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How does Dickens show the change in Miss Havisham over the course of the novel? "Great Expectation" is about a young boy named Pip and follows him throughout his life. Pip meets Miss Havisham a lady with a broken heart who has an adopted daughter named Estella, Estella is a "pretty young girl" that pip falls in love with. A close analysis of the novel reveals Miss Havisham is not the person she is perceived to be.
The bitter and vengeful Miss Havisham is one of the main characters in Dickens' novel Great Expectations.
She is central to the novel and holds the plot together. Dickens waits until Chapter 8 to introduce the character to the reader, like Pip we are scared and frightened when we meet her for the first time. "I should have cried out, if I could". This shows that Miss Havisham intimidates Pip; and as a result, we fear for Pip; and are also uncomfortable as readers. Also, the word 'haunting' is associated when we think of Miss Havisham.
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This is because of her "ghostly" appearance, her disturbed state of mind, and the way she haunts Pip. If we are to say haunting is when someone/something has a lasting, negative effect on something, it is evidently shown that Miss Havisham is a gothic, disturbing, melancholic character.
Dickens uses descriptive writing to describe Miss Havisham as a wealthy, well dressed woman "in rich materials - satins, and lace, and silk". Dickens uses imagery of luxury and opulence to give a clear picture in the readers mind about how Miss Havisham is dressed.
Dickens also uses a simile' withered like the dress' to show how Miss Havisham has been trapped in time and grown old and decayed along with her white wedding dress, also reflecting her mental state. Dickens presents her to be a living dead, 'waxwork and skeleton' as there is nothing healthy in her. She has allowed herself to get wasted and now she looks more dead than alive.
Both Miss Havisham and her adopted daughter Estella, manipulate Pip for their own "sick fancys". Miss Havisham states to Pip that her heart has been "broken" and she wants "diversion". She also "has had enough of men and women" therefore, enclosing herself in her house. Miss Havisham was jolted at the altar by the man she thought she loved. As a result of her heartache and pain, she stopped the clocks at twenty to nine, and left the house and herself exactly the way it was on that day; "never seen the sun since you were born".
In addition, Miss Havisham uses Estella as a ploy, to seek revenge on all males. Estella is a young lady, who is very pretty. Estella is very rude and patronises Pip. She calls him by the name of "boy" which makes us feel sorry for Pip and dislike Estella. Estella known to be a "beautiful", "self possessed", "scornful" young lady makes Pip aware of his common working class background. He is powerfully attractive to the mysterious ways of Satis House and Estella. He accepts her cruelty as he truly loves her, he follows her taunting and harshness and wishes to become a rich gentlemen; to please Estella and to stop her name calling and for her not see him as "coarse", "rough" boy.
This is when Pip wants to higher his social class, starting the course of "Great Expectations". Miss Havisham is the feeder to the way Pip thinks and manipulates him into thinking that she is the benefactor for him becoming a gentleman living in London. She leads him to believe this by slyly hinting that she knows more. "Mr Jaggers is your guardian I understand?" This makes pip believe that it is her that is helping him to becoming a gentleman. Although in the end we find out it is a convicted he helped when he was younger.
Satis House, the reflection of Miss Havisham's state of mind "in every crevice"; decaying. She has enclosed herself within the walls of Satis House letting no outside world in. The only way you can get in is through the front gate which is guarded at all times. The house remains to be the exact same as when she left it. The garden with trees fluctuated everywhere, grass "in every crevice". This shows that its hasn't been cared for, just like Miss Havisham hasn't. The interior is also decaying. In Chapter 11, Pip goes into her room and sees a "A bride-cake. Mine!" that was "seeming to grow". It is as if it is a part of her, a part of her past and past happiness that has gone. This makes the reader feel sorry for her, as she is truly heartbroken.
Miss Havisham has been presented by Dickens as a cold, heartless character, only thinking about herself. Dickens makes us believe this by the way Estella is treated by her; the way Miss Havisham uses her to break all males' hearts. "Love her, love her, love her!" Miss Havisham tells pip with "passionate eagerness" whatever Estella does he will "love her". She curses him like a evil persuasive witch doing a spell.
This shows that she focuses on one thing and must live up to a target; it is an unhealthy love its like obsession. Estella now can't love; she doesn't know how to love. Estella can't even love her Miss Havisham. This all changes in chapters 38 and 49 Miss Havisham feels guilty for making Estella becomes a cold "heartless" person. However, when Estella rebels to her adopted mother, Miss Havisham is truly sorry for her harsh actions "what have I done?" She says this repeated several times, truly sorry. As she has no idea what she has done wrong. Miss Havisham can't die without knowing she is forgiven.
Dickens has shown he unmarried contradictory character Miss Havisham, has gone through many changes throughout the novel. Although "Great Expectation" is a novel about Pips life, it includes "Terror", "love", drama, and excitement; these factors of the novel are part of how Miss Havisham has changed.Towards the end of the novel in chapter 49 Dickens use of ominous language prepares the reader the Miss Havisham's death. "Funeral music", "the cathedral chimes" All these quotes prepare the reader for something to go wrong, like a death is going to occur. Dickens also explains when he walks pasted the "priory garden, seemed to call to me that the place was changed" this shows the future will change by a death.
Miss Havisham's death made a big difference to the novel. In chapter 49 Miss Havisham dies after server burns from an accidental fire. Her death is very painful. "She was shrieking, with a whirl of fire blazing all about her", this death in some ways seems to release her from all her hurt and pain. The fire is symbolic; pip "dragged the heap of rottenness in the midst, and all the ugly things that sheltered there". This shows it dragged all the decay and the living death away. The fire ended it all. In conclusion to this Miss Havisham has changed from an evil witch who only thinks about herself to a woman who feels guilty for all the things she has done.
How Charles Dickens shows Miss Havisham change over the novel?. (2017, Oct 26). Retrieved from https://studymoose.com/how-charles-dickens-shows-miss-havisham-change-over-the-novel-essay
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