The theme of isolation in "Great Expectations" through Miss Havisham.

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

‘Miss Havisham’ is a bitter and twisted character from the novel ‘Great Expectations’ by Charles Dickens. Carol Ann Duffy takes this character and explores her tragic life in the poem ‘Havisham’. Duffy uses Dark themes, structure, symbolism and other poetic techniques to express Havisham’s hatred for men after her tragic wedding when she was rejected by her fiancé. Duffy’s use of these poetic techniques create a sinister character and makes Havisham feel real to the reader.

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

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

As if a ghost flew by, the woman was no longer her former self. She shielded herself with the snow, almost vanishing out of existence with no trace left behind. The woman was strange according to Charles Dickens. Yet only a few years later the white woman would inspire the character Miss Havisham. Miss Havisham is from a book called Great Expectations, the book was written by Charles Dickens during the Victorian era. In addition the book has many intriguing characters with their own intricate backstories. Character like Miss Havisham, Pip, and Magwitch. Each one of them are imprisoned by previous actions accompaned with mistakes.

Charles Dickens was born February 7th, 1812 in Portsmouth, England. He is famous for writing in the victorian era. Where life was changing quickly, and too quickly for many families making them poor. He was born into a very poor family, and as he was growing up his family's need for money grew higher and higher. This lifestyle acts upon his writing a lot as many stories he makes has many poor families, like Tiny Tim in The Christmas Carol, the whole novel Oliver Twist. With a bad family income, Dickens had

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 is an example of a single minded vengeful woman whose life consisted of being cold hearted with a grudge against all men. Dickens could have been drawing a comparison between the destructive nature of fire to Miss Havisham’s cold cruel mind.Another twist could be Dickens use the fire to also represent the real effect of the warmth from fire, she was always cold towards the few people that entered her gates. Fire is reluctant, as Miss Havisham is reluctant to have people in her home. Though they were allowed she was not at all warm towards them, accepted them under false

The fire at Miss Havisham's house was a very tragic event. This event was caused by her own doing when she got carelessly close to the fireplace and her dress caught on fire. Dickens included this situation in his book for the purpose of shock value and to surprise readers. The purpose of this tragic event was to symbolize the end of Miss Havisham's manipulation and deceit. Now to go into more detail I have included the topics in this paragraphs of their own.

In my opinion she was feed up of her life. For example in chapter 49 of Great Expectations Miss Havishmas called Pip for some Business. When Pip went to her house it was different she just wanted to say sorry to Pip after whatever she did to him and Estella. She might be fed up of her life because she was always wrong all the men are not the Same as she thought they all were the same. She separated two people who loved each other so much. That can also be the reason why she was fed up of her life maybe they were the regrets that she had to

In the book Great Expectations, the story is about how a young orphan boy named Pip starts out homeless and poor and shows how his life gradually got better and he became rich in the end with the help of anonymous benefactors. Pip lived his whole life believing that Miss Havisham was his benefactor, when she really wasn’t. Miss Havisham played a huge part in this story, she practically raised Pip since he was a little boy and she stayed in the story until the end. She helped him in many ways but also breaks his heart by using her adopted daughter Estella. Estella is Pips crush whom he falls in love with and spends his whole life trying to get with but never does because she was raised not to love because of Miss Havisham’s bad experience with

The poem is written in free verse, in that it has no regular pattern of metre or rhyme but is arranged in four stanzas of equal lengths. This suggests there is some control of the speaker’s voice, undermining the madness in which the character symbolises. Proposing that she is no longer labelled as being Dickens' 'Miss' Havisham, but as self-improved 'Havisham', a figure liberated from humiliation of her unmarried

Miss Havisham is “royalty” to the middle and lower class because social class is a big theme of this novel. She is very wealthy because of her father and lives in the Satis house along with her adopted daughter, named Estella. She wears all white and an old wedding dress that is not white anymore but faded and yellow. Pip had looked very frightened when he first seen her so she said, “You are not afraid of a woman who has never seen the sun since you were born.” (Dickens 72) She is very unusual, insane, and seems like she doesn’t get over things since she wears a wedding

The use of Contrast was also seen in Dicken’s novel, but in a different way. He uses two characters to contrast each other, Estella Havisham and Biddy. Through these characters we get a glimpse of the different statuses or levels in society. Estella is a rich heiress and adoptive daughter of Miss Havisham. Biddy is an intelligent, kind woman who was raised to be a respectful young lady. It almost seems like she is the anti-Estella. Estella is rich,she’s poor. Biddy is pleasant, attentive and sweet while Estalla is neither of those. Estella was raised by a woman who was at the end of her rope, leading to her corruption. She is brought up to be cold hearted and a heart breaker. Dickens uses these characters to show status and how the environment

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