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Great expectations by Charles dickens

The book Great expectations is written during a time when there is much isolation in the society.

In the Victorian era it is described as a time when a lot of inequality and different kinds of isolations

existed. The following is an essay depicting isolation of Miss Havisham, Estella and Joe

respectively in the novel. There are many instances depicting Miss Havisham’s isolation in the

novel ‘Great Expectations’ by Charles Dickens. Some of them include the following. Miss

Havisham is living alone in isolation in an old, dark and decaying mansion. The house is described

as having old bricks, dismal and with a great many iron bars on it, it is isolated. The front entrance

is described as having two chains across it outside and the passage been dark. She is locked in her

own house literally away from the society. Her living conditions depict isolation and neglection.

Secondly, Miss Havisham does not have a man and she lives alone. She is isolated for failing to

conform fully to the societal standards and expectations of unmarried women in the Victorian age.

She is bitter and seeks to revenge on all the men in the society for a wrong done by one. Been

wealthy she is arrogant and very proud to accept the tag of been jilted and so she shuns the society

away and ends up been isolated.

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Thirdly, Miss Havisham is isolated by his family members who only want her money. She is also

isolated by the society as she is rich compared to the other people. Here the wealth is an isolating

factor in their society. Later, she is also completely living alone when Estella is gone to London.

The separation with Estella leaves her in isolation, all alone.

Fourthly, through her appearance and clothes Miss Havisham is isolated. We are told her shoes

were white and she had a long white gown. She decides to live in her clothes she was meant to

wear on her wedding day and is living surrounded by decaying things in a darkened room. She

decides to isolate herself from the rest of the world after been abandoned on her wedding day. She

does this out of her unrealistic way of escaping the reality and out of arrogance which was a

character of the rich people of Britain then in Victorian era.

Lastly, the clock and watch in the house of miss Havisham illustrate she is isolated in time. To her

time has no meaning anymore. Both her watch and clock in the sitting room had stopped twenty

minutes to nine which was the time she was jilted waiting for her wedding. After this time, she

chooses to stay alone and alienate herself from the society instead of persevering the hard way and

knitting her life together. She decides to no longer to move on with life after been jilted and remains

oblivious of time.

In summary, Miss Havisham opted to having a life of isolation to extend by herself which is

something she could opt out of but decided to stay. The author uses this isolation too to create

feelings of sympathy for her and to prompt people to reflect on the ‘diseased and unhealthy’ society

status and positions.

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ESTELLA

Estella can be described as an innocent character who had had already a tough past. As if this is

not enough, she finds herself at yet another life changing encounter and in the mid roads of Miss

Havisham vengefulness. She is better described as a victim of circumstances. The following are

some of the depicted instances purporting Estella is isolated.

First, Estella is isolated because miss Havisham raises her into a cold emotionless lady. She was

Miss Havisham’s mouthpiece and was used by her in a bid to attain her revenge. Miss Havisham

aids Estella’s travel to London and in the process, she Isolates her from her friend Pip. The step-

mother might have had good intentions, but she rubs this on Pip because she knew this would hurt

him. She isolated the two from each other.

Secondly, Estella was isolated from her real family. She does not have her close family since she

is an adoptive daughter to Miss Havisham. She feels further isolated as her adoptive mother uses

her for vengeance purposes.

Thirdly, Estella is isolated from love. Because of Miss Havisham’s determination to vengeance

she breeds her to a callous lady incapable of loving, a heartless person whose heart could only be

‘stabbed in or shot at’. She was cold to the extend she was demeaning Pip and referred to him as a

coarse and common. Stella was trained by Miss Havisham to play with minds of the men so that

‘men would gravitate towards her like insects to candle light’ (Dickens 572).

Fourthly, Estella is isolated when her husband dies and is left a widow all alone. The death of her

adoptive mother leaves her isolated too since she has no one to call family. this goes further to the

extent of greater isolation when his blood and biological father dies even though they did not have

any relationship.
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Fifthly, Estella’s marriage isolates her. She marries her husband against her mother’s and Pips

will. She ends up having a serious argument with her mother and this causes a strained relationship

between the two and they alienate each other. Later she finds herself in an abusive relationship and

has no one to rescue her since she was isolated and alone.

In conclusion, Estella is used by the author as a tool to help in perpetrating Miss Havisham’s

vengeance and show her weakness and evilness. Had it not been for her adoptive mother Estella

would be a normal woman living her life straight forwardly without problems she has.

JOE

Joe’s isolation comes mainly from his former ‘fellow sufferer’, friend and colleague Pip. The

author uses the character to contrast the wealth and its effects and false values with morality and

honesty. Some of the instances depicting Joe’s isolation include the following.

Joe is isolated by Pip. As Pip expands his social circle he leaves Joe. Pip disowns his Christian

virtues learnt from Joe and forgets about him when he starts embracing class, wealth and status.

At the start of the novel Joe and Pip have a close, mutually dependent relationship build on

supportiveness. The equality and ‘fellow’ tag Pip once talked of between him and Joe is non-

existent when he moves to London. Here the author indicates once again the isolation created by

wealth and statuses.

Joe is isolated by gentleman ship and wealth. Pip is ungrateful to Joe and is discontented with his

rough upbringing. He laments that he is rough because of Joe ‘Joe had been rather more genteelly

brought up, and then I should have been so too’ (Dickens 24). Later when Pip becomes suddenly

rich from inheritance he changes to a greedy selfish person and is always making excuses not to

keep in touch with Joe and Biddy.

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Joe’s genuine love is neglected by Pip for money, wealth and status. Pip realizes this when he

comes to London and it hits him he is enjoying money inherited from a convict he had helped

many years ago. He is also isolated by his wife who has mental issues. Pride leads to isolation of

pip from Joe.

Joe is generally presented as a character who rejects principles of importance of property, good

oral skills and manners but he has wisdom which Pip look up to. He is described as naturally

generous, virtuous and forgiving and hence he is capable of loving and be loved by others despite

the isolation he suffers from the world he lives in (154). He is described as a person who has never

enjoyed monetary wealth but has had wealth of honest companionship of others.

Works Cited

Dickens, Charles. "Great Expectations. 1861." London and New York: Norton (1999).

Hughes, Holly. Charles Dickens's Great Expectations. Vol. 3414. No. 7. Barron's educational

series, 1984.