Great Expectations by Charles Dickens

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Recommended: The theme of childhood in great expectations

Character Information: Pip- Pip is the protagonist and the narrator of Great Expectations. Pip wants the best in life. The entire novel is him seeking his “Great Expectations”. Pip is very passionate and has a great conscience. The entirety of the novel is him wants to improve himself. Pip is the reason that his novel is a bildungsroman. Once he learned all the lessons he needed to in the novel he fully matured. Many of the events that happened to Pip are a representation of what happened to Dickens in his early life. Apart from David Copperfield, Great Expectations is his most autobiographical novel. Estella- Estella is Miss Havisham’s daughter. She is said to be very beautiful and cold hearted. She is raised by Miss Havisham to do one thing, use and break men’s hearts. Pip is in love with her but she is uninterested in him. She warns him that she has no heart. Miss Havisham essentially ruined her life. Although she is in the upper class, she has not emotion and is the shell of a person. She could have been better off if Magwitch raised her in the lower class. Miss Havisham- Miss Havisham is Estella’s adopted mother. Her entire life revolves around being left by Compeyson on their wedding day. She wears her wedding dress every day and all her clocks are stopped on the time she received the letter. She raises Estella as her own personal weapon to get revenge on all men. She never wants to get over her heart break; she has Estella continue it on. Everyone in her life suffers because of Compeyson’s actions. At the end of the novel she begs Pip for his forgiveness, showing once again the novels theme that bad behavior can be redeemed. Magwitch- A criminal who has Pip rob his family for him in the beginning in the novel. He gets se... ... middle of paper ... ...ions” to change. Works Cited Barickman, Richard, Susan MacDonald, and Myra Stark. “Dickens." In Corrupt Relations: Dickens, Thakeray, Trollope, Collins, and the Victorian Sexual System. New York: Columbia University Press, 1982, 59-110. Dickens, Charles. Great Expectations. Ed. Radhika Jones. New York: Barnes & Noble, 2003. Print. Hobsbaum, Philip. A Reader's Guide to Charles Dickens. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1973. A Reader's Guide to Charles Dickens. Google Books. Web. 25 Jan. 2014. Lii, Thereaa. "Defining Characters by Their Chosen Environment." Defining Characters by Their Chosen Environment. Brown University, 23 Feb. 2008. Web. 25 Jan. 2014. Weiss, Zoe. "Seeing Double, Double Seeing: The Use of Doubles in Great Expectations." Seeing Double, Double Seeing: The Use of Doubles in Great Expectations. Brown University, 18 Feb. 2008. Web. 25 Jan. 2014.

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  • Great Expectations Miss Havisham Quotes

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    She has taken Estella under her wing and raised her to be a heartbreaker. She even says in the novel, “Break their hearts, my pride and hope…have no mercy!” Miss Havisham clearly lives vicariously through Estella and enjoys seeing Pip struggle to win Estella over. Furthermore, Miss Havisham continuously brings up the topic of her heartbreak and rancor at men. She states, “…when they lay me dead…will be the finished curse upon him…” She hopes to have one last piece of her vindictiveness rest upon the man who left her at the altar. Moreover, Miss Havisham also makes Pip put his hand on her heart at one point in the story. When he does so, she simply tells him that it is “broken.” Similarly, Miss Havisham also tells Pip, “…this heap of decay…The mice have gnawed at it, and sharper teeth than teeth of mice have gnawed at me.” This demonstrates the idea that Miss Havisham is still heartbroken and apoplectic over her being “jilted.” She routinely proclaims how her heart is broken, which in turn paves the way for her acrimony to set in, which then results in her creating taunting Estella as her last revenge on all young men who vie for the affection of

