The white clothes and the bridal flowers tells you that Miss Havisham was dressed as a bride. She was in the middle of getting ready for her wedding. She was then decribed as ‘..within my view which ought to be white, had been white long ago and had lost its lustre, and was faded and yellow. I saw that the bride within the bridal dress had withered like the dress’ This gives you the impresion that she has been waiting for a long time for the wedding.
At the time of this first meeting Pip also meets Estella. Estella has been brought up by Miss Havisham and also inherited her cold heartedness and hatred towards men. She is of a higher class than Pip and emphasises this to him through out the meeting. She firstly points out the meaning of the name ‘Stais which is Greek or Latin... for enough.. Whoever had this house could want nothing else...’ This tells the reader the wealth and power Miss havisham has. Pip is not wealthy and is not as well educated as those of a higher class. Estella realises his wealth and education is not of the same standard, ‘He calls the knaves, Jakes, this boy’ ‘What course hands he has. And what thick boots!’ Estella teases Pip because if you were not of a high class you were seen as not important. People of a high class looked down on those less wealthy. She points out his boots and hands which are different because of the labour a young boy of a lower would experience. Although Estella treated Pip the way she did his admiration for Estella begins, Miss Havisham notices this and encourages this from the beginning.
The early influences that Miss Havisham has on Pip in the first stage of the novel was that she encouraged Pip to believe that she would provide for him in the future. This makes Pip think she is his benefactor later on in the novel. She makes him believe this because she gives him money for his apprenticeship and gives him the impression that she will provide for him in the future as well. She also encourages his regards for Estella by asking him ‘what do you think of her?’ And asked him over and over again till she got an answer she was satisfied with, this is a hint to the reader of where this relationship between Estella and Pip might go later on in the novel.
In the second stage of Pip’s Great Expectations. He has grown and moved down to London to become a gentlemen. In London he met Herbert Pocket who reveals the story behind Miss Havisham. There appeared upon the scene...a certain man who made love to Miss Havisham...’ ‘This man pursued Miss Havisham cosely, and professed to be devoted to her...’ ‘...she passionately loved him...she perfectly idolised him...’ This shows her feeling towards the man in her life, she is happy and in love but her happiness dies as this was the man who jilted her, ‘The marriage day was fixed, the wedding dresses were bought, the wedding tour was planned out... The wedding day came, but no bridegroom.’ This makes the reader feel slightly sympathetic because marriage is one of the highlights in a woman's life at this time and this would leave her heartbroken, extremely upset as well as finding it emotionally difficult to go through. In Victorian times it was extremely humiliating for a woman to be jilted, they would not be respected and would be less wealthy. In Miss Havishams case this was a little different, even though she was really upset and all the shame she felt but she was very wealthy and was of a high class.
In chapter 29 Pip does not reconize Estella because of her beauty and that she is now a younge lady. Pip starts talking to Estella but she does not respond in the way he expects, as she does not remember. ‘That I have no heart- if that has anything to do with my memory.’ ‘...it is ceasedto beat I should cease to be. But you know what I mean. I have no softness there, no-sympathy-sentiment-nonsense.’ She is admitting that she is cold-hearted and all emotion in her life is dead. Dickens show that Miss Havisham had a negative influence over Estella and because of this she is unable to love someone and be happy.
In chapter 34 Pip starts to realise that he may have been better off if he had not met Miss Havisham ‘When I woke up in the night...I used to think... That I should have been happier and better if I had never seen Miss Havisham’s face, and had risen to manhood content to be partners with Joe in the honest old forge.’the significance of the word ‘honest’ when describing the forge represents Joe because he is honest and jenuine.Pip later convinces himself that Miss Havisham is his benefactor and that she gave him the £500 and also that Estella will soon be his and the reason Miss havisham had gave him the money was to design him for Estella. Pip believes this because in chapter 38 he is a witness of a violent quarrel between Estella and Miss Havisham, ‘Estella had told her...the names and conditions of the men she had fascinated...as Miss Havisham dwelt on this roll, she sat with her wan bright eyes glaring at me...’ ‘The prize was reserved for me...’ By this Pip gets the impression that Miss Havisham’s plan was that him and Estella would become a lot closer than friends.
Miss Havisham’s actions are shown as false at the end of the second stage of his expectations as Pip’s real benefactor is revealed. In the novel the weather is used as a metaphor that something is about to happen and this prepares the reader for some bad news. The convict, Magwich from the first chapter reveals himself as Pip’s actual benefactor, this shocks Pip, he feels humiliated that his benefactor is a convict. ‘Miss Havisham’s intentions towards me, all a mere dream; Estella not designed for me; I only suffered in Satis House as a convenience...’ He is furious that all he believed about Miss Havisham being his benefactor and that he was going to be with Estella was false, almost a waste of his life. He is completely upset and heartbroken about this new and is now realising what Miss Havisham is really about and how cruel and cold hearted this woman is.
Pip thinks that Estella likes him and decides to express his feelings towards her. Estella breaks his heart by revealing she is to marry Bentley Drummle and doesn’t have any feelings for him, ‘I don’t care for what you say at all.’. He is broken hearted.Clearly Pip is in love with her and this has had a extreme effect on him as he is so hurt. He dislikes Bentley Drummle and tries to persuade her that she shouldn't marry him ‘Such a mean brute, such a stupid brute!’ His feeling to Drummle are clear but not clear enough to stop Estella. As she has no heart, no feelings she doesn’t care what Pip has to say. Miss Havisham then realises that she hs went to far and because of her actions she has destroyed two peoples life and has punished Pip for no reason and is once again left alone.
At the end of the novel Miss Havisham tries to affect Pip’s life for the good. She seems to have changed slightly since she realised she was in the wrong. She begs Pip for his forgiveness and agrees to help out the Pockets. When Miss Havisham burnt the fire was symbolic, it was like the death of her old revengeful self. Pip’s hand were also symbolic, they were also burnt in the fire. Representing the damage he has suffered throughout the years of unhappiness and heartache due to Miss Havisham.
In my opinion I feel Pip and Estella because of their experiences will become really close friends. Pip will still be madly in love with Estella but Miss Havisham has affected both lives a lot, this will prevent them for having a future together as any thing more than friends.
