Miss Havisham Mood Board

I created a mood board incorporating everything that I have learnt about Miss Havisham which will help me when creating my own version of the character. I took into consideration her health, her skin and hair, mannerism, clothing and the Victorian ideal. Finally I looked at how other make up artists have interpreted the character and took inspiration from what I liked. With this I can then decide on a design for Miss Havisham. 

The effects on Miss Havishams Skin and Hair

When Miss Havisham was jilted a lot of this changed for her. She stopped eating and washing regularly, she never left the house and with all this her body was aging. Therefore there would be a lot of changes to her body, her skin and her health that need to be considered when creating this character.

One of the main issues that Miss Havisham would have is lack of eating as this can really effect the body. As your metabolism slows down the body will become tired. The body will have a lock of calories, making their bones and muscles weaker. They would also be malnourished which is a lack of nutrients that the body find necessary to grow. There can be different forms of malnutrition which are certain types of nutritional deficiencies. The most common being an iron deficiency but also include vitamin A, Zinc and other nutrients. There are many signs and symptoms of someone who is malnourished. This includes; Fatigue, dizziness, poor immune system, dry/scaly skin, swollen and bleeding gums, decaying teeth, slow reactions, underweight, poor growth, muscle weakness, bloated stomach, easily breakable bones, problems with organ functions and learning. Miss Havisham would have had many of these symptoms, some that I want to concentrate on in particular is the dry/scaly skin and her being very underweight.  I could achieve this by contouring the face in places such as the hollows of the cheek, the temples, the ridge of the nose and her neck and collar bones. To create the wrinkled effect I have learnt to use a product called old age stipple.

Fashions Fun editor. (No Date). Old Women Hairstyle For Thin Hair .Available: http://fashionsfun.blogspot.co.uk/2014/11/old-women-hairstyle-for-thin-hair.html. Last accessed 19th February 2015.

Without sunlight our body can not obtain the Vitamin D that is necessary to survive. In a study made in June 2007 it was discovered that not enough sunlight increases the risk of cancer by up to 70%. This is because Vitamin D supports the immune system while keeping the bones strong and healthy by maintaining normal blood levels of calcium and phosphorus. It is also necessary for vital production of various hormones and neurotransmitters. This can be found in food but is mostly acquired from the ultraviolet rays of the sun. When there is a shortage of Vitamin D bones become thin, soft, brittle and misshapen. This is probably one of the reasons Miss Havisham is described as frail. Other conditions associated with a lack of sunlight include alzheimers, arthritis, diabetes, heart disease, parkinsons etc. The one that most likely links to Miss Havisham would be depression as she is obviously unstable due to being jilted on her wedding day. The obvious effect on the skin would be that there would be a pale complexion.

Dias, J. (6/01/12). Shocking Proof that No Sunlight Makes You Age Prematurely. Available: http://gizmodo.com/5914862/shocking-proof-of-how-the-sun-makes-you-age-prematurely. Last accessed 19th February 2015.

Not washing has many disadvantages to different parts of your body including the hair, skin, nails and teeth. With the hair one of the main difference without brushing it would be it would become messy and knotty. Although the natural oils in the hair would begin to clean themselves, when left for a long amount of time the hair could start to get greasy. Without the necessary moisture the hair would become thin and weak so I think Miss Havisham's hair would look quite damaged, and maybe even greying at the roots.

The body would start to smell as you wouldn’t be washing away the sweat. Also by not giving your skin the moisture it needs it would start to get dry and begin to peel. This can also effect the ageing of the skin and create premature wrinkles. The areas prone to drying include the knees, elbows, lips and nose.  As well as the obvious visual effects there is health problems involved with not washing. The skin is covered in bacteria, viruses, pollutants and dirt. An oil called sebum mixes with sweat and dead skin cells to create a barrier on the skins surface that collects the external dirt. When this builds up a blockage occurs and the oils underneath will keep pushing up until it creates a breakout of blemishes. This includes forms of acne, blotchy skin, redness and irritation. If the skin is irritated enough to become itchy then the skin can become broken and infected, much like the BBC’s version of Miss Havisham who as a nervous cut on her hand.

Without proper care the nails can become discoloured and weak therefore start to crack. Teeth would start to have a build up of plaque and become discoloured. In worse cases they could start to loose their teeth or need fillings.

Courtenay-Smith, N. (26 August 2007). Six weeks without a wash: The soapless experiment. Available: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-477378/Six-weeks-wash-The-soapless-experiment.html. Last accessed 19th February 2015.

Finally one of the main changes to Miss Havishams skin would be the effects of aging. How your skin ages is effected by the lifestyle you lead, for instance stress, cleanliness, gravity and pollution. Things start to naturally change about our skin, it becomes rougher and slack, which is when skin looses its elasticity and starts to hang. It also starts to get thinner and therefore more fragile. Blood vessels thin at the walls so its common to see broken veins on the skin. The face can become more skeleton like as it looses fat and the eyes sink. Gravity sinks the face so skin starts to droop such as the eyebrows and eyelids. The most obvious is the visibility of the facial movement lines also known as wrinkles that can be seen on the forehead, round the eyes and nose, around the cheek and mouth area and on the temples.

