Estella

Estella

1. Supremely ironic

   • Darkly undermines the notion of romantic love
   • A bitter criticism of the class system which sh emired

2. Juxtaposition of warm, winsome, kind heroine of a traditional love story

   • She is cold Cynical and manipulative

3. Despite he cold behavior and damaging influences, she is still sympathetic

   • By giving the reader a sense of her inner struggles to discover and act on her own feelings
     • Rather than imposed motives of her upbringing
       • Dickens gives a sense of he inner life - explains what Pip might love about her

4. Estella is cold and cruel to men

   • Raised by Miss Havisham from the age of 3
     • To torment men and 'Break their hearts'
       • Wins Pip's love by practising deepest cruelty
     • Trained to 'Wreak revenge on all male sex'
       • By attracting them then rejecting them
         • Very good at controlling them and making them and do what she wants
   • She is unable to stop hurting Pip
     • But she doesn't want to
       • Repeatedly warns him she has 'No heart'
       • Strongly urges him to find love without her
   • Estell uses Pip to practise on as a child
     • To 'Break his heart'
       • She makes cruel comment of his working class appearance
         • Takes 'Quick delight' in making him cry
   • Completely honest with PIp as an adult
     • Flirts with men to 'Deceive and entrap' them
     • Tells Pip to 'Take warning'
     • Doesn't want to hurt him
   • Doesn't take responsibility for being a heart breaker
     • Blames Miss Havisham
       • ''What? ... Do you reproach me for being cold? You? ... I am what you have made me'
   • In chapter 59 she is open and affectionate to Pip
     • Greets him with a 'Friendly touch'
       • Say he 'Has a place in my heart'
         • Nice person not under the influence of Miss Havisham

5. Estella represents wealth and sophisticaion

   • Represents the longed-for ideal of life among upper class for Pip
     • She is sophisticate, rich and unobtainable
       • Pip learns near end of novel Estella is born lower than him
         • Just as wealth and education seem out of reach for Pip
   • Has been victimised twice by her adopted class
     • Not raised by Magwitch
       • Father of great inner nobiltiy
     • Raised by Miss Havisham
       • Destroys her ability to express emotion and ability to react with the rest of the world
     • Not marrying kind-hearted commoner Pip
     • Marries cruel nobleman Drummle and is unhappy for many years
     • Dickens uses her life to reinforce that one's happiness is not connected to ones social class
       • Had she grew up poor her life would be a lot substantially better off
   • Ironic
     • Estella- who makes Pip want to be a gentleman- is from a criminal background
       • Pip only thinks shes upperclass
         • Pip's dreams are on what appears to be true, not what's real

6. She is similar to Pip

   • Her bad marriage to Drummle causes her to grow along the same lines as Pip
     • She learns through experience to rely on her inner feelings
       • In the final scene of the novel she becomes her own woman
         • Suffering has been stronger than all other teaching. . . . I have been bent and broken, but—I hope—into a better shape
         • Asks Pip to 'Tell me we are freinds'
         • Regrets being 'Quite ignorant' of Pip's 'Worth'
   • Both came from poor backgrounds
   • Rejects Kind loving PIp
     • Marries Drummle because of his superior upper class
     • Pip rejects Joe's loving friendship
       • For Estella's distant creulty

7. She is...

   • Beautiful
     • 'Beautiful and self possessed'
   • Cold
     • 'I have no heart'
   • Critical
     • Her contempt for me was so strong that is became infectious