Miss Havisham in Great Expectations

887 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Dickens treatment of women with great expectations

The renowned poet, Richard Lovelace, once wrote that "stone walls do not a prison make, nor iron bars a cage." Most people imagine a prison as a physical building or a jailhouse; however, it can also be a state of mind. A large number of people are imprisoned physically, mentally, and emotionally. Charles Dickens conveys this idea through many characters in his famous novel, Great Expectations; the most prominent being Miss Havisham, a bitter old woman whose life came to a standstill after she was abandoned by her lover on her wedding day. The novel is about a young, low-class boy named Pip, who becomes a gentleman, and through his journey realizes that no matter the course of events in his life, nothing could alter who he truly was inside. On the road to this insight, he meets many confined and imprisoned people; the first and most powerful of whom is Miss Havisham. Dickens explores the theme of imprisonment using Miss Havisham's home as a physical prison, her inability to let go of the past as a mental prison, and her hatred of men as an emotional prison.

After Miss Havisham is betrayed on her wedding day, she isolates herself from the outside world in her grand, unchanging manor, Satis House, with her adopted daughter, Estella. Estella acts as a bridge for Miss Havisham and the outside world. The house, in many ways, is comparable to an actual prison. When Pip initially arrives at Satis House, he is greeted by the young Estella, and notices the great front entrance had "two chains across it" (Dickens 51) as if preventing entry to and exit from the house. After entering the house through a side door, "the first thing [Pip] noticed was that the passages were all dark" (Dickens 51) and there was "no glimpse of dayl...

... middle of paper ...

... she is doing is cruel and continues to selfishly use Estella as a tool to break men’s hearts.

Being jilted at the altar on her wedding day, Miss Havisham plummets into a life of desolation, despair, and anger. Her suffering causes her to never leave her home and never interact with the outside world again, creating a physical prison. Her inability to let go of the past causes her to constantly remember her heartbreak, creating a mental prison. Lastly, her heartbreak causes her to develop a hatred of men which results in her using Estella to break men’s hearts just to please her, creating an emotional prison. Ultimately, Miss Havisham's imprisonment physically, mentally, and emotionally brings herself and the others around her much strife, pain, and suffering.

Works Cited

Dickens, Charles. Great Expectations. Ed. Edgar Rosenberg. New York: Norton, 1999.

Show More
Related

  • How Does The Satis House Influence Pip's Behavior

    292 Words  | 1 Pages

    As a young child living in England’s marshes, Pip was a humble, kind, and gentle character. He lived an impoverished life with his sister, Mrs. Joe, and her husband, Joe Gargery, the neighborhood blacksmith. Pip was grateful for everything he had, including his few possessions and his family’s care. When he was offered the chance to play at The Satis House, the home of the wealthy Miss Havisham, Pip went in order to make his family happy.

    Read More

  • Great Expectations: Miss Havisham

    1145 Words  | 3 Pages

    Acceptance and self-growth is necessary to reach closure in times of despair. However, if one were to stay in denial, the consequences of their actions could easily escalate to greater problems. In the novel, Great Expectations by Charles Dickens, Miss Havisham is a victim of such retributions. As an only child, Miss Havisham was a spoiled girl born into a wealthy household raised by a single father. When she came of age, Miss Havisham inherited all the money from his father’s fortune and fell in love with a man named Compeyson. Despite warnings of his swindling history, Miss Havisham proceeds to marry him. On the wedding day, he leaves her at the altar and takes all of her money with him. Miss Havisham suffers a mental breakdown

    Read More

  • Exploring the Characters of Havisham and Magwich in Dickens' Great Expectations

    1096 Words  | 3 Pages

    As well as this when we first meet Miss Havisham in chapter 8 she is described with a lengthy description also. Her appearance is described as skeleton like and decaying. She is trapped in a time warp due to her own accord, living in a neglected house in the same room at the exact same time as her soon to be husband competent left her, the misfortune of her neglection left her bitter and seemingly slightly twisted for example she wants Pip and Estella to “play”.

