How Does Estella Change Throughout The Novel

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Recommended: Critical analysis of the novel Great Expectations by Charles Dickens

In life, there is cause and effect. That is well displayed in the novel, Great Expectations, written by Charles Dickens, as one reason leads to one event. Pip, the main protagonist of this novel, suddenly starts living a prosperous life, after his long poverty. Through the process of becoming a gentleman, he falls in love with the character Estella. She becomes a motivation for his hopes of becoming a better gentleman, therefore being the cause. Estella doesn’t pop up many times in the story, but is a really important character in shaping the plot of the story. Through the story we are able to identify a few of her characteristics such as cold hearted, proud, and strong. When Pip first met Estella, he viewed her as extremely beautiful but very cold hearted; scornful. However, this can later be evaluated as a teachings from Mrs. Havisham. Mrs Havisham taught her to be able to break the hearts of men through the reason that she had pain with men in her own experience. Therefore, she deals with people very coldly in her normal life. It can clearly be seen that Pip begins falling in love with a woman that hasn’t even looked at him as …show more content…

Pip mentions this himself when he first encounters her at Mrs. Havisham’s house. “returned the young lady, who was very pretty and seemed very proud,” (Dickens, ch 8) As another example, Estella clearly displayed confidence as she was able to talk back to Mrs. Havisham. When the three of them got together once more, Estella goes back at Mrs. Havisham saying that she had created her. She ends up blaming her cold heart on Mrs Havisham. “she had not been given love, and what she possesses is freely hers [Miss Havisham], and she has nothing” at the Satis house (Estella, 38). This characteristic is significant as it helps Mrs. Havisham realize what problem she had created under her own misery. Also, the confidence leads to the feelings Pip forms for

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