Once Pip starts school, another female character is introduced, Biddy. They first meet as children going to school together and later are reunited from the attack of Mrs. Joe when Biddy moves in to take care of her. In the novel, she represents the opposite of Estella. Biddy is a kind and gentle, highly contrasting Estella manipulative and cold personality. One of the pivotal scenes in the novel is Pip's and Biddy's walk among the marshes. This is the first time that Pip tells someone about his wish to be a gentleman. Through this walk, Pip gets a closer look at Biddy and sees her as a a young woman. Although Pip feels an attraction for Biddy, but it is overshadowed with his passion for Estella. Pip describes Biddy as “ not beautiful – she is common and could not be Estella- but she is pleasant wholesome and sweet tempered.” (132) She is one of the first people Pip tells about his dissatisfaction of this life, his desire to be a gentle man, and his secret love for Estella. Upon hearing about Pip's feelings for Estella, Biddy questions “Do you want to be a gentleman to spite her or to gain her over?” (136). This was the question that Pip has answer to take his dream further. He could have had Biddy; he could have fallen in love with her and he would have lived the life of the blacksmith that was laid out before him. He even says so himself that he wishes he could have fallen in love with Biddy ( 138). Instead, Pip uses Biddy as a means to and end, a confidante and a teacher: “ 'Biddy,' I cried, getting up, putting my arm around her neck, and giving her a kiss, ' I shall always tell you everything.'” ( 137) The archetype of the Maiden is not only a women who is signifies youth and life, but also represents a new beginning. The walk in the marshes, is Pip's first step to his new beginning. This is the first time Pip says anything about his want for change, and with the conversation with Biddy, he finally took the first step forward to fulfill his great expectations.
Pip's first true encounter with madness comes with the arrival of the character of Miss. Havisham. Miss Havisham is a vengeful, wealthy dowager who's entire life is defined by one tragic moment: her being left on the alter on what would have been her wedding day. From that moment forth, Miss Havisham is determined to stop in time and never to move beyond her heartbreak. She stops all the clocks in Satis House at twenty minutes to nine, the moment when she first learned that she was alone. With a kind of manic, obsessive cruelty, Miss Havisham adopts Estella and raises her as a weapon to achieve her own revenge on men. Miss Havisham is an example of a single-minded vengeance that is pursued destructively: both Miss Havisham and the people in her life suffer greatly because of her quest for revenge. Pip was first introduced to Estella by her who constantly points out Estella's looks. Miss. Havisham is a prime example of the Crone archetype. The Crone is also portrayed as a woman past her prime, no longer fertile; vengeful and mean because of wisdom she has acquired. She is nearly always portrayed as a jealous old woman, praying on the young. Miss Havisham uses Pip and Estella in a final deep act of desperation to get revenge. She trains Estella to be a heart breaker and pushes Pip in her direction so that he, in turn, can get his heart broken: “I thought I overheard Miss Havisham answer- only it seemed so unlikely, “ Well? You can break his heart” (61). Despite being the mad old woman, she introduces and teaches Pip many new things that help sculpt his maturity. Miss Havisham essentially makes Pip into a whole new person by changing his opinions and ambitions in life by misleadingly attracting him to Estella. She is completely unable to see how her actions are hurtful to Pip and Estella. She is redeemed at the end of the novel when she realizes that she has caused Pip's heart to be broken in the same manner as her own; rather than achieving any kind of personal revenge, she has only caused more pain: “ To see her, with her white hair and worn face, kneeling at my feet, gave me a shock through all my frame - I had never seen her shed a tear before. - 'Oh,' she cried, despairingly. “ What have I done! What have I done!' ” (423) Miss Havisham immediately begs for Pip's forgiveness before being caught in the fire. He forgives her after he saved her.
By far, the most intriguing character in the novel and the one who influences Pip on the highest level, is Estella. Raised from the age of three by Miss Havisham to torment men and “break their hearts,” Estella wins Pip's deepest love by practicing deliberate cruelty. Unlike the warm, winsome, kind heroine of a traditional love story, Estella is cold, cynical, and manipulative. She takes on the role of Femme Fatale. The Femme Fatale is defined as an irresistibly attractive woman. She is usually the love interest of the protagonist and keeps him entranced with flirtation and by playing “hard to get”. Throughout the novel, Estella keeps Pip captivated by her looks, the looks that she knows she has. Estella knows that she is good looking but yet she says she cannot help it: "Moths, and all sorts of ugly creatures hover about a lighted candle. Can the candle help it?" (331) Estella changes Pip but also in the process changes herself. Estella sometimes gives off the impression that she doesn't want to break Pip's heart. She often tells him that she has no heart and he would be better off without her. Due to the way that Estella was raised, she constantly teases Pip by allowing him to kiss her and indulging in his fantasies. Estella proved herself to be the reason why Pip wants to be a gentleman, and why he hopes Miss Havisham to be the benefactor, making Pip believe that he and Estella were meant to be together. Throughout the entire novel, Estella is not her own person. She was who Miss Havisham raised her to be; a young Femme Fatale role. Close to the end of the novel, Estella begins to become her own person when Miss Havisham accuses her of showing no love. She was surprised at the fact that her adopted mother would make such an accusation after deliberately raising her to avoid emotional attachment and treat those who love her with deliberate cruelty. She replied with “I must be taken as I have been made. The success is not mine, the failure is not mine, but the two together make me.” (326). Estella says that both Miss Havisham's “success” -Estella's coldness and cruelty- and her “failure” -Estella's inability to express her emotions and inability to love- make her who she is. This quote is extremely important to Estella's development as a character, because it indicates her gradual arrival at self-knowledge, which will eventually enable her to overcome her past. Estella finally became her own person when she and Pip meet once more in Satis house. Estella has greatly changed and as she said, “Suffering has been stronger than all other teaching. . . . I have been bent and broken, but—I hope—into a better shape.” (515). Estella went through great personal growth throughout the novel and, alongside with Pip, grew up out of her past, away from the way she was raised and not only helped Pip, but also herself to become a more developed, character and a stronger person.
In conclusion, this novel is a prime example of the transformation a man can go through to fulfill his great expectations. In Great Expectations, Pip traveled far away from home, at great lengths, to become a gentleman. He knew four women who influenced his life in great ways but at the end of the novel, Pip came to the realization that everything he needed was right where he left it. Every one of the female characters that had a role in his life, showed Pip the true meaning of love and family in either a positive or a negative way. Biddy showed him through her compassion, Mrs. Joe through her dominance, Estella in her cruelty, and Miss Havisham in her vengeance. Pip did complete his great expectations even if it was not in the way he would have hoped. He learned that love was where he left it, at home. Estella, highlighted Biddy's goodness, and both Miss Havisham and Mrs. Joe showed Pip the type of love that he needed. Great Expectations is a prime novel in showing the journey that a man must take to achieve his dream, but most of all the people who help him get there. Charles Dicken's masterpiece clearly illustrates that a man must go on his journey to complete his life. Because without taking chances, and without following his heart, that man can never see the importance of the people in his life; even if they are standing in front of him.