    Read More

  • Compare & Contrast 6 Poems

    1499 Words  | 3 Pages

    ‘Havisham’ is a poem about a woman (based on the character from Charles Dickens’ ‘Great Expectations’ of the same name) who lives alone, often confining herself to one room and wallowing in self-pity because she was apparently jilted at the alter by her scheming fiancé. ‘Havisham’ has been unable to move on from this trauma and is trapped in the past. Her isolation has caused her to become slightly mad.

    Read More

  • Miss Havisham Stagnation And Redemption

    1232 Words  | 3 Pages

    Miss Havisham “was dressed in rich material- satins, and lace, and silks,” which “had been white long ago, and had lost [its] luster, and [is] faded and yellow” (57,58). Miss Havisham’s “once white dress, all yellow and withered” drapes over her “ghastly waxwork” of “yellow skin and bone” (89,58,86). She is “a skeleton in the ashes of” “the frillings and trimmings on her bridal dress, [which] look like earthy paper” (58,60). Miss Havisham’s bridal dress swallows her withered figure, and she “[has] no brightness left but the brightness of her sunken eyes” (58). In agreement with Bert Hornbeck, a world class literary critic, the “white at first represented innocence and purity” just as a white wedding dress should, but the transition of the dress from white to yellow alludes to the “decay of innocence and purity” (216). Withered and worn like her clothes, Miss Havisham is burying herself alive by stopping time and hiding away in her house. Her yellow and tarnished bridal dress is like her burial outfit, her veil is like the shroud, and her house is like the dark casket. She has frozen time and is no longer living in her stagnant state. In her place of stagnation, she is eaten alive by the pain inflicted upon her by a man just as the mice have gnawed on the house and gnawed at her (Dickens 89). As portrayed through her

    Read More

  • Great Expectations Miss Havisham Quotes

    592 Words  | 2 Pages

    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

    Read More

  • Charles Dickens' Great Expectations

    606 Words  | 2 Pages

    taunts Pip and is very cruel to him, but he still falls in love with her. Miss Havisham is teaching Estella to

    Read More

  • Great Expectations: Changes in the Character of Pip

    895 Words  | 2 Pages

    Great Expectations, by Charles Dickens is a fascinating tale of love and fortune. The main character, Pip, is a dynamic character who undergoes many changes through the course of the book. Throughout this analysis the character, Pip will be identified and his gradual change through the story will be surveyed.

    Read More

  • The Theme of Imprisonment in Great Expectations

    1063 Words  | 3 Pages

    The renowned poet, Richard Lovelace, once wrote that "Stone walls do not a prison make, nor iron bars a cage." Although many think of a prison as a physical building or a jailhouse, it can also be a state of mind. A great number of people are imprisoned mentally and emotionally. Charles Dickens expresses this message in his eminent novel, Great Expectations. This book is about a simple laboring boy who grew into a gentleman, and slowly realized that no matter what happened in his life it couldn't change who he was on the inside. On the road to this revelation, Pip meets many incarcerated people. Through these people, Dickens delivers the message that people can be imprisoned mentally and emotionally, and only through love are they liberated.

    Read More

  • Dickens' Ideas On Gentility As Shown Through Great Expectations

    2132 Words  | 5 Pages

    and breeding, who did not necessarily posses the moral values and graces a true gentleman should have. After his initial visit to Satis House, Pip was infatuated by Estella’s beauty, wealth, and self importance. He allowed himself to be degraded by her scornful references to his "coarse hands", and "thick boots", not realizing at this point that these factors are unimportant on the route to becoming a true gentleman. At that very moment, he deludes himself into believing that if he were to meet Estella’s interpretations of gentlemanly conduct, that she would regard him as her equal. Unfortunately, he completely fails to recognize the true moral values present in Joe and Biddy, and is attracted instead by a fantasized version of Miss Havisham’s and Estella’s lifestyles. He sees his visit to Satis House as the first link in the long chain of events which will lead to his eventually becoming a gentleman.

