Revenge in Great Expectations

Great Expectations is a story about the life of Phillip Pirrup, more commonly known as Pip. He transforms from a blacksmith’s apprentice into a gentleman because of an unknown benefactor. Though the book has several themes and lessons to be learned, I believe that the main theme is about revenge and all of its destructiveness. The passage that follows is an early foreshadowing of the theme. Herbert Pocket says this during Pip’s first visit to his house:

I don’t say no to that, but I meant Estella. That girl’s hard and haughty and capricious to the last degree, and has been brought up by Miss Havisham to wreak revenge on all the male sex. (Dickens, Charles. Great Expectations Ch.22, pg.186)

In this passage, Pip is asking for information on Miss Havisham, who he believes is his unknown benefactor, and Estella, the girl whom he admires and wants to impress. Herbert gives him the information, which should be a warning to Pip. It was intended to be a warning, but Pip doesn’t listen to the advice. This is an important passage in the book because the book has been dropping hints that Miss Havisham is using Estella as revenge, but this is the first time Dickens has it stated outright.

One reason to support that Estella is meant to wreak revenge on men is when Herbert tells you her characteristics. Up until this point, there has only been enough evidence to support that Estella was “hard and haughty and capricious” to Pip, but she may have acted different around other company. In this passage it clearly tells that she is “hard and haughty and capricious” to everyone.

Dickens has the character, Herbert, describe how Estella is a stuck-up and unloving person. The phrase “to the last degree” would imply that Estella is incapable of any compassion because she is so completely consumed by Miss Havisham’s revenge. The words “hard and haughty and capricious” are very descriptive of Estella’s personality. They give you a close picture of how she acts. Dickens also makes good use of alliteration in this passage by the phrases “hard and haughty” and “wreak revenge.”

The tone of the passage is informative and friendly. Herbert was telling Pip this as a warning. Herbert is trying to prevent Pip from being hurt by revenge. The way the character Herbert stated the passage leaves no alternate interpretations. I suppose it is all a matter of opinion that Estella is the way she is, but the way Herbert said it in the passage doesn’t leave much, if any, room to disagree. He states it as fact and I’d assume that he would only have said it this way if he had been sure that he wasn’t the only person with that conclusion.

This quoted passage supports an overall theme of the novel- revenge. This is because one of the main plots throughout Great Expectations is how Estella, because of being raised a “hard and haughty” girl by Miss Havisham, is incapable of loving anybody. Miss Havisham had been hurt by her fiance and so she lives out her life in revenge to the world, but especially to men. Estella’s coldness ends up hurting many people emotionally, including Pip and even Miss Havisham herself. It is she who was responsible for Estella ending up like that. Miss Havisham, having been hurt by her own tool of revenge, realizes her mistake, and is extremely distraught.

Revenge never gets you anywhere. This book is only one of many books to have repeated that message. Still, our world today continues to revolve around many things and one of them is revenge. With a world in which revenge is such a large factor, the novel, Great Expectations, is still a great reminder to us of the danger that you risk by participating in revenge.