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Great Expectations Miss Havisham Essay Writing

The most obvious way to write an essay about revenge in Great Expectations would be to focus on Miss Havisham and the way she ruins lives in her quest for vengeance. When Pip meets her, Miss Havisham has not recovered from being left at the marriage altar. Her diminished life is motivated by her desire to destroy a man by having him jilted the way she was jilted. She raises her ward Estella to be cold, haughty and rejecting so that she can achieve her revenge through Estella. She shows little regard for Estella's needs or what being raised as a cold-hearted woman will do to her. Pip becomes Miss Havisham's victim: he is to fall in love with Estella and have his heart broken. Miss Havisham is also an unintended victim of her own scheme, trapped in a destructive cycle brought on by a past she can't escape.

To write such an essay, it would be best to gather quotes about revenge from the novel, and quotes about how Miss Havisham's revenge scheme impacts other characters in the novel. 

Miss Havisham plays a big part in Pip's life. Dickens portrays her as a woman who was jilted on her wedding day. This event ruined her life. She has stopped all the clocks and sits in her yellowing wedding dress. (1 [1: Factual description of Miss Havisham. ]) Dickens describes her in a way which makes me imagine the castle of the White Witch in Narnia, with its frozen statues in the courtyard. (2 [2: Personal response. ])

Miss Havisham employs Pip to play with Estella, but enjoys watching her mock and shame him. She is happiest when Pip falls in love with Estella, because then she can taunt him that he will never be good enough to have her. (3 [3: Facts about Miss Havisham's desires and feelings. ]) Dickens writes:

"Miss Havisham repeated, 'If she tears your heart to pieces - love her, love her, love her!'" (4 [4: Quote to prove the point. ])

By this, he is showing that Miss Havisham wants Estella to break his heart. (5 [5: Explanation of how the quote proves the point. ]) In the end, however, Estella rejects Miss Havisham as well. Miss Havisham eventually sees that she hurt Pip because she was hurt, and asks his forgiveness. She gets too close to the fire and is burned - in the 19th century, readers would have seen this as God's punishment. (6 [6: Social and cultural context. ])

In the story of Great Expectations (7 [7: Flags up that the essay is now going to work at word text level. ]), Dickens purposefully portrays Miss Havisham as an 'unreal' character. (8 [8: Opening statement of paragraph, stating a characteristic of her character. ]) You can see this in the fact that she wears fantastic clothing and looks like a waxwork. (9 [9: Supported by facts from the story. ]) For her, time has stopped; she stopped all her clocks the moment she found out her lover had jilted her, which shows she has not moved on with her life. (10 [10: What this means for her character is drawn out. ])

One possible reason why Dickens portrayed her like this is that he wanted to create an image of a woman who is psychologically damaged. (11 [11: Suggestion as to WHY Dickens portrayed her like that. ]) This makes her a character for whom we have sympathy. (12 [12: What this means for her character is drawn out. ]) There were many such people in 19th century England (long before there was mental health care). (13 [13: Social and cultural background. ]) A number of people have been suggested models for Miss Havisham. For example, Wikipedia suggests Dickens based her on an Australian woman called Eliza Emily Donnithorne. (14 [14: Own ideas - this is extra research, not something this website has told you. ])

Alternatively, Dickens might have wanted to create a character who was 'distant' and emotionally 'out of touch'. (15 [15: More than one idea/interpretation. ]) Dickens never got on with his mother, and it is possible he is imagining a parallel between himself and Pip - as children who needed a loving mother but only got a heartless 'user'. (16 [16: Reference to Dickens' personal context. ]).

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Dickens also creates an impression of Miss Havisham for the reader through the words and style in which he writes about her. (17 [17: Flags up that the essay is now going to work at word/sentence level. ])


One stylistic feature (18 [18: Flags up that the paragraph is going to talk about repetition. ]) of this passage that is typical of Dickens is the repetition of the word 'dropped'. This portrays Miss Havisham (19 [19: Explains effect of the repetition for the reader. ]) as someone who has lost everything. Poor woman - you cannot drop more wholly than "body and soul, within and without"! (20 [20: Sensitivity to Dickens' intentions. ]) The word 'dropped' creates an image in the reader's mind of a woman who is slumped and broken. It makes me think of an old woman in a care home waiting to die. (21 [21: Personal response. ]) Dickens wanted us to imagine a woman who has lost her hopes, energy, self-esteem, and will to live. The word 'dropped' is especially wonderful (22 [22: Evaluates the effects of Dickens' technique. ]) because it carries the idea of 'downwards' - into depression, perhaps, or a personal hell. And the reader thinks of lost opportunities - of the beautiful vase smashed on the floor, or the missed cricket catch. (23 [23: Layers of meaning/alternative suggestions. ])

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