Great Expectations How Does Estella Influence Pip

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Great Expectations presents the growth and development of one single character, Pip. As the main focus of the story, Pip is the most important character in the novel. He is both the the narrator and the protagonist of the story. The author, Charles Dickens, shows how Pip is influenced by many people along the way. One of the main influences on Pip is a girl named Estella, who lives near Pip's home in the marshes. Although she is constantly insulting Pip, he quickly falls in love with her. When she says, "And what coarse hands he has! And what thick boots!" Pip takes it to heart and is saddened by it. Estella makes him feel ashamed of his uneducated family and longs to become a good man. Estella's influence over Pip could be considered a bad one. Estella wins Pip’s deepest love by being deliberately cruel, because she was raised by Miss Havisham to torment men and to “break their hearts.” Unlike the average kind of heroine from a traditional love story, Estella is cold and manipulative. Though she represents Pip’s first idea to live life as a high class gentleman, Estella herself is actually even lower down the social scale than Pip. Pip learns near the end of the novel that Estella is the daughter of a convict named Magwitch.…show more content…
Miss Havisham causes herself and everyone else in her life to suffer because of her vengeance and revenge. Miss Havisham is seemingly unable to see that her actions are hurtful to Pip and Estella, whom she raised. Despite her actions and bad choices, she is redeemed at the end of the novel. She realizes that she has caused Pip’s heart to be broken, much like her own. She also realizes her actions had caused more harm than her intended revenge. Miss Havisham pleadingly begs for Pip’s forgiveness, which reinstates the novel’s theme that bad behavior can be overseen by sympathy and

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