Miss Havisham

Synopsis of Great Expectations

Set in the Marshes of Kent, Pip is a young orphan who lives with his older sister and her husband. When Pip visits his parents tombstone he suddenly gets grabbed by an escaped convict who orders him to bring food and a file for his leg iron after Pip informs him his brother in law, Joe, is a blacksmith. Pip does as he is told but the convict is soon captured, however the convict protects the boy by saying he stole the items himself. The wealthy Miss Havisham asks for Pip to come to their house to play with her adopted daughter Estella. Miss Havisham wears a old wedding dress after being jilted on her wedding day, her house is like time stopped, everything exactly the same as that day and even the clocks are stopped on the time, twenty minutes to nine. Although Estella is cold toward Pip, he falls in love and dreams of becoming a wealthy gentleman to be worthy. The story follows Pips attempts to change himself and to change Estella’s feelings for him.  

Miss Havisham Novel Adaptation

Miss Havisham is one of the deepest and most intriguing characters from the book. She is a secluded woman who uses her pain and anger from being jilted on her wedding day to determine her and her adopted daughters life. She holds this rage toward all men and teaches her daughter Estella to do the same. As well as her feelings it affected her appearance and the appearance of where she lives. It’s like times stopped in her manor, with webs and dust piling on her belongings.

When pip describes her look he talks about what she wears in detail such as “She was dressed in rich materials—satins, and lace, and silks---all of white. Her shoes were white. And she had a long white veil dependent from her hair, and she had bridal flowers in her hair, but her hair was white. Some bright jewels sparkled on her neck and on her hands, and some other jewels lay sparkling on the table…” he goes on to explain that she is only wearing one shoe, as if she hasn’t yet finished getting ready. This indicates to me that the character wasn’t even fully dressed when she discovered her fate, and that is when her life all changed. The fact that she has stayed in her exact clothing makes me feel sympathy for the character, as this event clearly destroyed her. Although further along in the book I start to question my feelings towards the character, I feel that her life is very tragic and that this should be taken into consideration when I create my character.  He goes on to explain that “everything within my view which ought to be white, had been white long ago, and had lost its lustre, and was faded and yellow.” This gives me an idea of how far along it is when Pip meets her, and I really want to consider whether I want to look at her more during this time or consider her in the past. Her figure was described as “…shrunk to skin and bone…” which shows she doesn’t look after herself. I really want to look more into what would of happened to Miss Havishams health and looks during this time to understand the character more.

In later descriptions in chapter 11 Pip describes her as “…the Witch of the place.” To get an idea of what she looked like I think I may look into what witches looked like in these times, just to give me another styling angle. Throughout the novel the character becomes more and more desperate and shrivelled, especially by chapter 38, where Estella becomes bitter on her up bringing. In her introductory description Pip describes the arrival of himself and Estella at Satis House. “She was even more dreadfully fond of Estella than she had been when I last saw them together; I repeat the word advisedly, for there was something positively dreadful in the energy of her looks and embraces. She hung upon Estella’s beauty, hung upon her words, hung upon her gestures, and sat mumbling her own trembling fingers while she looked at her, as though she were devouring the beautiful creature she had reared.” Miss Havisham is so reliant on this hatred against men that she is obsessed with her creation, Estella. After their dispute on what Miss Havisham has made Estella, all becomes normal again, however Pip describes Miss Havisham’s manners towards Estella “to have something like fear infused among its former characteristics.”

On our final meeting with Miss Havisham my opinion is once again changed. She is no longer this evil woman who is punishing the protagonist, she is this lonely, damaged ghost of who she once was. Pip describes her as he walks into the room… “there was an air of utter loneliness upon her…” as the conversation goes on so does her desperation and she begins to break down. Pip carries on “…in shutting out the light of day, she had shut out infinitely more; that, in seclusion, she had secluded herself from a thousand natural and healing influences; that, her mind, brooding solitary, had grown diseased, as all minds do and must and will that reverse the appointed order of their Maker; I knew equally well.” He carries on saying “…seeing her punishment in the ruin she was…” I imagine she looks broken, with no life left to live.

Reference:

Dickens, C (1996). Great Expectations. Strand, London, Penguin Classics