Revenge And Guilt In Great Expectations By Charles Dickens

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.

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

Miss Havisham also mocks the "angel in the house" in the way she raises Estella. Instead of teaching Estella to be loving and obedient, she teaches her coldness and hatred, planning to use her to seek revenge on all men. "With this boy? Why, he is a common labouring boy!" Estella says when Miss Havisham orders her to play cards with Pip. "Well! You can break his heart," Miss Havisham replies. She teases Pip by constantly pointing out Estella's

After being released from Ms. Havishams service, Pip becomes Joe’s apprentice. Four years into his apprenticeship, Pip is approached by a man who he vaguely remembers meeting once at the Satis House. This man is Jaggers, a lawyer, who proceeds to tell Pip that an anonymous benefactor has made Pip

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.

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.

    Miriam A felt completely choleric. She just could not forgive her husband's apologies anymore. Almon B was a drunkard. When he came home intoxicated, he was always extremely apologetic and told her that he'd never get drunk again. Miriam now knew that Almon was not really repentant. She could forgive him until she was blue, but unless Almon truly repented, their marriage would not work. Forgiveness is an important aspect in the family as well as in society, which is built on the family. In Charles Dickens' peerless novel called Great Expectations, many characters find it easy to pardon others, but some have to learn to forgive. Dickens uses the characters in his novel to

Furthermore, this means that Miss Havishams planned to manipulate Estella to make Pip Fall in love with her and break his heart. Alternatively, Miss Havisham wants to taunt Estella on how to break mens heart and chooses Pip as foundation to break his heart.

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

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

He gets apprenticed to Joe as a blacksmith and he hates it and he is still in love with Estella and he wishes he could wed her! Suddenly, a sketchy looking lawyer called Mr. Jaggers appears and tells Pip that a mysterious benefactor has given him tons of money. Pip selfishly abandons his job with Joe and moves to London assuming that his benefactor is Miss Havisham. Pip continues again on his deluded quest to become a gentlemen and woo Estella, despite her rejecting him over and over again! Pip meets several new characters in London such as his new best friend Matthew Pocket and his father, Herbert. He also meets a rival lawyer to Mr. Jaggers named Mr. Wemmick. Matthew and his father, alongside Wemmick and Jaggers, teach Pip how to be a gentlemen. Pip mostly succeeds but gets into some financial debts down the road. Pip becomes snobby and rude to Joe and his old

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

“I wanted to make Joe less ignorant and common, that he might be worthier of my society and less open to Estella’s reproach” (111). This quote shows how Pip’s need for Estella’s approval and affection outweighs his love for the man that raised him. The reader begins to understand from Pip’s statements that Pip has a skewed perception of which people are good to him and which are bad to him. Joe never hurts Pip in any way and Estella thrives on Pip’s pain. Yet, Pip chooses Estella over Joe. He does the same concerning Biddy. “Biddy was never insulting, or capricious, or Biddy to-day and somebody else to-morrow; she would have derived only pain, and no pleasure, from giving me pain; she would far rather have wounded her own breast than mine” (130). Even though Pip knows this about Biddy, he still yells at her, saying how envious she is of his fortune and rise in status (148). Biddy allows Pip to yell at her and even tells him that she will not let his hurtful words affect her view of him. Biddy really cares for Pip. Being away from Joe and Biddy just helped Pip forget about them more easily. The only time that the two of them even crossed his mind is when they would contact him. When Biddy writes a letter to Pip saying that Joe will be in town, she even reinforces how much she is sure that the gentleman Pip is not too prestigious for an old friend. Pip’s reaction says something else though. “Not with pleasure, though I was bound to him by so many

would be apprenticed to Joe as soon as I was old enough". What Pip did