    Read More

  • The Role of Women in Great Expectations

    2281 Words  | 5 Pages

    Charles Dickens was born on February 7, 1812, and died in 1870; Dickens was the most influential and popular English novelist, of the Victorian age. He is even considered the most popular novelist in 21st century. During Dickens lifetime, he became well known internationally for his extraordinary characters, his mastery of prose in telling their lives, and his portrayal of the social classes.

    Read More

  • Great Expectations: Use of Irony

    716 Words  | 2 Pages

    Dickens portrays Miss Havisham in a very unique way. There is a dramatic irony between Miss Havisham and Pip. It is ironic how she wanted to watch him become miserable, just because he is of the male gender, and ironically she grew to like him. She even paid for part of Pip's expenses for the partnership. Yet what is more ironic is that Miss Havisham does not praise herself for the good deed. In the beginning of the novel, Miss Havisham displayed a harsh, cold attitude toward Pip. This is displayed in her deceptive act on page 69, where she says, "Well, you can break his heart?" As the novel ends Miss Havisham's attitude completely changes. She realizes the pain she has caused Pip and apologizes to him. Because of her positive change, she becomes more likeable to the audience.

    Read More

  • Miss Havisham's Ambition In Great Expectations

    915 Words  | 2 Pages

    When Pip starts to regularly visit Miss. Havisham’s Satis House, he gradually apprehends how low his placement is in the social class. Miss. Havisham is a wealthy old lady out of touch with reality. She and her adopted daughter, Estella live in a mansion that is, theoretically, stopped in time. Estella is a beautiful girl, but don’t be fooled by the eye, beneath her beauty lies a terribly rude, cold-hearted monster raised to trick and manipulate the hearts of men. She victimized Pip, and constantly criticized him, making comments to attack and destruct Pip’s self-esteem. She sees him as nothing more than a common boy, and she takes pleasure in emotionally hurting Pip. “He calls the knaves, jacks this boy, and what coarse hands and thick boots” (63). Previously, Pip had thought everyone had called knaves jacks, but now that he...

    Read More

  • Every Rose Has Its Thorn

    1042 Words  | 3 Pages

    Adopted by Miss Havisham as a baby, Estella rises to a high social standing. Raised to be protected from Miss Havisham’s mistakes in love, she is trained to repress notions of romantic love. By “[stealing] her heart away and [putting] ice in its place,” Miss Havisham thus prevents Estella from gaining the ability to achieve true happiness in life. The true meaning and feeling of love is unknown to Estella. Condescension and insensibility to others is sowed into her being early on, and she only can become more incapable of loving as she matures. When Pip is hired to become her playmate, she revels in the opportunity to exercise her prowess. Encouraged by Miss Havisham, Estella hones her ability to break hearts with Pip, but he is only the first of the many destined to befall that fate.

    Read More

  • Great Expectations: Suffering

    748 Words  | 2 Pages

    Starting out straight from the beginning of Pip's life he is already in pain from losing his parents. He then must live with his older sister Ms.Joe who puts him through a great deal of torture during his childhood. Such as when he went to the graveyard without her approval, she filled his mouth with tarred water just to prove a point to him. Not only was it Ms.Joe though, but the convict as well who put the dark image in his head of the certain someone who would come to kill him if he didn't bring him what he wanted which Pip eventually could not stop being concerned about after he came back from the graveyard. Once Pip starts to visit Miss Havisham though it is obvious the way she has designed the Satis House is in such a low, dark, depressing emotion because of the experiences she's had to suffer during her past. Miss Havisham's suffering has defined her character though. "Miss Havisham herself, of course, is the big victim of the novel, abandoned on her wedding day ...

    Read More

More about Miss Havisham in Great Expectations

Open Document