How Does Dickens Present The Character Of Estella

Pip’s primary goal in Great Expectations is to win the heart over of the wealthy and beautiful Estella, and to acquire something else to achieve this goal: wealth. Being of a lower class and the playmate of Miss Havisham, as far as Estella is concerned, Pip is nothing to her in the beginning. Not to say this isn’t the case of Pip’s feelings for Estella, as in the very beginning of their interaction everything he feels is purely lust: lust for the stunning Estella, hankering for the wealth he wishes to acquire to impress her. At this point, he doesn’t know much about Estella at all; her exterior is beautiful, not just her appearance but also the opulent life she lives, however her heart is ice cold, as Miss Havisham states when she says, “I

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.

Estella lives in the Manor House with her adoptive mother Miss Havisham who has raised her up as a tool to be used to break men’s hearts. Although she constantly insults and makes fun of Pip, he falls in love with her. This love for her makes Pip vulnerable to any and every little insult that comes out of her mouth and Pip puts to heart everything she says. So, when she says, "He calls the knaves, Jacks, this boy!...And what course hands he has! And what thick boots!" he takes it to heart (Dickens 105). It is at this point that Pip begins to feel ashamed of his uneducated family, and longs to become a gentleman. Due to Estella’s cold-hearted character and her arrogant personality, Pip is made to feel that he stands no chance with her. Even more dangerous is her destructive influence on Pip which makes him strive to become a gentleman no matter the cost. Rather than being surrounded by people such as Estella who do nothing but put Pip’s character down, he should surround himself with supportive and encouraging individuals who are always there for him and appreciate his unique personality. This is what causes growth in a person.

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.

However, when Pip pays his first visit to Satis House, his loyalties began to shift (Kappel 116). Like the prodigal son, Pip becomes discontent with his humble origin and longs for a life of prestige. After only one visit to Miss Havisham, Pip already begins to feel discontent and ashamed. Estella’s prideful and scornful attitude makes him feel inferior. Estella derogatorily

Estella violently dehumanizes Pip because she is of a higher class, and she wants to propel her own self-worth. When Estella first meets Pip, she points out the fact that “he calls the knaves jacks,” and that he has “coarse hands” and “thick boots” (Dickens 122). Estella wants to prove that she is superior to Pip, because she is of a higher class. But the only way to do this successfully is to dehumanize Pip, by pointing out things that take away his humanity, like his coarse hands and thick boots. Before he meets Estella, Pip does not share

Miss Havisham writes a letter to Pip and gives it to Mr. Jaggers to give to Pip. When pip first gets to Miss Havisham's house she explains herself saying, “I want,” she said, “to pursue that subject you mentioned to me when you were last here, and show you that i am not all stone. But perhaps you can never believe, now, that there is anything human in my heart?”(Dickens 310). This shows that she is trying to show him that she is not heartless anymore and would like to try to make up for what she did in the past. When Pip tells Miss Havisham that Estella has married someone else she begins to burst into tears.

In Great Expectation, written by Charles Dickens, the author identifies the struggles of social status and prestige as the theme of the book. Additionally, how social status and wealth create great expectations. Through this theme the author uses a superior and blunt character like Estella Havisham to convey this idea. Estella is the stimulation or catalyst that causes, Pip formally known as Phillip Pirrip, the main character to care about social status and causes his attitude to change. In Great Expectations, Estella is described as "proud and refine"(285) and is seen as a cold creature through the indoctrinate of her mother, to avenge all men.

In contrast to Wemmick, who can live in a jailhouse and his own middle class home, Estella, another character in Dickens’ novel, can only function in an enhanced civilization. She is represented as one of the higher society since she is adopted by a wealthy, aged woman, Miss Havisham. Ironically, her true father is a convict and her mother is a servant for Jaggers. Because of her affluence, she treats others, of lower status,

Horrified by how disrespectfully Estella treats him, Pip feels disgruntled and resentful, which portrays how the upper class treated the lower class with such utter disdain. Furthermore, Estella demonstrates her self-centeredness by exhibiting no concern for the feelings of others. After many long years of loving Estella and doing everything to impress her, Pip finally works up the courage to confess his love to her. Instead of treating him with the benevolence and compassion he deserves, she reveals no emotion and lets him down. She explains to him, “you

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

However, when he approaches her and questions her motives, she explains that she attempts to capture the hearts of people when saying to Pip, “‘Yes, and many others,- all of them but you’” (183). Estella is misleading in multiple ways that become clear during their conversation. Firstly, time and time again throughout the novel she uses her words to assure Pip that she has no heart or feelings. In contrast, she shows signs of caring when trying to spare his heart by saying that she was trying to make all the men jealous except for him. Secondly, through her actions she misleads him before explaining that making him jealous was unintentional. She misleads Pip into becoming entranced by her as well as jealous of the other men close to her. Later on, Estella ensures Pip she did not mean for her behavior to affect him, but either way, she misleads him. Additionally, at the end of the story, Estella encounters Pip after many years without contact at the old home of the late Miss Havisham. No longer the vain young girl she once was, and after having

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

The expectations that cause Pip's character to become less likable are those that he develops after being introduced to Miss Havisham and Estella. During his first visit to the Satis House, Estella, who considers herself much too refined and well-bred to