Miss Havisham is seen as a social outcast in Victorian times. This is because of the amount of power Miss Havisham has, it is seen as a disappointment as she didn’t marry and pass it onto her husband. Her position as a rich unmarried woman is unusual. Marriage was very important to women in those days. They were expected to marry, look after their husband and children, and to then become housekeepers. Being jilted on her wedding day was therefore a great tragedy for a woman.
There are four main themes in the novel. These are justice, humanity, self-knowledge and pride and revenge. The theme of self-knowledge is shown through the novel when Pip rejects his humble origins at the forge and aspires to become a gentleman. Although he is given wealth and taught various other things such as table manners, he loses much in this process. Justice is another theme. This shows that loyalty and goodness are rewarded. The legal system at the time is seen to be brutal, arbitrary, and corrupt and open to manipulation. Jaggers however has tried to counter the effects of this system by saving one little girl, Estella from its horrors. Humanity is the most important theme throughout the novel. This theme shows that human values prevail over wealth and position. Miss Havisham’s wealth brings her no comfort and she misuses her wealth to get justice of men. The final theme in the novel is pride and revenge. These are both shown to be extremely destructive. Miss Havisham feeds these destructive forces by keeping around her the reminders of her humiliation and betrayal. Her life is distorted. She lives in the dark and she ruins the lives of Estella and Pip through her selfish obsession.
Miss Havisham is the main character round which both the themes of humanity and pride and revenge are based. She is also the character behind the theme of self-knowledge. If it weren’t for her Pip would probably have been satisfied with his life in the forge but meeting Miss Havisham and her lifestyle led to his greed for wealth. The final theme of justice relates to Miss Havisham because she is the one who has helped to rescue Estella from the injustice shown in the legal system. Although she has rescued her from this Estella has still been made to suffer through her lack of feelings which she develops through living with Miss Havisham.
Miss Havisham’s character interests the reader more as her character is so eccentric readers want to find out more and this is one of the reasons why people carry on reading the book. She adds a sense of mystery to the story and people want to know more about the relationship between her, Estella and Pip. As the reader gets further into the book they find out more about the mystery of Satis House and Pips benefactor. This makes the reader want to read even further.
Miss Havisham’s relationships with the other characters changes throughout the book. Her relationship with Pip starts off as very controlling; however it is also at Satis House where his greed for money and status began. Miss Havisham’s relationship with Estella is a twisted one. She adopted Estella when she was very young and has brought her up with her beliefs and feelings on certain things. Estella is bitter and twisted due to the strange upbringing she has received from Miss Havisham. Miss Havisham uses Estella as an instrument of revenge on the male sex until she comes to realise she has created a monster. She accuses Estella of being hard and ungrateful and it is at this point where their relationship changes as Estella says she cannot give her love as she was never given it herself. Miss Havisham then tries to undo some of the harm she has done but as the end of her life she is distraught with guilt for what she has done to Estella and Pip.
I feel that Miss Havisham is one of the main characters in the book. The start of the relationship between Pip and Estella is because of her and she is the one who makes Pip decide that he would much rather be a gentleman than a blacksmith. If it weren’t for her Pip would never have fallen in love with Estella and may not have accepted the opportunity of going to London and becoming a gentleman even if Magawitch had still made the offer. As you can see from the theme part of this essay Miss Havisham was linked to many themes in the novel. She is the character that the story with Pip and Estella starts and ends.
