Great Expectations- Miss Havisham
Compare how Dickens presents the character of Miss Havisham when we first see her in chapter 8 and 11 to her final appearance in chapter 49.
The novel, Great Expectations by Charles Dickens, is written in the genre of a bildungsroman. Dickens presents the story of a young boy, named Pip. Pip lives with his sister and her husband, Joe. His life is soon changed as he is sent to go visit Miss Havisham, a bitter old spinster. Dickens depicts an eccentric character in Miss Havisham. The cold hearted spinster seems to both conform to and challenge society's expectations of unmarried women in the Victorian Age. Her appearance aligns her with common misconceptions of a spinster's appearance as unattractive, as well as outcasts from the Victorian society. Dickens intentions of creating Miss Havisham were to try and challenge the position and status of women in the Victorian period. Although she might only appear a few times in the novel, she is an iconic character in that she seems to have shaped the future ideas on the role of women.
Dickens uses Pip's narrative voice to present a marked shift in Miss Havisham's attitude and intentions towards him. As Miss Havisham wilfully stopped her life at a moment of pain and humiliation, at precisely 'twenty to nine', she indulges in her own anger and self pity and desires only revenge. It is apparent that she is manipulative of Estella, her adopted daughter, as she uses hers and Pips relationship to avenge men vicariously through them. This makes Estella an extension of her pervading bitterness towards men and the vulnerable neophyte Pip serves as the perfect target. Miss Havisham states, 'You can break his heart' emphasising her malicious intent to avenge her own feelings of rejection. She approaches Pip in an impersonal manner, putting herself in a higher status as she addresses him as 'boy' highlighting her authority over him. It also shows how she is depersonalising him, as she views all men as the same. In addition, it accentuates on Miss Havisham's inability to love.
The failure of Miss Havisham's quest for love, fuels her actions of encouragement in inviting Pip over to play, bringing Estella and him closer. Her imperative tone when she demands Pip to 'play, play, play!' can seem very threatening and intimidating towards Pip, making him feel inferior and frightened. Although, it could also represent her trying to mould and sculpt a model child of her own, as she has not been able to bear child. She seems to enjoy watching Estella and Pip play together, as it highlights once again, her trying to mould a model child of her own. Regardless of this, Dickens still shows her as resentful and cruel, alienating her from the reader. This is extended through Dickens use of first person narrative for Pip as the reader begins to identify with his emotions when he states, 'I was half afraid of her'.
Nevertheless, in contrast with her final appearance in chapter 49, her attitude towards Pip has a great sense of transition. Even despite all the previous offences she has committed, Miss Havisham convincingly makes a switch for the better in this climatic scene. As Pip re-enters Satis house, after years of separation, he see's Miss Havisham with a 'new expression' on her face, even still there was a sense of 'utter loneliness' around her, the adjective 'utter' emphasises her loneliness and isolation from the world. Though she is thankful for Pips arrival, she looks upon him with awe and fear 'as if she were afraid of me'; implying that the status and roles have reversed. The tone she uses with Pip is softer and sincerer as she refers to him as 'dear' rather than 'boy' Dickens then shows the reader that Miss Havisham has started to show love and consideration towards Pip.
Miss Havisham begins to crave forgiveness from Pip as she states 'can I only serve you, Pip' this imploring tone shows that Miss Havisham wants to help Pip as she has learnt how to love and is now craving for forgiveness in order to be accepted and atone the past, therefore is seen letting go and moving on. Pip begins to feel sympathy for Miss Havisham and as a first person narrative makes the reader sympathise too. Unlike the first meeting of Miss Havisham where Pip felt alienated from her, he now feels drawn to her. She cries ...