Thomas, I. (No Date). Exoderm Peel and Lift. Available: http://www.ivanthomasmd.com/exoderm_Youthful.asp. Last accessed 19th February 2015.

Reference:

Oz, M . (No Date ). What happens if I don’t eat enough?. Available: http://www.sharecare.com/health/nutrition-diet/what-happens-dont-eat-enough. Last accessed 19th February 2015.

Teens health editors. (No Date ). Hunger and Malnutrition. Available: http://kidshealth.org/teen/food_fitness/nutrition/hunger.html#. Last accessed 19th February 2015.

Skae, T. (March 26, 2008). The Healing Benefits of Sunlight and Vitamin D. Available: http://www.naturalnews.com/022889_vitamin_d_sunlight_supplement.html. Last accessed 18th February 2015.

Courtenay-Smith, N. (26 August 2007). Six weeks without a wash: The soapless experiment. Available: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-477378/Six-weeks-wash-The-soapless-experiment.html. Last accessed 19th February 2015.

Scheve, T. (No Date ). What would happen if you never washed your face?. Available: http://health.howstuffworks.com/skin-care/cleansing/basics/never-wash-face.htm. Last accessed 19th February 2015.

Webmd editors. (No Date). The Effects of Ageing on the Skin. Available: http://www.webmd.com/beauty/aging/cosmetic-procedures-aging-skin. Last accessed 19th February 2015.

The Mourning Process

When a person died during the Victorian there was many traditions to their mourning process. A lot of this was to do with Queen Victoria who had great influence in the Victorian era, she was the first to introduced the concept of Christmas and also introduced the idea of children actually have a childhood and playing with toys. When she lost her husband Prince Albert to the typhoid fever in 1861, she stayed very secluded during the early years and mourned him for her remaining forty years. This was very influential to the Victorian people. Every day she would have the servants bring boiling water into his dressing room and she would put out his clothes and medicine every morning even after his death. His death mask stood in his room and in every portrait that was made after his death would feature something to do with him. Black became the fashion of the time as Queen Victoria wore it every day after his passing. She would usually wear a bracelet that had charms linked with bits of Prince Albert’s hair as memorabilia.

Tobias, S. (23 November). Death and Mourning in Victorian England.Available: http://www.thegarret.org.uk/eventsarchive.htm. Last accessed 18th February 2015.

Due to the Queens influence there was the introduction to Momento Mori, which is an object that reminds a person of their lost ones after they have passed. There were different ways of remembering the dead, including wearing bits of their hair, getting death masks made of their faces and finally the most popular of the time photography. Within the photography they would put the dead into life like poses so they could always be remembered as this way.

In 1839 photography was invented therefore making it a new and exciting, although it wasn’t cheap. Therefore when a person died the family would save for a photograph as a keep sake of the deceased. This would usually be taken 2-3 weeks after the dead, as they wanted to make sure that the corpse was actually gone. It was a common fear that they would be burying their loved ones alive so even after this time period they would bury the dead with a bell. A famous case of this is Edgar Allen Po who’s sister was buried under the impression she was dead, but he had some doubts so dug her back up to discover her alive, with scratches on the coffin lid. Once they were certain the family member was dead they would get these photos taken, putting them in realistic poses. When double exposure was discovered a new form of memento mori photography was formed called spirit photography. This would feature the living family members and then a double exposure of the deceased, so they look like they are watching over the family.

Frater, J. (October 24, 2012). Momento Mori: Victorian Death Photos.Available: http://listverse.com/2012/10/24/memento-mori-victorian-death-photos/. Last accessed 18th February 2015.

Another way the middle class Victorians would remember the deceased was entertaining at the cemetery. They did this here to reflect on the life of the dead. Cemeteries were a lot more elaborate in these times such as Highgate. Jewellery was a way to keep memory of the deceased close to the family at all times. They would usually intertwine parts of the dead family members hair into charms etc. The black market took advantage of this, pretending to be friendly with the deceased and selling the family fakes.

Other ways the families would pay their respects to the deceased included:

-having the curtains drawn

-stopping the clock on the time of death- much like Miss Havisham does but for her wedding day.

-Covering the mirrors

a wreath made of laurel, yew or boxwood would be tied with crape or black ribbon and hung on the door

-When they were in deep mourning they would not attend social events for up to a year- Queen Victoria was known for this.

-Wrapping the door handles with black crepe tied with a white ribbon to let the neighbours know not to ring the bell and disturb their morning process.

Reference:

Spark Note Editors . (No Date ). Queen Victoria The Years of Mourning . Available: http://www.sparknotes.com/biography/victoria/section5.rhtml. Last accessed 18th February 2015.

