Theme of Revenge in Great Expectations

Miss Havisham’s Revenge

Although many aspects of revenge resemble the concept of justice, these choices do not only affect us as individuals, but everyone around us. In the novel, Great Expectations, Charles Dickens created the character Miss Havisham to portray the concept of revenge. Miss Havisham was left by her fiance at the altar, and from that moment on she devoted her life to make sure others felt her pain. She adopted a young girl named Estella and raised her to break men’s hearts. Unfortunately, one of the men was Pip. He fell in love with Estrella, but she looked down on him and made Pip lose respect for who he was and where he came from. This, however, motivated Pip to become a gentleman. Charles Dickens’ novel, Great Expectations, shows that Miss Havisham’s revenge is a motivating factor for both Pip and Estella in a positive and negative behaviors.

Miss Havisham adopted Estrella and raised her as product for her revenge. She converted Estella into a cold hearted women. Miss Havisham would tell Estrella "Break their hearts, my pride and hope, break their hearts and have no mercy!" (Dickens 94). Since Compeyson left her at the altar without a second thought, Miss Havisham decided to do the same. She never got over the heartbreak. She kept all her clocks twenty minutes to nine and wore her old and yellowing wedding dress everyday. Estrella did not know how to feel emotions because Miss Havisham "...stole her heart away and put ice in its place" (Dickens 401)". Since Estrella did not know what love was, she didn’t care about who she married as long as she was away from Miss Havisham. She eventually married Drummle, leading her into "...a most unhappy life, and as being separated from her husband, who had used her with great cruelty…"(Dickens 487). Estrella would have never married Drummle if it weren't for Miss Havisham. Overall, Miss Havisham motivated Estrella to make bad decisions just to get away from her and her revenge plan.

Although, Estrella suffered from Miss Havisham revenge, the main target was Pip. It starts out with making Pip suffer from the cruelty of Estrella. She would constantly put Pip down by saying "Why he is a common, labouring boy!" (Dickens 58). This made Pip hate the way he grew up, and want to be of a higher social class. When Pip was told he was to become a gentleman, he thought his secret benefactor was Miss Havisham. She, however, never tried to help him, she only led him on: "But when I fell into the mistake I have so long remained in, at least you led me on?" (Dickens 360). Pip thought she was trying to help him become someone better for Estrella. It was all part of her revenge towards men. When Pip found out that his benefactor was Magwitch, he was heartbroken. Pip realized "But, sharpest and deepest pain of all--it was for the convict, guilty of I knew not what crimes, and liable to be taken out of those rooms where I sat thinking, and hanged at the Old Bailey door, that I had deserted Joe." (Dickens 324). He was never going to be with Estrella’s and that it was a mistake for him to be ungrateful toward Joe for being a common person. He had turned his back on everything that made him happy. After all the damage was done Miss Havisham realized what she had done was wrong and asked for his forgiveness.

Miss Havisham and others suffered their whole lives because of her quest for revenge. She did not know what she was doing greatly affected Pip and Estella. She noticed instead of having any revenge accomplishment, she just caused more pain. Miss Havisham begs Pip for forgiveness because she caused him to make decisions that eventually made him unhappy. Although, what Miss Havisham did was unjust, some good came out of it. Estrella lived a luxurious life. She would have died if it were not for Miss Havisham. Pip became a true gentleman when he forgave her because thats shows how far Pip has gone and how much he has his maturity. However, at the end of the day, Miss Havisham’s revenge caused Pip and Estella to make bad decisions, which changed their lives for the worst.