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An analysis of Miss Havisham’
s
character and her tragic destiny
in
Great Expectations
An
analysis of Miss Havisham’s character
and her tragic destiny in
Great Expectations
by
Mandy Huang
Great
Expectations
written
by
Charles
Dickens is regarded
as a masterpiece of
English
novels.
It
narrates
the
story
of
Pip, an
orphan boy who has good luck and
great
expectations, and then loses both
his
luck
and
expectations.
The
main
characters
invented
by
Charles
Dickens
in
the
book
have
displayed
their
own
charms
completely because of the extraordinary
wealth of Charles Dickens’ invention as
exhibited
in
the
number
and
variety
of
the
characters introduced into his novels,
his amazing keenness of observation and
his
descriptive
power,
and
also
his
creative ability of
humor.
Sometimes
in
Dickens’
novel,
the
protagonist is described
comparatively
feeble,
while
some
secondary
characters,
particularly
those with strange spirit
are
portrayed
vividly.
The
female
character Miss Havisham belongs to such
figures.
She
is
one
of
the
figures
portrayed
quite
successfully
in
the
book.
So
in
this
essay,the
focus
is
Miss
Havisham’s
character
and
her
tragic
destiny
instead
of
the
hero
Great
1
/
6
By Mandy Huang
An analysis
of Miss Havisham’
s character and her
tragic destiny in
Great Expectations
Expectations
,
Miss
Havisham
and
her
strange dress, life
style and behavior
attract
the
readers
greatly.
Most
people
regard
her
as
a
hateful
person.
However,
she
is
a
tragic
person
worthy
of
sympathy.
And the causes of
this tragic character
will
be
analyzed
through
studying
the
society,
family
and
Miss
Havisham
herself.
In
this
way,
we
can
have
an
objective
and
all-round understanding of this image.
Born
in
an
aristocratic
family,
Young
Havisham
is
very
proud
and
not
truly
compassionate and charitable who hates
her
poor
relatives
.On
one
hand
she
retorts
those
relatives
who
are
fawning,
insincere
and
just
in
an
attempt
to
cheat
her
money
sarcastically
and
exposes
their
lies
ironically. On
the
other
hand,
she
considers
her
cousin
Matthew
a
man
of
integrity
and
honesty
and
kindness.
Therefore
Miss
Havisham
follows
Pip’s
advice
and
leaves
a
large
legacy
to
Matthew
and
his
son
as
a
subsidy.
Her
life
is
totally
changed
by
a
single
tragic
event:
her
jilting
by
Compeyson
on
their
wedding day. From that
moment on, Miss
Havisham
is
determined
never
to
move
beyond
her
heartbreak.
With
a
kind
of
manic
and
obsessive
cruelty,
Miss
Havisham
adopts
Estella
and
raises
her
as
2
/
6
By Mandy Huang
An analysis of Miss
Havisham’
s character and her tragic
destiny in
Great Expectations
a
weapon
to
achieve
her
own
revenge
on
men.
Miss Havisham becomes a rich, eccentric
old dowager living in a rotting mansion
called
Satis
House.
This
not
only
ruined
her
normal
life,
but
also
ruined
her
stepdaughter Estella and Pip who loved
Estella.
Thus
it
seems
that
Miss
Havisham
is
a
hateful
image,
but
in
fact
her
revenge
action
cannot
hide
her
kindness.
She
was
very
kind to
Pip
and
arranged for
his
future. All in all, Miss
Havisham is a
lifelike
image
because
of
the
complexity
and richness of
her character.
The
social
influence
on
Miss
Havisham’s
tragic
destiny
is
too
apparent
to be neglected.
Great Expectations
is
set
in
Victorian
England,
a
time
when
great social changes
were sweeping the
nation.
Although
the
Victorian
Age
meets
a material prosperity,
the polarization
of
wealth
is
widening
and
the
class
contradiction is becoming more serious,
and
this
result
in
the
corruption
of
money
to
human’s
relationship.
M
arriage,
love,
courts,
jails
are
based
on
this.
Also,The
Victorian
Age
is
a
male-centered
society,
the
idea
that
women
should
be
subjective
to
men
roots
in
women’
s
mind.
Miss
Havisham
is
just
the
victim
of
this
society.
She
is
abandoned
on
her
wedding
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6
By Mandy Huang