Class Notes

Horrors Of the Victorian Era

Dickens uses the gothic motif’s in Great Expectations, but puts them into a contemporary Britain. This is because in the late Victorian period, people were no longer in fear of the physical landscape such as castles etc, instead they were terrified of the human body. Other novels that look at this include The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson 1886 and The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wildes 1891.

However Dickens new that the people of the time were concerned about what was happening at the time, the current problems such as the needy, the desperate, the abandoned, urban slums and so on.

 Horrors of the Victorian era became inspiration for many novels. In these times many died young until the medical advances.  Before children were even born there was a danger of death for the mother and child at childbirth due to disease and infection. Even if they survived this they weren’t even likely to survive infancy and childhood due to malnutrition.

 Fatal diseases were a large part of the death toll in the Victorian era and many of these people would die at home with their families. This would usually hit people at early adolescence. One of the main being smallpox which was usually fatal, although with the small amount of people who lived they would be scared and sometimes even blind. TB was another horrible disease, the patients would begin by coughing up blood and in turn be coughing up their lungs until they could no longer breath.

The Independent Editors. (21 April 2009). Fatal Diseases Back From the Dead. Available: http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/features/victorian-diseases-back-from-the-dead-1671563.html. Last accessed 16th February 2015.

Sewers weren’t made until 1859 so before that faeces and other human waste would be thrown into the streets and usually run into the water stream. This created diseases such as cholera which would spread quickly and easily due to the slums which were created from over population. Other fatal diseases of the times included typhoid, fever and dysentery.

 If disease didn’t get you, industrial accidents were another common way to go. The average life expectancy of a labourer was 22 years and people were concerned with the accidents that caused this. When there was heavy machinery there was a change of being crushed, sometimes people even fell into machinery and died. In the fabric mills it was known that people would get their fingers cut off and some would get their hair caught, pulling off their scalps. Even if these accidents didn’t occur the workers would be there for long hours, often with no breaks which effected their health. Some would even fall asleep while working.

Leech, J. (no date ). Industrial Accidents cartoon 2 of 2. Available: http://www.cartoonstock.com/vintage/directory/i/industrial_accidents.asp. Last accessed 16th February 2015.

 With these accidents and natural disasters there was also a fear of a man “jack the ripper”. His torment lasted only 3 months but he created panic in the streets of London’s East End. He brutally mutilated five women in the streets of Whitechapel, a place of major criminal activity including prostitution. He would carve out body parts, the stomach would be torn open and the head nearly severed off. The ripper disappeared as quickly as he arrived and speculation of who he was never came out as fact.

West, E. (August 31, 2011). Why Does Jack The Ripper Still Fascinate? Because it Feeds into Victorian Myths. Available: http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/edwest/100102637/why-does-jack-the-ripper-continue-to-fascinate-because-it-feeds-into-victorian-myths/. Last accessed 16th February 2015.

 These horrors influenced many of the novels written in the Victorian Era.

Reference:

In class

Johnson, B. (No Date). Jack The Ripper. Available: http://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryUK/HistoryofEngland/Jack-the-Ripper/. Last accessed 16th February 2015.

19th Century Women

During the Victorian Era there was greater standards of social etiquette particularly sexual restraint. The higher class were especially strict on these rules, in this society you were either a virgin or a wife, anything else you were seen as a whore. Courtship was the way a marriage would be arrange for the upper class, to secure the woman’s position and to give the man power over the wealth of the woman. This helped cut down the amount of arranged marriages as many would want to select their partners so they could obtain this sort of wealth. With this being said families still had an impact, often introducing couples that were well suited. 

Miller, B. (February 13, 2010). Nineteenth Century Courtship Advice. Available: https://outofthiscentury.wordpress.com/2010/02/13/nineteenth-century-courtship-advice/. Last accessed 16th February 2015.

Ways to introduce suitors included balls and dances as Young Women would be introduced to society at these events, this was called “coming out”. Chaperones would oversee the event to make sure nothing happened between the pair prior to their engagement. Each man would have an opportunity to dance with the woman and once she decided on her suitor she would give her card to the man.

Many rules and stages followed, they would then be able to speak once being properly introduced. They would then be able to walk together until they were ready to confirm they wanted to carry on with this courtship and “keep company”. Their dates would be chaperoned, all in order to make sure the woman remained ‘unspoiled’. All this must be completed before the marriage was final.

This makes me sympathise with Miss Havisham, she went through all of this with the man before he jilted her, which would of taken months. The man tricked her for months before leaving her alone on her wedding day, so in a way I believe some of her hatred towards men and her wealth is understandable.

Reference:

Date Hookup editors. (No Date). An Online Dating Guide to Courting in the Victorian Era. Available: http://www.datehookup.com/content-an-online-dating-guide-to-courting-in-the-victorian-era.htm. Last accessed 16th February 2015.