Description of Miss Havisham (Great Expectations)

 

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    Miss Havisham is one of the main characters from the "Great Expectations" by Charles Dickens. In the book Miss Havisham is described as an old,mad woman who lives in a house where the day-light is never passing through the windows. She always wears the wedding dress, for every single day of her life. This kind of life is the result of a tragic event: the day of her wedding, when at 20 to 9, Miss Havisham received a letter from the man that was suppoused to be her husband, in which he tells her that he won't be present at the ceremony.

    After that dramatic heartbreak, she left everything in the way it was. This aspect is regarding also her appearence. Apart her wedding dress, she is also always wearing only one shoe, as during that day, by that time she didn't manage to put on the second shoe. From the book we can find also different details regarding her appearence: " Miss Havisham had also bridal flowers in her hair, but her hair was white. Some bright jewels sparkled on her neck and on her hands.... Sunken eyes, rounded figure..." . Pip sees her as  a skeleton with dar eyes and a weird smile.

     Miss Havisham adopted Estella as a person who to love an educated her in a way to be cruel, with a heart made of ice, who cannot love and who cannot feel any other kind of feelings. This element shows us how much she really needed to have someone by her side, and even if she taught Estella to be cruel, her heart was full of love and warmth.

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     Miss Havisham is the character that attracted my attention more that any other character. Her personality,her way of being eccentric and her power. Even if she never went out of her house, she managed anyways to show herself as a powerfull woman that can have the controll of everything.

    I definitely can understand her behaviour and also why she maintained her wedding appearence. Usualy people say: " What doesn't kill you, makes you stronger!". Her strong character is the result of her broken heart, but we also can notice her weakness through her appearence. The fact that she kept everything the way it was, shows that she have never forgotten about that day. It shows her pain and her huge desire of turning back in time for living again and again that day that was suppoused to be the happiest day of her life. It shows that she didn't have enough power to begin a new chapter in her life. The disapointment was more powerfull then her inner spirit.