Miss Havisham

Miss Havisham is a significant character in Charles Dickens' novel of Great Expectations.  She is a wealthy, eccentric old woman who lives in Satis House.  She is portrayed as manic and seen as insane because she moves around her house in an old wedding dress, having kept a decaying feast on her table.

Miss Havisham's life is defined by her being jilted by Compeyson on their wedding day.  From then onwards, she is intent on never moving on from her heartbreak.  She stops all the clocks in her house to moment when she found out that Compeyson was gone; twenty minutes to nine.  Miss Havisham adopts Estella and raises her as her 'weapon' in order to achieve her revenge on men.  She brings Estella up to have no heart and teaches her not to love.  She is unaware that her actions are destructive to Pip and Estella's relationship.

In a lot of film versions of the book, Miss Havisham is portrayed as a very elderly woman, whereas Dickens himself notes that she is only middle aged.  It is indicated that her cooped up lifestyle away from daylight and the sun has aged her more than necessary, and Dickens does describe her as looking like 'the witch of the place'.

Sketch of Miss Havisham and Pip
Available: http://fluffernutter.co.uk/?paged=2. Last accessed 21st Jan 2014.

References:
- Unknown. (2012). Great Expectations Character List. Available: http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/greatex/characters.html. Last accessed 21st Jan 2014.
- Unknown. (2012). Great Expectations Analysis of Major Characters.Available: http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/greatex/canalysis.html. Last accessed 21st Jan 2014.
- Unknown. (2014). Miss Havisham. Available: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miss_Havisham. Last accessed 21st Jan 2014.