Havisham's Treatment Of Women In Great Expectations
628 Words3 Pages
In Great Expectations, Charles Dickens emulates his own life, incorporating many bad mothers and the consequences of having one in his novel. For instance, overprotective mothers may force their child to be aloof and unknowledgeable in the real world. Continually, an uncaring or harsh mother may leave a child without a family he depends on or with no desire for a child to return to his family. To start, an excessively controlling mother may raise a child without a necessary facet for life. At all times, Ms. Havisham tries to control Estella so Estella can mold into the heart-breaker Ms. Havisham dreams of. To demonstrate, when Pip escorts Estella to her new home in Richmond, he wonders how Ms. Havisham could “part with [Estella] again,” to which Estella informs Pip that “it is part of Miss Havisham’s plans for [her],” and that she must “write to [Miss Havisham] constantly and see her regularly” (4421). Even though Estella recently turned 20, Miss Havisham refuses to grant…show more content… Before her injury, Mrs. Joe would discipline Pip whenever he made a mistake and caused him great discomfort and a lack of love for her. For example, when Mrs. Joe caught Pip not eating his food at dinner, she “made a dive at [him], and fished [him] up by the hair” and forced him to drink tar water (259). Mrs. Joe’s other cruel things applied to Pip, such as the Tickler, all led to Pip not caring all that much when Mrs. Joe receives her injury. Also, during Pip’s gentleman training in London, he only visits his family once before Mrs. Joe dies, probably because agony and suffering riddle his memories of them. In addition, Mrs. Joe’s endless cruelty produced years of fear and anguish for Pip. Pip’s dread of Mrs. Joe’s wrath that when he believed that Mrs. Joe would beat him, he “felt that [he] could bear no more,” and must “[run] for [his] life”