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Critically examine the representation and role of women in Great Expectations
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Therefore, one may argue that Dickens shows both aspects of the
societal spectrum, the subordinate and the superior
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She appears as if
she was Mariana from Lord Tennyson’s poem Mariana, as she too is left behind by her lover in a
decaying house
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(p, 44)

This complex sentence used to describe the character may be used to reflect on the complexity of
the character, who appears to merge within all classes, but not truly belong to any of them
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The
character appears to be separated from the working class, both by barricades and the area in
which she lives – up town
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Her status is known of within the public even though
she is shown to be so separate from the society
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Your own, one day, my dear, and you will use it well
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'
`With this boy! Why, he is a common labouring-boy!'
I thought I overheard Miss Havisham answer -- only it seemed so unlikely -- `Well? You
can break his heart
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51)

Throughout the novel, Miss Havisham appears to raise Estella into being a person incapable of
love, who is shown to be playing with men’s hearts exploitatively
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Of course, one
may argue that Miss Havisham is unable to take revenge by herself because of the emotional
trauma caused by being abandoned at the altar; perhaps she allowed herself to become so
exploiting and heartless because of having been submissive to the opposite gender before coming
into this standstill
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From this
quote one may also argue that the character is testing Estella’s ability to break hearts, which

means that both Pip and Estella are essentially Miss Havisham’s puppets in her mischievous
plan
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This cathartic repentance of Miss Havisham comes soon before her
death, when speaking of Estella, she comes to the conclusion that she “stole her heart away and
put ice in its place” (p, 298)
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“Until you spoke to her the other day, and until I saw in you a looking-glass that showed
me what I once felt myself, I did not know what I had done
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298)

Dickens uses repetition and exclamation marks to present Miss Havisham’s emotive state as she
“wrung her hands, and crushed her white hair” (p, 297)
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The reader can even see the description of
the two characters in this scene to see which character holds power
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Having revealed her emotional state she is left vulnerable
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On the other hand, Miss Havisham can be seen as a character incapable of dealing with
wealth and property, as all her riches are not maintained and she is looking after a child that is
not her own
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In order to
support this claim, women of that era would be expected to change their clothing up to three
times a day, but Miss Havisham is shown to never change out of her wedding dress, even though
her room is filled with different dresses, although not as impressive as her wedding dress
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Having mentioned Miss Havisham appearing to only have one servant, one may argue
that it would be unnecessary to add in more servants considering that his character easily asserts
her dominance
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Dickens uses imperatives such as “play” and “look at me” in order
to build on the character’s laconic and eloquent tone (p, 50)
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It is worth pointing out that the sentences used by the character are very
short, which build on her commanding character and her superiority despite her gender
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Joe Gargery for example, appears to often have a mocking tone when speaking to her
husband, and a very condescending tone when speaking to Pip
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My sister […] had established a great reputation with herself and the neighbors because
she had brought me up "by hand
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(p, 12)

Pip’s sister has clearly acted as a mother to him, which is what gave her the reputation of literally
bringing up Pip by herself, as she possibly had to feed him when he was a baby
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Knowing this, we can assume that Mrs
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One may argue that Mrs
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One may also suggest that the Tickler is personified, as
the object is given a name which is even written with a capital letter, which adds authority to the
object in itself as it is what keeps Joe and Pip from misbehaving
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She even mentions never being able to take off her apron, which perhaps may serve to her as a
reminder that she is a motherly figure in the house, as well as a strict member of the lower class,
perhaps if Pip wasn’t born she would have been employed as a servant
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” The idea of a “spell” may indicate her being a
powerful witch-like figure, perhaps possessed by an evil of some sort because of her behavior
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This
is to the point of where her own husband appears to stay silent when Pip is being abused, he
stands up neither for himself or for Pip, which suggests that he is afraid of his wife, who is
clearly unhappy with the marriage of which the circumstances are unclear
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Pip described how she has been
able to throw him around the house with ease, maybe this presents her as a masculine character
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The hyperbolized metaphor which describes Pip as a “connubial missile” promotes the draconian
aspect of Mrs
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The use of pauses within the sentence may elaborate on the sudden
movements of the characters which leave Pip fairly defenseless
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Pip even admits to see Joe as no more than his equal,
perhaps because they are “fellow-sufferers” of Mrs
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They never
truly are presented to be equals to any of the women within the novel, which leaves them to be
submissive, as they both appear to just take on their punishments with no defense
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Arguably, Pip has gotten used to being abused that he does not realize when he
is treated the way he is meant to be treated when he eventually meets Biddy, who treats him well
and could have been his potential lover from the start
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Arguably, Dickens was trying to portray the potential
women have within society, which could make the novel slightly controversial
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Bibliography
Dickens, Charles, Great Expectations, ed
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