August 21, 2001
Miss Havisham
A Victim or a Villain?
Was Miss Havisham a victim or a villain? This extremely eccentric character is absolutely essential to the plot of Great Expectations, for with malice intended, she greatly alters the paths of Pip's and Estella's lives, and with obsessive behavior destroys her own life.
Miss Havisham was heir to a fortune that had been gained by successful industry rather than noble birth. Miss Havisham's suitor, Compeyson, was, by social classification, beneath her. The fact that he jilted her and was of a lower station was a double blow to her obviously frail mental state. Dickens reminds us that even money earned by hard work rather than noble inheritance does not assure happiness.
With this catalytic event, Miss Havisham committed pseudo suicide and confined herself to a mausoleum...Satis House. It is necessary for the reader to know that Miss Havisham's psychotic behavior began precisely at 8:40 a.m. on what was to have been her wedding day. When Miss Havisham learned that she had been deserted by Compeyson, she was wearing just one shoe. "She had not quite finished dressing, for she had but one shoe on." Dickens is emphasizing how suspended in time Miss Havisham remains. It does not seem a stretch to believe that Dickens was showing us how all of humanity is just one step from insanity. Dickens described Miss Havisham's surroundings: the court-yard "but grass growing in every crevice," and the brewery "all was empty and disused." Metaphorically, the same words describe Miss Havisham and illustrate that a life of revenge is hollow and unattended.
The humiliation and hurt Miss Havisham suffers at the hand of Compeyson causes her to coach her adopted daughter, Estella, in the many ways to break a man's heart. Incapable of doing it herself from her weakened and aging position, she uses Estella as her weapon of revenge.
I am quite certain that Dickens arrived at Miss Havisham's name by implementing some combination of words that provided him with a metaphorical laugh. I have my own interpretation; Webster's Comprehensive Dictionary shares my guilt. One definition of "have" is ... "to cause." "Sham" is also defined as ... "something to be pretended other than it is." To cause a pretension is exactly what Miss Havisham did to Pip by allowing him to think she was his secret benefactor.
Miss Havisham was a victim only because she allowed herself to be. A strong person would have quickly realized that her life would be improved by being liberated from Compeyson, a white-collared criminal. Miss Havisham's villainy is forgivable; her self-imposed insanity allows us to do that. Miss Havisham is a marvelous diversion for the reader: not quite believable, but oh, so interesting.
You May Also Find These Documents Helpful
-
I believe that after she got Pip to forgive her, she felt that she was done with life and decided to end it. Dickens included it to almost show Miss Havisham as a dying ember, and she wanted to end her misery by lighting herself aflame. What I Don`t unterstand is why did Dickens let her live. I feel that she would be much happier by ending her life right there as opposed to liveing the erst of her short life in a vegetative bedridden state.…
- 493 Words
- 2 Pages
Satisfactory Essays -
These points show that Dickens is trying to show, through the characters in his book, that money can make a person do terrible things. He uses Pip as an example that even friendships that have have lasted since birth can be ruined by money changing who people are. He uses Miss Havisham to show that people can take advantage of you in relationships just to get all your money, and not to be completely blinded by love. These…
- 570 Words
- 3 Pages
Good Essays -
Earlier in the story when Miss Havisham's family is allowed into her home, there is a fire lit, but Dickens states “there is more smoke than fire and seems to make the room colder rather than warmer”. This is symbolic of Miss Havisham, allowing her family into her house but is not warm to them. She is not welcoming them, but tolerating them. She doesn’t really want them to visit, and she accepts them on false pretense because they come on false pretence. The family doesn’t really care for her, but are only concerned about getting their hands on her…
- 368 Words
- 2 Pages
Good Essays -
Great Expectations by Charles Dickens is a Bildungsroman and an autobiography of an orphan (Pip). Pip is a poor orphan who lives with his ill-tempered sister and her husband (Joe). After meeting Miss Havisham and her adopted daughter, Estella, as a sometime companion to them; Pip notices how poor people are looked down on by rich…
- 1631 Words
- 7 Pages
Powerful Essays -
Some things in the novel are confusing, like I’d like to know what happened to make Miss Havisham always wear a wedding dress. It does explain that she is heartbroken and having a mental breakdown, but it doesn’t go into detail about her past. In my opinion she was the most mysterious character in the book.…
- 481 Words
- 2 Pages
Good Essays -
Miss Havisham fell in love with a man from you lower class, then she was but on the day of their wedding her soon to be husband left at the alter. After that day she was extremely depressed and destroyed her on the inside. Miss Havisham decided to Adopt Estella to try and fill that hole in her heart. Miss Havisham raised Estella to talk harshly to all men and…
- 392 Words
- 2 Pages
Good Essays -
Miss Havisham was a crude, old, cold hearted woman, who brought even her daughter up to hate everything. Towards the end of the book, she did start to come around, and accept all the horrible things she had done. I think we tend to begin to like her at the end of the book, because she realizes what a horrible person she was all…
- 1651 Words
- 7 Pages
Good Essays -
Betrayed, broken hearted, and unable to move on from the past is how Miss Havisham first appears to us in Great Expectations. Although wealthy, immensely so, she is deeply unhappy proving that money did not buy her joy. Living in a large house with the ironic name of Satis House, barricaded by fences and walls, she leads a lonely life, one of nearly complete seclusion with her only company being her family whom she doesn't particularly care for. Despite this loneliness, Ms. Havisham prefers to be alone never accepting the company of others outside of her family, except for Pip. Miss Havisham is very much so like Rapunzel except she is locked…
