Miss Havisham Quotes

An imagine Charles Dickens has left in my mind is Miss. Havisham. I see this faceless, all bone, yellow skinned lady wearing one shoe and a wedding dress. Miss. Havisham was originally described on page 47 and she was described as a weary, wore down woman and I was having fun imagining this peculiar lady. I see her like Maleficent, because she was written as very boney, again on page 47. I just imagine her cheekbones being very prominent, like Maleficent. I also see her like looking kind of deranged because on page 47 Dickens wrote; "She uttered the word with a eager look, and with a weird smile". I think the weird smile part is what lead me to believe she looks deranged. I can't see her face, but I can see her features like; sunken eyes, that

The critic Edgar Johnson aptly remarked that "Jaggers is too dangerous to despise." In the novel, Mr. Jaggers holds all the clues to the plot. He is the lawyer for both Miss Havisham and Magwitch, thus knowing the identities of Estella's mother and Pip's benefactor. He is Pip's guardian and custodian, thus playing a major role in Pip's education. He is somewhat like a filler of all the gaps in the plot; the connector in an entangled web. In Chapter 51, it is through Mr. Jaggers that we finally learn the mystery surrounding Estella's background. Again, we observe the careful and crafty lawyer at work - repeatedly reiterating the words "Put the case." and "I make no admissions." to Pip as he narrates the account of Estella's past.

In the end, Pip was able to shake of his juvenile desire and act responsibly. The growth Pip experienced as he broke free of the chains of Satis House and Estella is immense and life changing. Pip finally realizes the appalling behaviors he has shown to those that gave him nothing but love. As a pensive pip states, “…The inaptitude had never been in [Joe] at all, but it had been in me” (516). When Pip loses his status and wealth, he realized that they were just material things, and never as important as he thought they were. Pip’s fight with passion and responsibility is finally won by

After Pip received a secret benefactor (which he thought was Miss Havisham), his life changed drastically. Now he had an opulent life, and was afraid to be disapproved by his old friends like Joe. Joe went to visit Pip, but Pip was acting annoyed until he said he Estella was back and wanted to see him. When he saw Estella, even if he wasn’t just a blacksmith anymore, he felt unworthy around her. Herbert told Pip that Miss Havisham being his benefactor didn´t means she wanted Pip to marry Estella; he also confessed he was in love with Clara.

For many people, love fills an empty void in their heart. However, in Charles Dickens` Great Expectations, Miss Havisham proves this to be false. Betrayed and deceived by her beloved fiance, Compeyson, Miss Havisham seeks her desire of revenge through her daughter, Estella. Yet, despite Miss Havisham’s wrongdoings, she restores her broken figure by going through distinct emotional phases-- idealism, cynicism, and redemption. Miss Havisham believes the world is ideal for her and tries to mold Estella into the way she wants. While Pip makes the assertion that men are forced to love Estella, Miss Havisham claims “ If she tears your heart to pieces- as it gets older and stronger, it will tear deeper- love her, love her, love her!” (pg. 240),

Pip's experience portrays this symbolic purpose. Pip achieved self-salvation after serving Miss Havisham in the fire incident. Pip used to think that being a “gentleman” was concerned with manners and wealth. This fire is associated with Pip’s maturation marking the development of his “awareness”. This scene could be perceived as a trial of Pip’s commitment to his life. It is also a trial of his capacity to suffer for others as his arms were burnt while helping Miss Havisham as indicated by his statement that “I was astonished to see that both my hands were burnt” (Chapter

This instance sticks with Pip for the rest of his life, and Pip imagines his convict following him around in London. More importantly, though, Pip meets Miss Havisham and Estella in his first stage of his great

Even though Pip began life as an innocent boy, Pip becomes an equivocator when he had to steal food to stay alive and when he began visiting Miss Havisham. As the story unfolds, lies influence Pip’s loss of innocence because he does not begin fibbing until he comes into the company of Abel Magwitch and Miss Havisham. By stealing a file and whittles for the convict, Abel, then proceeding to lie about the Satis house once he meets Miss Havisham, Pip begins a life of lies. “Four dogs...Immense, and they fought for veal-cutlets out of a silver basket.” (Pg. 57) Not only does Pip insist that he knows not where the items have gone, but he deceives the guards that make an appearance at the home of the Gargery’s. After Pip moves to London, he treats

Within Charles Dickens’ thrilling novel Great Expectations one specific character, Miss Havisham, was written with a very complex and interesting personality. One theme of the novel is as we grow, we all change and can realize our expectations, but Miss Havisham is the one constant in the story that is never changing. A rotting eccentric, Miss Havisham represents the static English aristocracy of the Victorian Age.

