Great Expectations

Love -- a feeling everyone in this would should have, even if they’re not giving love to someone, they should always be receiving it. When growing up in a home with no love, with a parent unable to forgive, and never being able to move on, illustrates life as a nightmarish version of reality, as demonstrated in Charles Dickens' classic Great Expectations.

When living in a rundown home, with everything the same as it was many years ago, never being able to move on, and never planning on trying, illustrates an ironic side of life in which Miss Havisham and Estella are forced to live in everyday. Estella – a young, beautiful girl, who at a very young age was adopted by Miss Havisham and was brought to her home where she was then raised. Growing up with an unforgiving mother, never introduced Estella to true love – a feeling we today spend years trying to find – therefore leaving her heartless and forcing her to live her life loving no one.

Though Estella could not find the heart to love, she was loved by many – Pip included. Estella was Pip’s escape from the real world, for when he saw her he was stricken by her beauty and hoped to be with her forever. Through the many heartbreaks yet to come, Pip’s love was still true, for his love for her was everlasting, demonstrating the theme of the novel – love itself.

Miss Havisham, still living on her own, could not relate to what Pip was feeling, for she could never find the heart to love again, as Estella could not find the heart to love at all. Never being wed, there was a missing part in Miss Havisham’s heart which could not be filled; therefore Miss Havisham left her house the exact way it was the day of her betrayal, symbolizing the lack of strength Miss Havisham needs in order to move on. Why does Miss Havisham still hold on to that thought of tragedy in her life? Simply because love is the closest thing we have to magic, which is indeed something to hold on to.

The lack of love, and not having the strength to receive it, are two tragic factors in Miss Havisham and Estella’s already tragic lives. Through the struggles they faced – adoption and betrayal – nothing can quite compare to what they force Pip to go through. Pip shall forever love Estella with that one little hope that she will someday love him back -- a feeling difficult to even imagine.