Estella: A Brief Summary

            Estella was the adopted daughter of Miss Havisham.  Miss Havisham adopted her with the intention of saving her from the heartbreak she witnessed men capable of causing. Miss Havisham saw the beautiful girl as a potential weapon to take revenge on the male sex.  Estella was taught to be cruel, insulting, and alluring.  She practiced these lessons on Pip, an orphan in the care of an abusive sister, in her childhood.  Its effect was to make Pip fall madly in love with her.  Estella continuously rejected and warned Pip of her inability to attach herself to anyone.  While she told him the truth, she still accepted his attentions.  Her words might have been honest, but her behavior was deceitful.  Pip’s affections were a game to her, but her actions were torture to Pip.  For the first half of the novel, Estella’s role was the temptress.  She lured men through her charms; once she held their heart, she would crush it.  It could almost be called sardonic.       

            Estella eventually married Bently Drummle, a man of ill repute.  Her marriage was directly against the wishes of Miss Havisham.  She wanted Estella to continue her game of conquest and crushing for a while longer.  In marrying Drummle, Estella also completely disregarded the warnings of Pip.  He was not ignorant of Drummle’s character and could not bear to see her marry him.  Miss Havisham eventually realized what her lessons had done to Estella’s life and ability to love.  Understanding the significance of Estella’s insensitivity, Miss Havisham was heartbroken. 

About this time, Estella heritage was revealed.  Her father was none other than Magwitch.  He was the convict and benefactor who made Pip a gentleman.  Her mother was very possibly a murderess and the servant of Mr. Jaggers.  Estella’s heritage was never revealed to her in the novel.  The main significance was that she herself was not some born deity.  Her beginnings were more humble than Pip.  She, like Pip, was taken out of her surroundings and given an opportunity to become something more.  Estella had great expectations at some point as well.      

In the end, Estella’s life did not turn out the way she anticipated.  She separated from her abusive husband before he passed away.  In the final pages, Estella expressed her awakening to Pip’s character and love.  She realized how she had tossed that aside and failed to see his value.  The book ended with her and Pip having made the decision to be friends.  There was a room for interpretation for where how that friendship would develop.   

Estella: A Brief Anaylsis

Hope for the Heartless…

Estella was the most tragic character in Great Expectations.  Pip and Miss Havisham made poor decisions that had major emotional and life situation consequences.  They made their own choices though.  Joe and Biddy were tragic because they were neglected by those who loved them.  Estella deserved the most pity, because she was used as a toy for the twisted pleasure of an old woman man-hater.  Miss Havisham said as Estella “grew, and promised to be very beautiful, I gradually did worse, and with my praises, and with my jewels, and with my teachings, and with this figure of myself always before her a warning to back and point my lessons, I stole her heart away and put ice in its place.”  She took pleasure in molding a child into a weapon to reap revenge on the male sex.  Miss Havisham effectively brain washed Estella.  As a result, Estella was unable to form emotional attachments to people especially men.  Her unfortunate marriage to Drummle was what ironically saved her.  The book suggested that Drummle was an abusive husband.  Physical, verbal, and mental abuse are used to belittle and break down someone’s spirit.  As sick and sad as this was, his treatment thawed her coldness and made her human.  The end of the novel left great hope for Estella.  

“There was a long hard time when I kept far from me, the remembrance of what I had thrown away when I was quite ignorant of its worth.  But, since my duty has not been incompatible with the admission of that remembrance, I have given it a place in my heart.”

For the first time in the novel, Estella referred to herself as possessing a heart that was capable of feeling.

 Estella was a child removed from poverty and given a great opportunity.  Sometimes in life, our best and greatest expectations do not turn out to be as glorious as they first appear.  Through our choices and others influence, often the daydream seems to be scattered right in front of our eyes.  This book is great because it takes us through the tunnel to the other side to find another truth.  While our choices have consequences, as long as you are alive there is time for hope.  No matter how badly the previous chapters of our life have turned out, there may still be a good ending.  It may not be glass slippers, princes, riding off into sunsets, or happily ever after.  The end may be that the mists are rising, and that there is still hope for the heartless.