From her first introduction it is made clear that although Estella holds great beauty, her character is cold. Pip's first sighting is when she comes to open the locked gate on his first arrival at the Satis House. When they play games Miss Havisham encourages Estella to talk about Pip, usually to criticise his low social class. She knows of Pip's longing for her and takes advantage of that. She is constantly trying to prove she doesn't have a heart.
“She stood looking at me, and, of course, I stood looking at her.
"Am I pretty?"
"Yes; I think you are very pretty."
"Am I insulting?"
"Not so much so as you were last time," said I.
"Not so much so?"
"No."
She fired when she asked the last question, and she slapped my face with
such force as she had, when I answered it.
"Now," said she. "You little course monster, what do you
think of me now?"
"I shall not tell you."
"Because you are going to tell upstairs. Is that it?"
"No," said I. "That is not it."
"Why don't you cry again, you little wretch?"
"Because I'll never cry for you again," said I.”
"Do
you want me then," said Estella, turning suddenly with a fixed and
serious, if not angry, look, "to deceive and entrap you?" (39.105)
"I
have not bestowed my tenderness anywhere. I have never had any such thing."
(29.75)
Pip goes on to describe his love for Estella.
“The unqualified truth is,
that when I loved Estella with the love of a man, I loved her simply because I
found her irresistible. Once for all; I knew to my sorrow, often and often, if
not always, that I loved her against reason, against promise, against peace,
against hope, against happiness, against all discouragement that could be. Once
for all; I love her none the less because I knew it, and it had no more
influence in restraining me, than if I had devoutly believed her to be human
perfection.”
One of her more famous quotes is when Miss Havisham finally sees the bitch Estella has become, and Estella admits that Miss Havisham "created" her.
Do
you reproach me for being cold? You? […] I am what you have made me. Take all
the praise, take all the blame […] All I possess is freely yours. All that you
have given me, is at your command to have again. Beyond that, I have nothing.
And if you ask me to give you, what you never gave me, my gratitude and duty
cannot do impossibilities. (38.69)
Reference:
SparkNote
Editor . (No Date ). Great Expectations. Available:
http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/greatex/section3.rhtml. Last accessed 31 March 2015.
Charles Dickens. (No Date ). Quotes about Estella . Available:
http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/tag/estella. Last accessed 31 March 2015.
Shmoop Editors. (No Date). Estella Havisham in Great Expectations.
Available: http://www.shmoop.com/great-expectations/estella-havisham.html. Last
accessed 31 March 2015.
