would be clear whether he liked Estelle or not and if not then maybe Miss
Havisham would have probably left him alone, but because Pip liked
Estelle, Miss Havisham knew she would have a chance to ruin a mans life
just as a man ruined her life. Miss Havisham is a very sly and cunning
character as she proves by making Pip play in the garden everyday to try
and make him fall in love with Estelle as she is a very attractive young
woman. The one thing helping Miss Havishams character is Estelle
because she is almost as evil as Miss Havisham for knowing what Miss
Havisham is using her for but still playing Pip along to think that he
actually has a chance with her when all she actually just wants to hurt him.
One of the ways Estelle plays Pip along and intrigues him is by
offering him a kiss and then afterwards saying to him that it would never
happen again.
Another strong argument is that Miss Havisham also has an
interesting background of pathetic fallacy because she used to be a
positive character in a positive background but when she was jolted at the
alter she turned into a negative character and her background also
became negative because it was never looked after by anyone. Pip is
seen from a young age and not much happens to him apart from the black
comedy of all his family but his sister dying, apart from that he has a fairly
normal childhood for those times until he met Magwitch, then he turns
eighteen and starts to receive money from someone who stays
anonymous. Pip also uses pathetic fallacy in the novel, he grows up
positive in the negative background of the marshes but when he
discovered he had money and moved to the city he became a negative
snob in the city which is a debatable subject on whether it is a positive or
negative background. Not forgetting Wemmick and Magwitch because
they also use pathetic fallacy in the novel. Magwitch starts off as a
negative character in a negative background, but when he saves Pip by
saying that he stole the pork pie and file, he adds a slight bit of positive to
his character. When he is seen in the city, he is a positive character in
once again a debatable environment. Wemmick however is slightly
different, when at work Wemmick appears to be a negative character in a
negative background but when at home he turns into a positive character
in a positive character in a positive background.
Hard as it is to understand, some people believe that bold, boring
Wemmick is yet a more superior and better character than Miss
Havisham. Miss Havisham is the one who controls Pip yet Wemmick has
no say in the matter, the only thing Wemmick makes Pip do is not go home
when he sent the note which read, “Don’t go home,” the only reason he
sent that is because Mr. Jaggers told him to. Wemmick only plays a minor
role all the way through the novel, it would be just as great without him,
however, without miss Havisham the whole novel would be pointless, so I do not
see how anyone in their right state of mind could possibly believe this.
Some people also believe that Magwitch is also the best character even
though he spends most of the novel in prison in a foreign country. When
Magwitch is in the novel he doesn’t do much except and fight where as
Miss Havisham is the dictator of most of the novel.
Still I believe you cannot avoid the fact that Dickens portrays Miss
Havisham with a lot more attention to detail than any other character. To
do this Dickens uses a number of techniques such as describing every
aspect of her clothes from the colour of her veil to where her other shoe
was, Dickens also describes the room in which Miss Havisham will spend
the rest of her days he even describes what state the food on the table is
in and how rotten it is. With people such as Magwitch, he describes what
happens more than the actual character this is because Miss Havisham is
a strong interesting character where as Magwitch is very plain so not
much to describe. In the case of Magwitch he is never seen in his true
environment such as his house because he’s a convict on the run but with
Miss Havisham and Pip Dickens is able to describe their backgrounds and
their pasts. Not leaving Wemmick who may have the most detailed house
in the novel, but Wemmick is also seen at work in another environment
which again is not very well detailed. So out of all the characters once
again Miss Havisham comes out on top with the most detail towards her
and her surroundings, making her the best character.
I trust you are convinced and believe with me that every character
in Dickens’ novel, Great Expectations, is portrayed very well, is detailed and is accurate
but the best has got to be Miss Havisham. Although some people may still believe that
one of the other characters is better, I assure you that they are
wrong. Not only do I believe that Miss Havisham is better but she takes out the
competition because of her favouritism with Dickens. Miss Havisham is the
most spoken about character throughout the novel so there can’t be
anyone that Dickens prefers to write about. She also has the most intriguing background
and past and therefore must be the most interesting character to write about.
By Sam Poskitt