- 317 Words
- 2 Pages
Satisfactory Essays -
Additionally, all of Miss Havisham’s clocks have been stopped at precisely 9:20, she has imprisoned herself in the past in a hypothetical manner. Being that 9:20 was when her fiancé left her at the altar. She’s painfully reminding herself of the moment of her heartbreak. Being stuck in this moment has trapped her emotionally so she can only feel that terrible depression from her heartbreak. In a way she’s frozen in the…
- 528 Words
- 3 Pages
Good Essays -
Even though both characters seem to have the same goal, they do not have the same motives. Miss Havisham seeks to hurt all men possible, out of rage, and need for revenge. Estella, on the other hand, being raised by Miss Havisham, knows to do nothing else but that. Miss Havisham seeks revenge because she has personally suffered, was to be married to a fine man who swindled some of her money, then left her at the altar. “ ‘The day came, but not the bridegroom.’ (Dickens 141)This is what drives Miss Havisham into wanting to hurt all men. Out of this spite comes Estella as we know her, brought up by Miss Havisham to revenge herself by hurting men. Unlike Miss Havisham, Estella has no control in what she gets to do with her life. What drives her to manipulate all men, is instead Miss Havisham’s anger and need for revenge, “Estella was set to wreak Miss Havisham’s revenge on men...” (237). Miss Havisham acts on personal grief, and hate whereas Estella acts on what she was taught.…
- 870 Words
- 4 Pages
Good Essays -
(Dickens 436) Estella was always extremely independent, and it would be extremely likely that Drummle was not able to assert his dominance over her. Estella was raised to be a heartbreaker by Miss Havisham, and was not prepared for the reality of marriage at the time. Drummle used her cruelly, implying that he physically abused her. This deeply upset Estella, as she is later described as losing happiness in her eyes. Estella has returned to the Havisham house, which is a shadow of its former glory, consisting of a garden wall, ivy, and mist.…
- 2480 Words
- 10 Pages
Powerful Essays -
From the kind and noble Joe, to the heart-breaking Estella, the idiosyncrasies that Dickens develops among his characters make them both enjoyable and memorable. Their personality, physical features, actions, and feelings all contribute to the lovable characters in Great Expectations. Estella, Miss Havisham, Wemmick, and Joe are produced from the many characteristics that make them pleasant and unforgettable. These characters are what makes this book so profound. They add to the excitement, suspense, care, and sadness of the story. The idiosyncrasies that Dickens gave these and the rest of the characters ensure that they will not be forgotten anytime soon.…
- 2396 Words
- 10 Pages
Better Essays -
Dickens’ depiction of young women and girls are identified through characters like Estella and Biddy. Estella, an adopted daughter of Miss Havisham, is extremely wealthy, prideful, ambitious and cold-hearted. Though Estella’s wealth seems to give her everything, she is not satisfied, and even claims that she “she has "no heart… no softness there, no—sympathy—sentiment—... ” (pg.186) Estella is manipulated by Miss Havisham to become the ideal girl for Miss Havisham. She has a very bold and strong character but is trapped within the confinements of Miss Havisham and society. She is regarded as a dark character, luring Pip and others into the Satis House and using him for her and Miss Havisham’s own entertainment. Biddy, who was “brought up by hand” by Mr. Wopsle’s great-aunt, is simple and kind-hearted. “She was not beautiful,—she was common, and could not be like Estella,—but she was pleasant and wholesome and sweet-tempered.” (pg. 107) Biddy and Pip are close in age and are able to get along well, due to the fact that they are both orphans.…
- 820 Words
- 4 Pages
Good Essays -
Which brings me to miss Havisham. The mad, wealthy, Miss Havisham. Havisham influenced Pip by using him to get some kind of revenge. Revenge on men, men in general. For instance when she urges Pip to love Estella. “Love her, love her, love her! If she favors you, love her, if she wounds you love her. If she tears your heart to pieces and as it gets older and stronger it will tear deeper. Love her, love her, love her!”… “Hear me, Pip! I adopted her to be loved. I bred her and educated her to be loved. I developed her into what she is, that she might be loved. Love her!” Furthermore she has influenced Pip when Pip was just a boy, he went to her rotting home there he saw what it was like to be rich, powerful. Such as in chapter eight. Miss Havisham is one character that had a lot of influenced on Mr. Pip.…
- 415 Words
- 2 Pages
Good Essays -
Miss Havisham is a creator because she uses Estella to carry out her own plans. For example, Miss Havisham trains Estella to be cold and heartless and to seek revenge on the male race. Since Miss Havisham was dumped on her wedding day, she has always hated the male race. She trained Estella from infancy to be cruel and heartless to all boys. In addition, Miss Havisham’s actions did not only destroy Estella’s conscience, but also did not help her in her revenge at all. Estella does not want to be cruel, but if you are raised to only know what is wrong to be right, you cannot help it. After seeing Pips true love for Estella, Miss Havisham realized that what she did was wrong and it did not benefit her in the long run. And through Miss Havisham’s actions, we can see that Estella has no heart and cannot love someone deeply, even if she tried. But as we see in the book, Pip learns to love Estella as she is. As we can see, Miss Havisham’s actions not only destroyed Estella’s conscience, but also destroyed herself too.…
- 508 Words
- 3 Pages
Good Essays