Who Is Miss Havisham

Heaven has no rage like love to hatred turned, Nor hell a fury like a woman scorned. -William Congreve.

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
in her tower by choice waiting for a price who left a long time ago. After Pip is brought to Ms. Havisham we learn that she is not fond of men, no matter who they are, if they are male she hates them. "Break his heart," she says to Estella over and over taking out her rage against men on poor little Pip pressing her idea of hating men into her ward, making this little girl carry out her personal vengeance. At the same time, Ms. Havisham does this in hopes of protecting Estella because she loves her like she is her own daughter and doesn't want to see her hurt in the same way. Rasing Estella to be proud, beautiful, passionate, headstrong like she once was to make her every man's dreams and hardening her heart so she will forever be unattainable. Ms. Havisham has become a corpse, a shell of a person. It's as if she is a broken rejected toy cast aside by some man who didn't want her and it has made her empty. Her story is one of tragedy and bitterness.