Miss Havisham

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'''Miss Havisham''' is a character in [[Charles Dickens]]'s 1861 novel ''[[Great Expectations]]''. She is a wealthy [[spinster]], once jilted at the altar, who insists on wearing her wedding dress for the rest of her life. She lives in a ruined [[mansion]] with her adopted daughter, [[Estella (Great Expectations)|Estella]]. Dickens describes her as looking like "the witch of the place". In the novel, she schemes to have the young orphan, [[Pip (Great Expectations)|Pip]], fall in love with Estella, so that Estella can "[[Broken heart|break his heart]]".

'''Miss Havisham''' is a character in [[Charles Dickens]]'s 1861 novel ''[[Great Expectations]]''. She is a wealthy [[spinster]], once jilted at [[Wedding|the altar]], who insists on wearing her wedding dress for the rest of her life. She lives in a ruined [[mansion]] with her adopted daughter, [[Estella (Great Expectations)|Estella]]. Dickens describes her as looking like “the witch of the place”. In the novel, she schemes to have the young orphan, [[Pip (Great Expectations)|Pip]], fall in love with Estella, so that Estella can “[[Broken heart|break his heart]]”.

Although she has often been portrayed in film versions as very elderly, Dickens's own notes indicate that she is only in her mid-thirties at the start of the novel. However, it is indicated in the novel that her long seclusion without sunlight has aged her. She is one of the most [[Gothic fiction|gothic]] characters in the work of Dickens.<ref>{{cite news |title=The Gothic in Great Expectations |url=https://www.bl.uk/romantics-and-victorians/videos/the-gothic-in-great-expectations |access-date=16 August 2021 |agency=[[British Library]]}}</ref>

Although she has often been portrayed in film versions as very elderly, Dickens's own notes indicate that she is only in her mid-thirties at the start of the novel. However, it is indicated in the novel that her long seclusion without sunlight has aged her. She is one of the most [[Gothic fiction|gothic]] characters in the work of Dickens.<ref>{{cite news |title=The Gothic in Great Expectations |url=https://www.bl.uk/romantics-and-victorians/videos/the-gothic-in-great-expectations |access-date=16 August 2021 |agency=[[British Library]]}}</ref>