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  • Miss Havisham Quotes

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    In the story, Miss Havisham tells Estella to “break their hearts and have no mercy.” The livid hatred Miss Havisham has against humanity results from decades of denial in accumulating bitterness. Hatred is a veil that entraps Miss Havisham in a cyclical path where she chases mirages of revenge against all men through Estella, effectively locking her out of redemption. In the story, Miss Havisham tells Pip that he “set his own traps, not [her]” after Pip asks for her why she planned to hurt him. Miss Havisham is fully aware of her duplicitous schemes to break Pip’s heart, however she reacts with glee in Pip’s pain. Her neglect to correct her wrongs and happiness of exacting revenge enforces her stagnant personality of an evil witch. After seeing the monster in her other puppet, Estella, Miss Havisham says “Estella, to be proud and hard to me!” Miss Havisham shows no remorse in destroying Estella, rather feels pity in herself for being hurt. Despite having both of her creations being reflected upon her, Miss Havisham refuses to contemplate her wrong actions, illustrating her role of being sheer evil. Greed and hate are ingrained traits in Miss Havisham that cause her to be a static

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  • How Does Miss Havisham Influence Estella's Character

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    Estella is Miss Havisham’s puppet because she has no control over her life. Miss Havisham devoted a period in her life to raising Estella to be exactly who she wanted her to be. Miss Havisham made Estella into a heartless doll of her creation. Miss Havisham told Estella to be especially cruel to Pip. Estella shows non-sentimental emotions toward Pip. She tells him she doesn't remember anything from their childhood. This showed Pip that Estella did not care enough about him to reflect on the times that they had spent together. Miss Havisham's bleakness made Estella a terrible person. Miss Havisham taught her student to break hearts, so she hurt Pip because he loved her. Furthermore, her groom abandoned Miss Havisham on her wedding day. Miss

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  • Mad, Vengeful Miss Havisham

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    ... discontinued her life and this is mainly represented by the clocks and watches in her house stopping at twenty to nine. She has raised Estella to hate men and break their hearts just as her future husband had the day of her wedding. Miss Havisham’s function in the story is to create a source of fear and as Pip visited her house, her character was created

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  • How Does Dickens Use Revenge In Great Expectations

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    To start off Miss Havisham is an old woman whose heart was broken on her wedding day. Basically she uses her revenge on all men to get their hearts broken, just to feel better for herself. In order to complete that revenge Miss Havisham adopted and raised Estella to use her to get her revenge on men. She starts off with Pip. Miss Havisham tells Estella to be mean to Pip, and

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  • How does Charles Dickens create character and setting in the chapter 1 & 8 of Great Expectations.

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    ...hat all un-married women were useless because they weren’t going to have children and they were built to reproduce. Miss Havishams appearance suggest that she is a virgin since she is all in “white” and was going to get married, but her fiancé stood her up, and since then she has wore her white wedding dress, and never saw day light and abhorrence all men and tried to make Estella despise men.

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  • Miss Havisham Analysis

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    In Charles Dickens’s novel Great Expectations, two minor characters stand out as cornerstones to understand the main character Pip Gargery. The convict, a mysterious prisoner encountered by Pip in the first chapter of the novel, and Miss Havisham, a demented lady who invites Pip to play in her vast manor in chapter eight. Both of these have mysterious background and are very important in displaying motifs, developing theme, and helping our understanding of Pip the main character.

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  • Miss Havisham Quotes

    1080 Words  | 3 Pages

    Miss Havisham is someone in teaches how a person can affect others by their actions. Miss Havisham is always in Estella’s life because she brings Estella up by herself. The way Miss Havisham acts is the way Estella will see and act similarly. The saying of “monkey see monkey do” is similar to Miss Havisham and Estella. Estella is the “monkey” and she sees Miss Havisham act one way so she copies it. Miss Havisham makes Estella into who she is now: cold, heartless and cruel towards others.

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  • Pip's Development Through Character Interactions

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    Throughout Dickens’ novel Great Expectations, the character, personality, and social beliefs of Pip undergo complete transformations as he interacts with an ever-changing pool of characters presented in the book. Pip’s moral values remain more or less constant at the beginning and the end; however, it is evident that in the time between, the years of his maturation and coming of adulthood, he is fledgling to find his place in society. Although Pip is influenced by many characters throughout the novel, his two most influential role models are: Estella, the object of Miss Havisham’s revenge against men, and Magwitch, the benevolent convict. Exposing himself to such diverse characters Pip has to learn to discern right from wrong and chose role models who are worthy of the title.