The main storyline has to do with Pip’s expectations of becoming a gentleman. To do this he received help from a secret benefactor. For the first half of the novel Pip is convinced that Miss Havisham is the one doing this so one day he and Estella can be together. Dickens creates a story around Pip’s assumption to make this a very logical explanation. Coincidentally right after Pip realizes and confirms he was wrong about his benefactor, an unexpected character reappears. “You acted nobly, my boy,” said he. “Noble Pip! And I have never forgot it!” (Dickens 248) These words ring out of his benefactor’s name. Who appears to be the escaped convict from the beginning who threatened him, known by the name of Magwitch. Magwitch reveals that ever since that day in the graveyard when Pip returned to give him what he requested he has found a job to help Pip out for what he did for him. By doing this secretly for all this

After being released from Ms. Havishams service, Pip becomes Joe’s apprentice. Four years into his apprenticeship, Pip is approached by a man who he vaguely remembers meeting once at the Satis House. This man is Jaggers, a lawyer, who proceeds to tell Pip that an anonymous benefactor has made Pip

Pip’s mindset regarding classes and success in life is drastically altered after his initial visit to the aristocratic Miss Havisham. “She said I was common” (69) spurs the realization in Pip that he is indeed innocent but unfortunately much oppressed. Pip is very distraught with his birth place into society, to the point that he “was discontented” (130) -- he increasingly desires to be a gentleman. He primarily desires this as a means of impressing Estella and winning her over. At this point in the novel, Pip is willing to give away what he loves (Joe – family setting) to obtain a superficial and insulting girl. One day Pip receives word that he now has the ability to grow up to be his ultimate dream, to be a gentleman. Pip awakens to a new world and those he once loved are no longer good enough for Pip. Moving to London, he becomes far more sophisticated, but at the same time loses his natural goodness. (Chesterton 142). Pip is leaving happiness and his real family to attain a life he thinks will make him more content. Before departing, he dreams of “Fantastic failures of journeys occupied me until the day dawned and the birds were singing” (148). This relates the dream that Pip has just before he sets out to London for the first time, with all of his "great expectations" before him. Pip’s dream is permeated with the sadness and guilt caused by his imminent departure from Joe and Biddy and his aspirations for a new social station.

The class system becomes a focal point in young Pip's life. Pip first began to think about his place in society when he was sent to visit the wealthy, old lady, Miss Havisham at her mansion. Through these visits Pip becomes socially conscious and begins to dislike his commonality. Almost instantly he wants to become uncommon. The adopted daughter of Miss Havisham, Estella, becomes a focal point and goal for Pip to obtain. Any morality Pip used to have slips away with each visit. Pip walks in circles in a barely lit room with Miss Havisam holding onto his shoulder and in doing so, Pip is somehow leaving behind all the values he was raised with. Miss Havisham and Estella end up corrupting Pip with the rich life. Greed, beauty and hubris are Pips downward spiral into an immoral life. Pip finds Estella very attractive, but Estella calls him common and this does not sit well with Pip. All of Pip's expectations of becoming a rich gentleman are due to this love of Estella.

There are many interesting and eccentric characters in this novel such as Estella and Jaggers, but the most important and interesting character of all is Pip. He changes dramatically throughout the play, there are several stages of change. At first, he was untainted by things such as value and class, he cared for Joe and was not ashamed of who he is. After the encounter with Estella, he was humiliated because he is a blacksmith, he wore thick boots, had coarse hands and called knaves “jacks”. That was a turning point for Pip. After that, he became ashamed towards being a blacksmith, and starts to become ambitious, he longed to be noticed and loved by Estella. He started to care about education and the class system. After Pip started to get money from Magwitch, he becomes very superficial and involved in his aristocratic life (which isn’t very pleasant). Overall, in all three stages, Pip has a very simple and childish mind, as soon as he sees something that will benefit him, he will do it with great expectations without thinking it thoroughly. He gets

He suddenly attains the status of a gentleman in society. This may explain Pip’s arrogance towards Joe and his submissiveness towards Miss Havisham and Estella, symbols of the upper class, in his pursuit of love and the luxurious life of high society in London. For Joseph Miller, Pip is ready to “barter all the spontaneity and charity of his relations to Joe for the coldness, formality, and decay of Miss Havisham’s house, and for the life as a gentleman he thinks she has given him.”