preview

How Does Charles Dickens Describe Miss Havisham

Decent Essays

Charles Dickens: A man known for his poetic and powerfully descriptive writing style. This is greatly shown in Great Expectations when he uses characters surroundings/homes to describe them. Years before the events in Great expectations take place, Miss Havisham is defrauded and left at the altar by the love of her life: Compeyson. She is heart-broken and something inside her seems to break-she quickly goes around her house stopping all clocks to the time she received the letter informing her of Compeyson's betrayal and then sits down in her bedroom, leaving everything exactly the same as before. “it was then I began to understand that everything in the room had stopped, like the watch and the clock, a long time ago. I noticed …show more content…

She has not allowed herself to move past her heart being broken all those years ago, going so far as to mold her adopted daughter, Estella, into someone designed to wreak havoc on the entire male population. She, just like her watch and the clock on the wall, is stuck in the past. All those years ago Miss Havisham was a proud and beautiful young woman. Her wedding dress would have been voluptuous and the wedding itself would have been a lavish event. After her defrauding she lets all of the decorations rot. “ and saw that the shoe upon it, once white, now yellow, had never been worn. I glanced down at the foot from which the shoe was absent, and saw that the silk stocking on it, once white, now yellow, had been trodden ragged. Without this arrest of everything, this standing still of all the pale decayed objects, not even the withered bridal dress on the collapsed from could have looked so like grave-clothes, or the long veil so like a shroud(104-105).” The descriptions of of the house and Miss Havisham herself reveal a once glorious place. Sadly, both have been left to sit and whither away. Joe and the forge are one and the same. Pip talks about how he once thought that the forge was his future and that when he grew up he would be a …show more content…

Being on a marsh, like Pip often was, during one of these fogs would have meant it was nearly impossible to see more that three feet in front of you. While in this quote “glowing” is not meant literally, one can imagine seeing a glowing light through the dense fog, and that being your savior. Similarly to the forge being a light in the darkness, Joe is a bright person in Pip’s home. Pip’s sister, Mrs. Joe who raised him by hand, is a loud and violent woman whereas Joe is always on Pip’s side. “Joe’s station and influence were something feebler (if possible) when there was company, than when there was none. But he always aided and comforted me when he could, in some way of his own, and he always did so at dinner-time by giving me gravy” Even when Joe’s wife is bullying Pip, he stands up for him. Joe is always amicable towards Pip which causes Pip to look forwards to his time at the forge with Joe. Joe’s constant friendship towards Pip is a reminder to him that no matter how much tar water Mrs Joe may make him drink, he will always have a friend in

Get Access