Great Expectations: Miss Havisham

Miss Havisham isn’t mentioned until late on in chapter 7, though she isn’t present she is centre of the conversation between the already current characters of the novel. It isn’t until part way into chapter 8 that Pip finally meets the previously mentioned women upon entering her house. Pip’s first reaction to Miss Havisham was to remark her to be a strange women, thought he would never say this to her face.

“She was dressed in rich materials - satins, and lace, and silks - all of white. Her shoes were white. And she had a long white veil dependent from her hair, and she had bridal flowers in her hair, but her hair was white. Some bright jewels sparkled on her neck and on her hands, and some other jewels lay sparkling on the table. Dresses, less splendid than the dress she wore, and half-packed trunks, were scattered about. She had not quite finished dressing, for she had but one shoe on - the other was on the table near her hand - her veil was but half arranged, her watch and chain were not put on, and some lace for her bosom lay with those trinkets, and with her handkerchief, and gloves, and some flowers, and a prayer-book, all confusedly heaped about the looking-glass.”

He then continues to remark that all that was white was perhaps not white at all, having aged and turned dirty and yellow throughout the years. The most description towards Miss Havisham’s appearance we get from this quote is her white hair in which were bridal flowers and veil, all of which sounds to be messy and unarranged due to the growth of the hair. These are some key elements I will be using in my designs of Miss Havisham for my final piece. Pip also comments on how Miss Havisham seems withered, her eyes sunken in and seemed almost like a skeleton in loose clothing.

Throughout the rest of this chapter, Pip gives the impression Miss Havisham is very much a dead soul though a living body, at one point saying that he was sure the woman could no longer smile, continuing to indicate she would most likely never have an uplifting feeling ever again.

This image is one of the many original sketches of Miss Havisham, printed into later copies of the novel. The sketch perfectly shows Miss Havisham as she is described, the white hair, small flowers and veil, she also looks very small and withered away in a rather baggy white wedding gown, her eyes are sunken in and her expression is that of a broken woman. These are very important features to remember when creating my own look.

Though Miss Havisham doesn’t change much throughout the story, only aging and becoming more degraded and withered-away, I will be basing my look towards when she first appears in the novel as I have taken into account the case of her illness, and possibly anorexia, meaning getting a model for her early appearance would be easier to cast then that of later in the story.

References:

Charles Dickens (1996) Great Expectations. Penguin Classics. London.