Great Expectations Thesis Essay Example
Ashley Harsanyi
Mrs. Meagher-DiEllo
Period 4B
5 April 2013
Imprisonment in Great Expectations.
Charles Dickens used Miss Havisham as a symbol of hypothetical imprisonment. Miss Havisham; although not being physically imprisoned as Abel Magwitch, was a strong representation of a mental imprisonment. She was never told to stay locked up in her house rotting away and tormenting herself for years without any human interaction besides that of her step-daughter Estella and eventually Pip. She not only physically imprisons herself but mentally she imprisons her mind into the state of being that all men must suffer, not only trapping herself into an unstable mind set but trapping her daughter as well. First and foremost the obvious physical imprisonment, she stays in her house locked in with her wedding memories: being the “guilt of the crime”. Miss Havisham sits alone in her house staring at these wedding items that any sane women would have ripped up and destroyed in moments. She’s just simmering in her despair. Miss Havisham’s heartache is what keeps her in her mansion: the “guards of the prison”. She lays alone because of the pain she’s feeling. She’s unable to escape from the pain and hypothetically “the guards.” Finally Estella: “The sentencing of the crime.” Miss Havisham raised Estella to hate men and crush their hearts, in the end Estella crushed Pip’s heart and Miss Havisham couldn’t believe what a monster she had created. Miss Havisham had to deal with the fact that now she was the monstrous heartless man that once broke her heart. 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
Mrs. Meagher-DiEllo
Period 4B
5 April 2013
Imprisonment in Great Expectations.
Charles Dickens used Miss Havisham as a symbol of hypothetical imprisonment. Miss Havisham; although not being physically imprisoned as Abel Magwitch, was a strong representation of a mental imprisonment. She was never told to stay locked up in her house rotting away and tormenting herself for years without any human interaction besides that of her step-daughter Estella and eventually Pip. She not only physically imprisons herself but mentally she imprisons her mind into the state of being that all men must suffer, not only trapping herself into an unstable mind set but trapping her daughter as well. First and foremost the obvious physical imprisonment, she stays in her house locked in with her wedding memories: being the “guilt of the crime”. Miss Havisham sits alone in her house staring at these wedding items that any sane women would have ripped up and destroyed in moments. She’s just simmering in her despair. Miss Havisham’s heartache is what keeps her in her mansion: the “guards of the prison”. She lays alone because of the pain she’s feeling. She’s unable to escape from the pain and hypothetically “the guards.” Finally Estella: “The sentencing of the crime.” Miss Havisham raised Estella to hate men and crush their hearts, in the end Estella crushed Pip’s heart and Miss Havisham couldn’t believe what a monster she had created. Miss Havisham had to deal with the fact that now she was the monstrous heartless man that once broke her heart. 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