‘She was tall and bony, and almost wore a course apron, fastened over her figure behind with two loops, and having a square impregnable bib in front, that was stuck full of pins and needles.’
From this description I can already tell that she is a harsh woman who shields herself and she is hard working and never stops, she is also quite a prickly person from the needles. Also I can tell this because she keeps her apron on a lot of the time which is full of pins and needles preventing anyone from physically getting near her and she has no maternal feelings possibly can’t get pregnant, perhaps an insight into her dislike for Pip. She is then described again by Pip but this time her face is described in more detail.
‘Black hair and eyes’ and ‘had such a prevailing redness of skin that I sometimes used to wonder whether she ever used to wash herself with a nutmeg-grater instead of soap.’
This description helps to paint a picture in your mind of what Mrs Joe looks like, whilst also suggesting that the coarseness of her face may also be a link to the coarseness of the actual person.
Miss Havisham was a wealthy local lady who expressed her wish for a baby to play in her house with Estello. Mr Pumblechook, Joes uncle decided to take Pip to Miss Havisham’s house to do so. Miss Havisham, when younger was jilted at the altar and it had scared her for the rest of her life. Pip then describes her:
‘dressed in rich materials-satins and lace and silks all of white’ and then ‘Her shoes were white and she had a long white veil dependant from her hair, and she had bridal flowers in her hair, but her hair was white, some bright jewels sparkled on her neck and on her hands, and some other jewels lay sparkling on the table.’
This gives us an impression of her richness and that she is a bride but there is something wrong with this picture, the contrast of bridal flowers and her white hair. Also this to me sounds like she is rotting away and the only thing that can make her beautiful are the jewels. Another quote that backs up this idea of her decaying is:
‘I saw that the bride within the bridal dress had withered like the dress, and like the flowers and had no brightness left but the brightness of her sunken eyes.’
This is saying that she does not care about life anymore and she can’t let go of the fact that she has been stood up at the altar. This is also a comparison to her and the flowers and gives us a negative image, And that the house she lives in had gone to ruins and Miss Havisham had left everything exactly how it was on the day she was jilted at the altar, “All the clocks have been stopped at twenty to nine.”
Another powerful quote and a lot of meaning is when Pip first sees the feast in another room:
‘The most prominent object was a long table with a tablecloth spread on it, as if a feast had been in preparation when the house and the clocks all froze. A centre-piece of some description of some kind was in the middle of the cloth and it was so heavily overhung with cobwebs that its form was quite indistinguishable, and as I looked along the yellow expanse out of which I remember it seeming to grow, like a black fungus, I saw speckled-legged spiders with blotchy bodies running home to it, and running out from it.’
This quote shows that she can’t let go and that she is in a time frame and won’t let go.
From reading the book I can tell that Mrs Joe and Mrs Havisham don’t treat Pip that well, but both treat him quite badly both in their different ways. Mrs Joe physically intimidated Pip and thought she was so kind bringing him up “by hand” that he deserved all the beatings he got. Pip is so badly beaten sometimes that even Joe tries to protect him:
“Mrs Joe has been out a dozen times, looking for you Pip and she’s out now, making it a bakers dozen.”
“Is she?”
“Yes, Pip,” said Joe, “and what’s worse, she’s got ticker with her.”
‘Tickler was a wax ended piece of cane, worn smoothly by collision with any tickled frame.
The name tickler has a lot of irony although it’s called a ticker it actually hurts a lot and doesn’t tickle at all.
Mrs Joe insults people a lot and has no respect for people of a lower class than her, but then changes to someone with a higher or same class as herself and shows a lot more respect. Mrs Joe uses the catch phrase “brought you up by hand” here she is trying to make Pip feel guilty, that he owes her something.
Mrs Havisham on the other hand was just as bad but not physically. Her daughter Estella was brought up to be tough on boys as a way of revenge. I can see the past coming in here because she was jilted at the altar she now thinks that all men are the same and so she’s brought up her daughter to be the same. During Pips first meeting with Mrs Havisham he is introduced to her daughter Estella, Mrs Havisham says:
‘Well? You can break his heart.’
This makes Pip feel put down and worthless. This is backed up by another quotation:
“He calls the knaves, jacks, this boy!’ said Estella with disclaim, before our first game was out. “And what coarse hands he has and what thick boots!” Here she is looking down on him as if he is a peasant compared to her making him feel very unwanted.
“With this boy! Why, he is a common labouring-boy!”
This is how Miss Havisham has taught Estella to act and it makes Pip feel very ignorant.
Mrs Joe always speaks in dialect this is her working class status.
When Pip’s Uncle comes round she speaks as if she is more important than he is a higher class.
Every Christmas day he presented himself, as a profound novelty, with exactly the same words, and carrying the two bottles like dumb bells, every Christmas day, Mrs Joe replied, as she now replied, “Oh un-cle pum-ble-chook! This is kind!” She commands people all the time instead of asking, but she is more reflective and uses more complex when speaking to Estella and herself. She rarely varies her speech for different people this shows she has the same amount of respect for everyone.
When she spoke like this, she makes out that she doesn’t know she’s getting it even though she gets it every year and that Pip has told her she gets it every year.
Mrs Havisham spoke a lot differently to Miss Joe. Mrs Havisham does not work and is very wealthy this automatically raises her class. Mrs Havisham does not request she demands. She does this as she knows she is of higher authority than pip and she is older.
She also asks Pip rhetorical questions such as:
‘Are you obstinate’ Pip is not going to turn round and say yes is he. This is just a manner of her speech.
To sum up the two characters, Mrs Havisham and Miss Joe are both similar but in their different ways. Miss Joe married for convenience and Mrs Havisham was nearly wed only to be jilted at the altar.
Also both brought up children that were not their own Miss Joe brought up Pip her younger brother as their mother and father died and Mrs Havisham brought up Estella an adopted child. Neither of the characters had a job but again both for different reasons Mrs Havisham didn’t work because she was a wealthy woman and Miss Joe because she was a house wife. Lastly neither of them lived particularly happy lives Miss Joe had a boring and bitter life and this made her angry and Mrs Havisham had a bitter, resentful sad life due to being left at the altar. Women had not many rights in those days and were just expected to do the cooking and cleaning and never got much of a say in anything. Overall the two characters are very different in there own ways.