In Chapter 38 of Great Expectations,
Pip is witness to a fight between Estella and Miss Havisham which begins with Estella
gradually beginning to "detach herself" from Miss Havisham's arm and ends with Miss
Havisham fainting. During this fight, Pip watches as Miss Havisham accuses Estella of
being "cold," and Estella responds by saying, "I am what you have made
me."
Essentially, Miss Havisham realizes that she raised
Estella to be incapable of loving others (the goal was to prevent her from loving men)
so that she would not be hurt in the same way Miss Havisham was. However, Miss Havisham
never anticipated that Estella would show her learned unkindness to Miss Havisham
herself, as this behavior is an ingrained part of Estella's
personality.
With regard to your question concerning Pip's
discovery of Miss Havisham's "use of Estella," this discovery occurs earlier in the
novel. Specifically, Herbert Pocket, a relative of Miss Havisham, tells Pip in Chapter
22 that Estella was adopted by Miss Havisham and "has been brought up by Miss Havisham
to wreak revenge on all the male sex."
No comments:
Post a Comment