estella

• “why don’t you cry again, you little wretch?”

  • mirrors Havisham’s use of intimidating interrogation
  • subverts typical Victorian women with her cruelty (foil to Biddy)
• “I have been bent and broken, but into a better shape”


  metaphor emphasises Estella’s bildungsroman as she eventually repents
• “I am what you have made me”


  declarative - weaponised by Havisham in pursuit of her myopic misandrist agenda
• What does Estella symbolise?

  • Estella = ‘star’ - nomenclature shows she is unobtainable due to social class
  • represents unsympathetic Victorian aristocracy - acts as a didactic vehicle for Dickens to encourage sympathy for the poor
• “what coarse hands! and what thick boots !”


  motif of Pip as “coarse” - he goes on to echo her hateful language
• “coarse and common”


  harsh consonance mirrors her harsh cruelty & disdain - catalyst for Pip’s social mobility
• “her contempt for me became infectious, and I caught it.”


  hateful metaphor of disease - her shaming of Pip catalysed his desire for social mobility

  metaphor of disease overtly displays repulsed attitudes of upper class
• “I stole her heart and put ice in it’s place”


  Estella is physically incapable of love due to Havisham’s weaponisation and manipulation