Analysis of Miss Havisham

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Great Expectations-

Themes:

• Poverty
• Social class
• wealth 
• Love
• Revenge

Miss Havisham can be portrayed in many ways and through many looks depending on what her character is being filmed for such as, TV, film, theatre. I think the main theme throughout the novel is wealth, because without wealth there is no social class. Miss Havisham and Satis House, both is ruins as it all went down hill together from the day she was left on her to-be wedding day and conned. Miss Havisham and her decayed house have another relationship; it parallels the diseased state of her mind. By stopping time, symbolized by the clocks all reading twenty to nine, Miss Havisham has stopped her life, which thereby becomes death-in-life. By wilfully stopping her life at a moment of pain and humiliation, she indulges her own anger, self-pity, and desire for revenge; she imagines her death as "the finished curse" upon the man who jilted her (page 87). In her revenge, which destroys her life, she is like a child who hurts itself in its anger at someone else.

Miss Havisham encourages Estella to entrap Pip and break his heart, for practice. Estella complies, and they play a card game, Beggar My Neighbor. Later, Miss Havisham explicitly urges Pip to love Estella:

"Love her, love her, love her! If she favours you, love her. If she wounds you, love her. If she tears your heart to pieces–and as it gets older and stronger–it will tear deeper–love her, love her, love her!"...
        "Hear me, Pip! I adopted her to be loved. I bred her and educated her to be loved. I developed her into what she is, that she might be loved. Love her!"...
       "I'll tell you," said she, in the same hurried passionate whisper, "what real love it. It is blind devotion, unquestioning self-humiliation, utter submission, trust and belief against yourself and against the whole world, giving up your whole heart and soul to the smiter–as I did!" (page 240).

Miss Havishams plan the whole way along was for Pip to fall for Estella, for her beauty, for her words and be crushed and destroyed at the end. The only way Pip could have ever been up to Estella standards was to become a gentleman, which he did and pursued his life in misery trying to forget and push away his old life. However Miss Havisham knowing she brought Estella up teaching her to receive love and never return ended up going the right way with using Estella as revenge to other men as it pleased and gives Miss Havisham satisfaction seeing this happen. 

In older films portraying Miss Havisham they have created her very old and withered away however personally when reading the book I pictured her looking old only because of the lack of sunlight, dirt, air, mould and lack of taking physical care of herself so she looks very run down. However personally I would say Mike Newells 2012 versions age is quite spot on to me as I picture her being in her early 50's late 40's. 

Gillian Anderson 2011 BBC mini-series. Lookingaround mid forties.
http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/arts/tv-radio/article3272675.ece

Jean Simmons, who had previously played Estella in 1946,
 played Miss Havisham in Great Expectations in 1989. Looking
to be in her 60's. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/culturepicturegalleries
/8907506/Gillian-Anderson-Helena-Bonham-Carter-and-
Miss-Havisham-on-film.html?image=16

Helena Bonham Carter as Miss Havisham in the 2012 film. Looking around mid 40's. 
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/9542906/Great-Expectations-
Toronto-Film-Festival-film-review.html

I think throughout make-up Miss Havisham could be portrayed many ways depending through character and personality. In the up coming weeks I will be creating Miss Havisham in my own perspective. This could either be Miss Havisham before she was married or when she was at the end of her life burning in the flames.




http://academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu/english/melani/novel_19c/dickens/love.html