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  • Great Expectations Character Analysis

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    “Great Expectations” is a general interpretation of Charles Dickens childhood. Narrated by Pip who is of the lower class and was expected, at first to be a blacksmith, until a secret benefactor had supplied Pip with money to become a gentleman in London. There are always two sides to every story in “Great Expectations”. Pip 's life and character is developed in positive and negative ways through Joe and his benefactor, Abel Magwitch.

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  • Miss Havisham In Great Expectations

    481 Words  | 1 Pages

    Miss Havisham's has what can only be called a grotesque fetish towards women who hurt men, this is due to her herself being broken by a man. Pip detects Miss Havisham's strange desire to have Estella constantly mentally & emotionally abuse him very early on, however when Estella treats Havisham coldly as well, she goes ballistic. The confrontation addresses the elephant in the room, Estella's mounting cruelty towards people. Estella declares that her "mother by adoption" has made her cruel and incapable of love. In response Miss Havisham claims that Estella is being "proud" or "hard," Estella responds by saying, "Who taught me to be hard?" Estella had not chosen the life thrust upon her by her bitter caretaker but after the confrontation she has embraced as her own and even perfected it.

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  • Book Report on Great Expectations

    1697 Words  | 4 Pages

    There are so many important characters in this book that it would take me longer to describe the characters and there importance than it would to summarize the book. So I will keep it to a minimum with just a few crucial people. First there is Pip he is the main character in this book. When he was very young his parents died and know he is raised by his sister and her husband Joe Pip is a very innocent and caring person who wants to have a greater fate than the one presently owned. But is burdened by the fact that he lives in poverty. Next there is Mrs. Joe who raised Pip but is very mean to him and controlling of everyone in her house. Then Joe he is the person that gives Pip help. They play games and explain a lot of things to Pip he is about the only nice person in Pips life. Mrs. Havasham she lets Pip come over to her house and is very wealthy and the people around him think that she will raise him to be a gentleman. But hates men and never changes out of her wedding dress. She also has a daughter named Estella that was adopted and is very beautiful. But is being raised to hate men as well and is using her looks to break there hearts. Magwitch escapes from prison at the beginning of Great Expectations and terrorizes Pip in the cemetery. But out of Kindness Pip still bring the man what he asks for. Pip's kindness, however, makes a deep impression on him, and he subsequently devotes himself to making a fortune and using it to elevate Pip into a higher social class. Herbert pocket who is a good friend of Pip's and gives him advice throughout the book.

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  • The Bildungsroman and Pip's Great Expectations

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    On the surface, Great Expectations appears to be simply the story of Pip from his early childhood to his early adulthood, and a recollection of the events and people that Pip encounters throughout his life. In other words, it is a well written story of a young man's life growing up in England in the early nineteenth century. At first glance, it may appear this way, an interesting narrative of youth, love, success and failure, all of which are the makings of an entertaining novel. However, Great Expectations is much more. Pip's story is not simply a recollection of the events of his past. The recollection of his past is important in that it is essential in his development throughout the novel, until the very end. The experiences that Pip has as a young boy are important in his maturation into young adulthood.

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  • Great Expectations Lying

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    With the opportunities that came with her enormous wealth, Miss Havisham abused her power and broke poor Pip’s heart, merely because she found similarities between him and a commoner of her past, Compeyson, who hurt her. She oppressed Pip’s feelings by training Estella to “break [his] heart and have no mercy” (Dickens 58). Throughout Pip’s life, he continued to love Estella against reason, even “if she [favored him]...If she [wounded him]...If she [tore his] heart to pieces” (127). Along with Pip’s growing affection for Estella, Miss Havisham continuously crushed Pip’s spirit. Miss Havisham made sure to shatter Pip’s dreams of

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  • Pip's Education

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    As a bildungsroman, Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations presents the growth and development of Philip Pirrip, better known as Pip. Pip is both the main character in the story and the narrator, telling his tale many years after the events take place. Pip goes from being a young boy living in poverty in the marsh country of Kent, to being a gentleman of high status in London. Pip’s growth and maturation in Great Expectations lead him to realize that social status is in no way related to one’s real character.

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