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Miss Havisham begins to crave forgiveness from Pip as she states 'can I only serve you, Pip' this imploring tone shows that Miss Havisham wants to help Pip as she has learnt how to love and is now craving for forgiveness in order to be accepted and atone the past, therefore is seen letting go and moving on. Pip begins to feel sympathy for Miss Havisham and as a first person narrative makes the reader sympathise too. Unlike the first meeting of Miss Havisham where Pip felt alienated from her, he now feels drawn to her. She cries 'O!' the plaintive tone shows her sadness and despair, 'What have I done! What have I done!' here her exclamations show her guilt and despair, her wasted life is the subject of her inability to forgive and her 'stone' heart. Moreover the repetition highlights her bitter regret. Pip has made Miss Havisham realise what she has done as his redemptive quality enables her to see her folly. The relationship has grown through love, making it hugely ironic. In her realisation that she has hurt Pip, she begins to accept love and compassion, seen when Pip kisses her at the end; and it's this precise action that humanises her and draws sympathy from both Pip and the reader.
In Great Expectations, Dickens creates a dramatic transition in Miss Havisham's emotions. He presents her as a weak, psychologically scarred and abandoned woman that has never been able to move on from her heartbreak. By doing this he appears to ridicule her as he sees her rejection as comical. In her first interaction with Pip, she dramatically notifies him of her 'broken' heart, which she is touching at the time. By having Miss Havisham refer to this, Dickens shows how she seems to be indulging in her status as jilted bride as she clings to the identity of an expectant bride, allowing her to distance herself from the stereotype of a spinster. The reader would often feel sympathy for someone who has suffered but Dickens reverses the sense of empathy and instead alienates the reader, through her 'weird smile' which prevents any humanisation of her character therefore making her a parody of how a spinster was seen in society. She almost seems to indulge in her rejection.
Dickens presents Miss Havisham as isolated and in denial of accepting any form of love. He uses the topography of the Satis house in order to convey her emotions. As the windows were all 'walled up' he presents, once again, her imprisonment and the emotional struggle of accepting or offering love. The great front entrance had 'two chains across its outside' using it as a metaphor for Miss Havisham's chastity belt, which was something Victorian women wore before marriage, ridiculing Miss Havisham even more as hers was never unlocked; moreover it could suggest that her heart does not wish to be unlocked. As her dress has 'lost its lustre' and had been 'trodden ragged' it can also reflect on the destruction of her heart.
In conjunction, her emotions in chapter 49 seem to change as she becomes humanised. Miss Havisham seems to realise that she has done wrong to both Pip and Estella as she says she is 'not all stone......that there is anything human in my heart' this in result makes the reader see her more as a person than an object of ridicule. As the realisation of what she has done to Estella as she 'took her heart away and put ice in its place' Dickens makes the reader have sympathy for her as her honesty begins to humanise her. She begins to feel self hatred as she believes that Pip hates her 'too much to bear to speak to me' showing how she feels worthless and defeated. The last words that she speaks 'take the pencil and write under my name, I forgive her' can show how Dickens, in these final words, shows the reader that throughout the novel Miss Havisham's emotions have changed as she searches for forgiveness.The tone of this section is confessional as Dickens is showing the reader that Miss Havisham is longing for self forgiveness. Furthermore, Dickens seems to suggest that Miss Havisham will never be at peace as she will continue to torture herself for what she has done.
Miss Havisham's physical presentation at the beginning of Great Expectations seems to differ from the first time we see her in chapter 8 and to her final appearance in chapter 49. Dickens presents her at first as a gothic figure that is both fascinating and repulsive to reader, especially to the Victorian society as gothic fantasy was popular during that time. He uses Miss Havisham to highlight the position of women in the Victorian society. If they were unmarried, such as Miss Havisham, it forces a position of them being marginalised from society. Satis house, where Miss Havisham lives, is seen as gothic and strange. The house had all 'the windows walled up' symbolising that Miss Havisham is trapping herself from reality. Dickens also highlights her frailty as if the natural light could 'struck her to dust' suggesting that she's almost vampiric or supernatural, adding to the Victorian audiences fascination. Additionally, the repetition of the house being 'rustily barred' can reflect the house as being a prison as Miss Havisham has imprisoned herself, Dickens could also be trying to represent her feelings of insecurity and decay.
The first sight the reader gets of Miss Havisham is of her sitting 'in an arm chair, with an elbow resting on the table' this image is one of resignation and dejection as there is a sense that Miss Havisham has given up. She was wearing a wedding dress, symbolising that she is trying to preserve the identity as an expectant bride. It was made of 'rich materials- satins, lace and silks' emphasising her wealth, however these rich materials that were 'once white' are 'now yellow' The syntax shows that even though time has moved on, Miss Havisham is locked in a moment of stasis. Pips narrative voice explains her to 'the strangest lady I have ever seen, or shall ever see' The adjective 'strange' qualifies how odd and perverse Miss Havisham appears and the additional clause 'or shall ever see' further qualifies how her strangeness is extraordinary.
