miss havisham

• what does Havisham symbolise?

  Havisham symbolises the Victorian elite in her cruelty to Pip (who represents the poor) and the corruption of wealth
• “a model with a mechanical heart to practice on”


  Havisham weaponises Estella as a tool to torture Pip in pursuit of her misandrist agenda
• “Love her! Love her! Love her!”


  epizeuxis intensifies the commanding desperation to complete her vengeance against mankind
• “What have I done! What have I done!”


  epizeuxis and desperate repetition emphasising newfound repentance
• “skeleton in the ashes of a rich dress” , “spectre”


  Gothic field of decay and inhumanity - form of ’mad woman in the attic’ that was popularised during the Victorian era
• “once white, now yellow”

  • motif - shift in colour imagery mirrors Havisham’s transformation
  • decayed state prefigures emptiness of Pip’s great expectations for social mobility and Estella’s love
  • dilapidated state of Satis House parallels the diseased state of her mind
• what does Havishams’s myopic misandrist agenda act as a catalyst for?


  her mental decline
• “I stole her heart and put ice in it’s place”


  juxtaposition of love “heart” and hate “ice” mirrors Havisham’s warped sense of love
• “you are not afraid of a woman who has not seen the sun since before you were born?”

  • intimidating interrogatives used to evoke trepidation in Pip
  • motif of darkness linked to Havisham - her cruelty is self-destructive