimpse of Miss Havisham’s lifestyle when Pip pays a visit. “I entered, therefore, and found myself in a pretty large room, well lighted with wax candles. No glimpse of daylight was to be seen in it. It was a dressing-room, as I supposed from the furniture, though much of it was of forms and uses then quite unknown to me. But prominent in it was a draped table with a gilded looking-glass, and that I made out at first sight to be a fine lady's dressing-table…. But, I saw that everything within my view which ought to be white, had been white long ago, and had lost its lustre, and was faded and yellow. I saw that the bride within the bridal dress had withered like the dress, and like the flowers, and had no brightness left but the brightness of her sunken eyes…” (Great expectations, pg 55-56). After the man she was suppose to be wed left her at the altar and took her money with him, she descended into madness. Her own wealth led to her corruption. She never overcame this obstacle and vowed the rest of her life to getting revenge. This tragic event changed her and soon resulted in the corruption of her and her daughter. There seems to be a silent debate on the meaning of a gentleman. The society views it as someone who is wealthy and well- mannered while the poor view it as a person who acts as they are. "It is considered that you

The Vengeful Miss Havisham - Great Expectations. In Great Expectations, by Charles Dickens, Miss Havisham is a complex character whose past remains a mystery. We know about her broken engagement, an event that changes her life forever. Miss Havisham desperately wants revenge, and Estella, her adopted daughter, is the perfect tool to carry out her motives.

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

Miss Havisham is a lonely individual who has been through many struggles in her life. One example of a struggle she has been through is when she was getting married and on her wedding day, was jilted at the alter. The day she received a letter stating that her fiancé had merely defrauded her and no longer wanted to marry her changed her outlook on life. She stopped trying to progress in life and altogether stopped living. Heartbroken as she was, she remained in her

Miss Havisham's house was filled with expensive and excessive things. She was wealthy because she got lucky in the business of industry. Maybe Dickens included the fire in her house to show that wealth. Her desire was to find love and when the day of her wedding came she was " stood up" at the altar. This made her a little crazy.

To defend Miss Havisham would be incredibly difficult. Miss Havisham spends the whole novel trying to force the pain that she has had to endure onto other characters. She finds pleasure in making other people suffer. She does this by creating Estella to harm other characters, and watches happily as Pip hopelessly chases after her. On page 123, Dickens illustrates Miss Havisham's destructive behavior by showing her taunt Pip with Estella.

A secret always has reasoning behind how long it is kept hidden and when it is revealed. There’s always a perfect time and place for one to share one’s secret. Uniquely books have secrets embedded within to keep the reader on edge. If used wisely by the author, a secrets purpose can affect a novel’s story line, character development, and theme. Every secret throughout Dickens’ novel Great Expectations is effectively kept hidden and divulged at a certain moment, to allow the reader to contemplate the influence of social status and relationships on happiness.

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

The class system becomes a focal point in young Pip's life. Pip first began to think about his place in society when he was sent to visit the wealthy, old lady, Miss Havisham at her mansion. Through these visits Pip becomes socially conscious and begins to dislike his commonality. Almost instantly he wants to become uncommon. The adopted daughter of Miss Havisham, Estella, becomes a focal point and goal for Pip to obtain. Any morality Pip used to have slips away with each visit. Pip walks in circles in a barely lit room with Miss Havisam holding onto his shoulder and in doing so, Pip is somehow leaving behind all the values he was raised with. Miss Havisham and Estella end up corrupting Pip with the rich life. Greed, beauty and hubris are Pips downward spiral into an immoral life. Pip finds Estella very attractive, but Estella calls him common and this does not sit well with Pip. All of Pip's expectations of becoming a rich gentleman are due to this love of Estella.