Exisiting portrayals of Miss Havisham ♰

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In Great Expectations (2012) Miss Havisham is portrayed as a very moody, not nice character who refuses to take off her decaying wedding dress as her Fiancé abandoned her on their wedding day. Then she decided to take revenge on every male she meets... To do this she decides to adopt a girl named Estella and uses her to break men's hearts. Her first victim was a boy called Pip who is one of the main characters in the film. 

When it comes to the physical aspect of Miss Havisham in the film, she looks different to when you for example want to compare it to other productions. Her hair is long and very curly.. She also has a veil which she doesn't in some of the other productions. This I think makes her look more distant to the world in this film, more isolated. 

In my opinion she is certainly one of the most memorable characters in the film, not only because of the visual side but because of the mood she creates... It's different in many ways. However, I think Miss Havisham has been buried a little because of Helena Bonham Carter who played her. We see more of the actress then Miss Havisham. While watching this film I thought Helena was too much of a symbol of herself and not enough of this lonely, heartbroken rich woman who is very lost and...sometimes quite evil. 

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The book gives us a very clear view of Miss Havisham's character, beginning in chapter 8. Charles Dickens uses very interesting Gothic techniques to create this evil impression of this character. She does not leave her house, but at the same time it feels abandoned because of her Fiancé. She has been wearing this wedding dress for so many years- it is more grey then white... This makes her not exactly a believable and relatable character. Her house very well represents an element of Gothic literature in this book. It is not clean, it never has any visitors and is always very dark and miserable. There is no happiness... Just darkness and sadness. 

“...Had a great many bars to it. Some of the windows had been walled up...all the lower were rustily barred”.

I feel like Dickens used Miss Havisham's character as a comparison when it comes to upper and lower working class. The book very often mentions how Miss Havisham and Estella insult Pip and call him a 'common labouring boy'.

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The BBC series from 2011, were my favourite adaptation of the Great Expectations and Miss Havisham played by Gillian Anderson. I feel like her character was so realistic and felt very relatable. The way I would imagine Miss Havisham to look like- was the way she has been show in these series. Thin, pale, messy hair although some part of it still remained curly making it look like she did do her hair but a long time ago... Giving us more understanding and a better feel of the story. She also has a nervous tic... She cannot stop scratching her arm. This shows how much of an anxious and socially isolated person she is as it gets worse when she is around people. Another thing that I have noticed is her posture... Throughout the whole series her body is tilted a little bit forward which might suggest eating problems. These often occur after traumatising experiences or when a person is facing some mental problems. This helps us get a clear view of this character as there is so many things that help us to understand why she is behaving this way.