Dickens, however, denies sympathy for Miss Havisham as his gothic depiction of her, causes her to become a freakish object of ridicule. She appears as a 'skeleton in the ashes of a rich dress' that has 'shrunk to skin and bone'. Dickens shows that there is a physical and emotional decay that appears gothic and skeletal. She has become 'withered' making her 'the complete realisation of the ghastly waxwork at the fair'. Dickens purposely states her as the waxwork at the fair as these freakish displays were shown as a form of popular Victorian entertainment. His physical description of Miss Havisham is seen as monstrous and grotesque embodying the form of a gothic monster, therefore making it difficult for the reader to sympathise with her. The language, Dickens uses, is associated with death as he is implying that love humanises and offers life and hope to people, whereas Miss Havisham has locked her heart away, therefore making it seem as though she is deathly.
Furthermore, the image of Miss Havisham looking at herself in the mirror shows how she is uncertain of her identity, as she tries to fix herself as an expectant bride. The way she views herself is different to how she seems, 'so new to him, so old to me: so strange to him, so familiar to me' she has locked herself in the past and is unable to move on from a time she was happy. Pip forces Miss Havisham to think and look at herself differently. The syntax's 'new'-'old' and 'strange'-'familiar' shows how she is moving in and out of different perspective. The use of the words as opposites shows how she has a completely misplaced view of herself.
Alternatively, in chapter 49, Miss Havisham becomes humanised. Her appearance is acknowledged as Pip finds her sitting in a 'ragged chair' which presents a sense of decay and lost worth. There was a 'new expression' on her face, but her eyes pained, her face was worn by something more than age and her appearance overall is described as more haggard and withered than ever. She was staring at the 'ashy fire...lost in contemplation', in this image Dickens appears to play on the myth of the phoenix as the 'ashy fire' implies that Miss Havisham, like the phoenix rising form the ashes, wishes to be reborn in order to atone her malice. Miss Havisham's freakish appearance at the start of the novel changes as Dickens humanises her to point where she cries. She 'dropped on her knees at my feet and held her hands out...hung her head and wept' showing the physical image of Miss Havisham's repentance makes her seem vulnerable as it is the first time the reader sees her cry and showing her feelings, especially to a man. The crying humanises her as we see her real emotions, it also links to the myth of the phoenix as the tears are said to heal.
In the process of Miss Havisham setting alight; Pip sees 'her running at me, shrieking, with a whirl of fire blazing all about her' Dickens in this image presents Miss Havisham as devilish as she runs towards Pip. However, it relates to the myth of the phoenix and shows that through the burning of her dress she is forgiven and extends the idea of being cleansed as it purges all evil. As Pip tries to distinguish the flames, he drags down the 'great cloth from the table and with it dragged down the heap of rottenness and all the ugly things that sheltered there' and wrapped it around Miss Havisham, showing his care and consideration that has grown for Miss Havisham. Whilst Pip cradles Miss Havisham on the floor, the 'beetles and spiders were running away over the floor' whereas before the spiders were nibbling at Miss Havisham, again a sense of purging, cleansing and healing. As they lay Miss Havisham on the table with a 'white sheet loosely covering her' suggests that she is finally at peace and furthermore gives a sense of purity and cleansing with the pure white sheet. 'The phantom air of something that had been and was changed' Dickens shows the reader that Miss Havisham has changed during this and has become reborn.
To conclude, Dickens presents Miss Havisham as a challenge to Victorian society. He also shows that love is redemptive and necessary and without it, we are nothing. Within Miss Havisham's reformation Dickens shows the strength of her character. His intentions in creating Miss Havisham were to try and show the hardship that women who were rejected by the Victorian society had to go through and how cruel the society have been in marginalising them. By doing so Dickens has cleverly began to deconstruct the stereotype of a spinster and questions expectations.
