Attempt an analysis of the characters of Estella and Miss Havisham in Great Expectations./ Women characters in Great Expectations.

Attempt an analysis of the characters of Estella and Miss Havisham in Great Expectations./ Women characters in Great Expectations.

Charles Dickens’ novel „Great Expectations“ as a Bildungsroman or gothic novel depicts the growth of a young boy from low social class origin to an adult gentleman containing the struggles with women, employers and relatives. Throughout the novel Pip is confronted with several women of different calibre, from shrewd and hysterical, cold-hearted and distant to caring and loveable. On the following pages I am going to introduce and characterise the two main female characters who influence Pip’s life the most: Mrs. Havisham and Estella.

Character of Estella

Often cited as Dickens’s first convincing female character, Estella is a supremely ironic creation, one who darkly undermines the notion of romantic love and serves as a bitter criticism against the class system in which she is mired. 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. Though she represents Pip’s first longed-for ideal of life among the upper classes, Estella is actually even lower-born than Pip; as Pip learns near the end of the novel, she is the daughter of Magwitch, the coarse convict, and thus springs from the very lowest level of society.

Ironically, life among the upper classes does not represent salvation for Estella. Instead, she is victimized twice by her adopted class. Rather than being raised by Magwitch, a man of great inner nobility, she is raised by Miss Havisham, who destroys her ability to express emotion and interact normally with the world. And rather than marrying the kindhearted commoner Pip, Estella marries the cruel nobleman Drummle, who treats her harshly and makes her life miserable for many years. In this way, Dickens uses Estella’s life to reinforce the idea that one’s happiness and well-being are not deeply connected to one’s social position: had Estella been poor, she might have been substantially better off..............................................................................................................................................

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