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Fiction

Notes seems not to want to hurt him; she repeatedly warns him that she has “no heart” and seems
to urge him as strongly as she can to find happiness by leaving her behind. Finally, Estella’s
long, painful marriage to Drummle causes her to develop along the same lines as Pip—that
is, she learns, through experience, to rely on and trust her inner feelings. In the final scene of
the novel, she has become her own woman for the first time in the book. As she says to Pip,
“Suffering has been stronger than all other teaching. . . . I have been bent and broken, but—
I hope—into a better shape.”
Miss Havisham
The mad, vengeful Miss Havisham, a wealthy dowager who lives in a rotting mansion and
wears an old wedding dress every day of her life, is not exactly a believable character, but she
is certainly one of the most memorable creations in the book. Miss. Havisham’s life is defined
by a single tragic event: her jilting by Compeyson on what was to have been their wedding
day. From that moment forth, Miss Havisham is determined 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 Compeyson was gone, and she wears only one shoe, because when she learned
of his betrayal, she had not yet put on the other shoe. 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 single-minded vengeance pursued destructively: both
Miss Havisham and the people in her life suffer greatly because of her quest for revenge. Miss
Havisham is completely unable to see that 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. Miss. Havisham immediately begs Pip for forgiveness, reinforcing
the novel’s theme that bad behavior can be redeemed by contrition and sympathy.

16.2 Great Expectations: Style and Themes

16.2.1 Themes - Theme Analysis
Pip’s great expectations are a dramatized exploration of human growth and the pressures that
distort the potential of an ordinary individual, especially in the process of growing up. Pip is
a simple blacksmith’s boy who aspires to cross social boundaries when he realizes his own
upbringing is common; however, he has no means to change. Mysteriously, he is given the
means, but wealth only brings with it idleness.

Did u know? Pip learns that happiness in life can be achieved only by hard work and that
great expectations not grounded in reality can only lead to tragedy and
heartache.

Part of this theme is an exploration of the dignity of labor. Pip initially feels ashamed to
associate himself with Joe but later realizes that hard work brings honor to a man. As for
honor, Pip realizes the importance of traits like loyalty and kindness, and eventually understands
that no amount of money can make up for the lack of those traits. Supplementary to this theme
is the sharp juxtaposition of appearance and reality, as well as the traditional notion that pride
comes before a fall. Pip learns valuable lessons from his misguided assumptions. And his
pride causes him to do things he is later ashamed of. A final thematic consideration is the
belief that goodness is always able to supplant evil, even in characters like Miss. Havisham.
Mrs. Joe, Magwitch, Estella, and Pip are further examples of characters whose inherent goodness
is apparent despite their wrongdoings.

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