Mrs. Havisham's House Symbolism

People treasure their houses and most often houses become homes filled with love. This makes it very difficult to leave their houses in which they have lived all their life. This happens to the elderly a lot when they can no longer take care of themselves and are forced to leave their homes and move to a nursing home. Houses can represent the family who lives in the house. If the house is poorly taken care of then the people poorly take care of themselves. If the house is beautiful with lovely blossoming gardens then they are compassionate loving people. Unless of course they hire someone to take care of the garden. Then they just appear to be loving, compassionate people. Really they are paying someone else to do the hard work
Dickens also supported the belief that houses represent people. In Great Expectations, Dickens used the houses of the characters to represent the state of the characters spiritually, physically, and emotionally. Mrs. Havisham has been frozen in time just like her house has been frozen in time for the past twenty years. "Mrs. Havisham's house of darkness, decay, and frozen time …. is a symbol of the spiritual condition of Mrs. Havisham. "(Miller 192) Dickens has been known for using houses as symbols of the characters that lives in the house. "Satis house is an elaborate example of a figurative technique constantly employed by Dickens: the use of houses to symbolize the state of the soul. "(Miller 191) Mrs. Havisham's house is called the "Satis House". It could also be called the Satisfied
Wemmick believes "office is one thing and private life is another." (Dickens 231) At the office Wemmick is stern, strict, and greedy for money. Wemmick's philosophy is "get hold of portable property" (Dickens 22) Wemmick at the office is described as having "glittering eyes-small, keen, and black-and thin wide mottled lips." (195 Great Expectations) Wemmick even tells Pip to keep his life at Walworth separated from his life at little Britain. This shows how important it is to Wemmick to keep business separated from private life. At the castle Wemmick is completely opposite. He begins his transformation from work life to private life when he crosses the draw bridge. Wemmick says "after I have crossed this bridge I hoist it up-so-and cut off communication," (Dickens 229) to the outside world and divulges himself in his own little castle world. "At the castle he is affectionate and gentle." (Hornback 226) Wemmick's chiseled face becomes soft and even has dimples. This shows Wemmicks change of heart from a cold heart at the office to a warm tender heart at his castle. "Wemmick's mouth is not a post-office when he is at home in his castle but only when he is at work in Jagger's London office, where a mechanical appearance of smiling is required of him." (Vanghent 181) Wemmick's castle has gothic architecture and lustrous gardens, which he tends to. Him living with aging and taking care