Great Expectations
Miss Havisham
The woman in the wedding dress
A wealthy recluse who stopped every clock on her wedding morning and raised Estella to break hearts.
Miss Havisham lives in Satis House, a decaying mansion where she still wears a yellowed wedding dress. Years ago, she was left at the altar. A letter arrived at twenty minutes to nine on the morning of her wedding, and she has refused to let time move since. The wedding feast still rots on the table.
She is eccentric and bitter, and she brings up Estella to punish men. When she invites Pip to play, she uses him as practice for Estella's cruelty. She tells him to love Estella, whatever Estella does to his heart. She is not purely a villain, because her hurt is real and so is her eventual regret.
“Love her, love her, love her! If she favours you, love her. If she tears your heart to pieces—love her, love her, love her!”
In the story
Contains spoilers.
Miss Havisham shows Pip the bridal feast and later pays Joe to bind him as an apprentice, ending the visits. She is not the secret benefactor, though Pip thinks she is. When Pip learns the truth from Magwitch and sees her again, he finds Estella is to marry Bentley Drummle.
Miss Havisham sees her own cruelty at last. She begs Pip's forgiveness, signs a draft of nine hundred pounds for Herbert's partnership, and says she has been a ghost in her own house. As he leaves, her veil catches fire, and Pip saves her at the cost of burnt hands. She is laid on the banquet table, crying out about what she has done.
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