Charles Dickens Great Expectation portrays a woman by the name Miss Havisham who is also a major character of the work. Miss Havisham who has a wealthy background, out of the love of her father inherited at her father’s death mayor assets of her father. She was a pretty woman in every sense but was found wanting in an area which will be discussed in the later part of this piece.
When she got to marriageable age, she found love in the person of Compeyson who in Great Expectation portrays a wicked and cruel man. Not long after the duo met that they signed an agreement to spend the rest of their lives together. This singular agreement saw the commencement of their wedding preparations. Wedding cards from the best printer in town were printed. The wedding planner who was one of the best in the country was contacted and the proposal made fitted into the picture of the duo’s dream wedding. The wedding gown, shoes and other accessories of Miss Havisham appeared as if, they were packaged in heaven. Continental dishes of various sorts were fully arranged. The priests were not also left out of the bargain as both Compeyson and Havisham sought and got the best priests around.
On the day of the wedding, Heaven opened its sun rays down to planet earth, thereby leading to a very fine and clement weather. The D.J man was around coupled with the photographers. The abode of Miss Havisham was lively as even the walls, trees and flowers smile in conjunction with the great event. The flower girls were getting dressed and everything and everybody smiled and looked forward to the joyful moment when the two lovers will be joined together in Holy Matrimony. The direction in the room where Miss Havisham sat and waited for the shuffer that will take them down to the church, one could see no other picture other than that of an Angel. Indeed Miss Havisham looked very beautiful in her wedding attire. Her wedding gown glittered like the “Northern star”, her ornaments of gold were second to none. She looked so beautiful that you may mistake her to be a real Angel. The time to go to church came and Mr. Compeyson was no where to be found.
What could be the problem? Did anything bad happen to him? Thousands of questions flooded the brides mind and that of her companions but there were no answers to the puzzle that befell them. They made frantic effort to reach the groom but the answer to his where about seemed far-fetched. At that juncture, confusion invaded the peaceful and beautiful abode of Miss Havisham as relations battled to unravel the mystery behind Compeyson’s behaviour. Miss Havisham was thrown into deep confusion as to what could have happened to her health throb. Another question came to her mind as to whether Mr. Compeyson had proceeded to the wedding venue but it cannot be she lamented because the agreement and the custom was that both should ride to the Church together.
While still deep in thought, the news of why Mr. Compeyson was not yet present was that he had changed his mind and was no longer interested in the marriage and therefore had called off the wedding. The moment Miss Havisham got the news, she slumped and suffered deep emotional depression. A state of health she lived in and battled with for many years before she died.
When she woke up from her slumber, she took a firm but bad decision not to see the sun as long as she lived. She also vowed that she will have nothing to do with the creature called “man”. She chooses to dwell in her deep and dangerous state of mind. She became furious and hated men with passion. When it looked as if her youthful age was giving way, she sought and trained Estella, her adopted child to dislike men.
This attitude was manifested, the very first day Pip visited the house of Miss Havisham and the rude way in which Estella attended to Pip attested to her rude nature. All through the subsequent visits that Pip made to Miss Havisham’s house both Estella and Miss Havisham never manifested love. Estella ordered and insulted Pip randomly. The reason for this behaviour of Estella was that she was trained for seventeen years in Miss Havisham’s house to break men’s heart
because Miss Havisham saw that, as the only way to avenge her disappointment.
There is no gain saying the fact, that Miss Havisham was not hurt by Mr. Compeyson who disappointed her in marriage. There is no doubt that, she suffered huge embarrassment in the presence of her guests. There is equally no doubt that Mr. Compeyson was a bad cruel and cowardly man, but should that have been the end of life for Miss Havisham? This often times is the case of those that had been wounded by one form of circumstances or the other. Instead of rising and pulling the dagger out of their body, they choose to remain with the dagger on the ground. Such people forget that nobody survives with daggers or bullets in his/her system.
The drastic decision of, “I will never forgive the person that hurts me” is not the best decision at all. When you bottle up emotions, they weigh heavily on the heart, this is because bad emotions weigh so heavily on human body. The wait of a bottled anger and that of unforgiveness are killer diseases, that if allowed can kill an individual.
Out of anger Miss Havisham, deprived herself the beauties outside her room. She chose to lock herself up in her room with her wedding attires. Those attires reminded her minute by minute her loss and gradually her life and existence started shrinking up till the day she died and her death was miserable as she was consumed by fire. The fire here symbolizes the emotional trauma that walls and burns the heart as you dwell in thought of your past. If you allow the emotional trauma to continue, the fire and the heat that exhume from the situation will consume such a person.
The best way to come out of your hurt is not to incubate your hurt. The best approach is to let go off everything that reminds you of that bad situation, instead of dwelling on it.
