Sketches

This sketch of Miss Havisham was drawn by Harry Furnis. I find it so interesting to look at one of the original perespectives of how someone imagined Miss Havisham to look like. If I came across someone like this I'd definitely be scared and walk the opposite direction. She looks so gaunt and skinny yet surrounded by so much material from her wedding dress and veil. She looks exactly as she is described in the book.

I love the sketches that were made of Great Expectations. Its an interesting way to look at how people imagined the characters before film and pictures were used.

Other Interpretations of Miss Havisham

In the 1946 film Martita Hunt played Miss Havisham. I really like the fluffy grey white hairstyle she has as it is what could be expected of it to look like from not going outside in so long. She portrays Miss Havisham in a less quirky way compared to the recent adaptations as I feel she is just an old woman in a wedding dress playing games through out the film. I wouldn't expect her type of Miss Havisham to be self harming herself as she was in the BBC series. Her makeup is quite plain and not at all grotesque as it could be.

 Margaret Leighton plays the 1974 film version of Miss Havisham. I think the makeup looks alot more in depth than the 1947 version as she looks worn out and almost qhostly in this grey to white complexion. I like how the style of hair is short and in the shape of a backcombed fluffy white bob. I keep thinking that I'll need to buy extensions to create my look but I don't think there will be any need when a short style like this looks perfectly suitable.

Joan Hickson played the 1981 film version of Miss Havisham. She is portrayed as a very old woman but her complexion is quite a normal colour instead of looking grey and worn out. Her hairstyle is more reserved compared to the last two styles of Miss Havisham. I haven't seen this film but I'd hope that her got more and more disheveled throughout the film as it did in the BBC series.

Miss Havisham

There are so many different styles that have been translated from the Charles Dickens book into films of Miss Havisham. The two styles of Miss Havisham I have researched on so far is Helena Carter in the 2012 film and Gillian Anderson in the BBC series.

Helena Carter's interpretation of Miss Havisham appears quite theatrical as her dress is extravagant aswell as her makeup and hair. Her hair is a mixture of black grey and white colours with frizzy curls. Her makeup gives her a worn out look and continues to look more tired throughout the story. Although her hair looks super crazy she still shows wealth in her look by having jewels in her hair. Throughout the film Helena Carter gets more playful with her character messing around with her veil as it is placed differently in some scenes. I do think this is a good portrayal of Miss Havisham as it is what I imagined her to look like but alot thinner. I don't think she shows any heartbreak throughout the film at all but only Havisham's evil side. When she receives the letter on her wedding day she seems distraught but not in a way that I expected as her gasp just seemed cringy and unrealistic to me.

Gillian Anderson's version of Miss Havisham is slightly more reserved than Helena Carter's style. Anderson plays the character as a more timid woman. But I think this timid side makes sense as having her heart broken is what has made her act this way. As the story goes on she becomes more outspoken and once her revenge is revealed she acts so awful towards Pip. I found this scene more emotional to watch than in the 2012 film as it showed her true colours and I could feel the heartbreak that Pip was feeling. In the series she is very pale and cold looking. Her hair is white and is quite normal at the beginning but as the story goes on her hair gets more and more disheveled looking throughout the scenes. Her dress isn't extravagant as it should be as Victorian wedding dresses were a lot bigger. She also self harms herself as you see her constantly scratching away at her hand. Overall I prefer the characteristics of Miss Havisham in this film as I felt like I learnt more about who she was and the pain she was feeling compared to the 2012 film.

Introduction to Gothic

This project is based around creating designs of the characters Miss Havisham and Estella from the Gothic Great Expectations. For this introduction I should probably start by analysing the main characters of the book:
Pip - He passionate, romantic and unrealistic at heart. We see the story and characters through his eyes. I find that Pip portrays a naive boy that is learning the ways of the world. He is the victim of Miss Havisham's revenge (as well as other men) and has to go through so much to find happiness in story.
Miss Havisham - She is an eccentric, strange woman basing her life around being jilted at the alter on her wedding day. She is so broken hearted that she doesn't want time to pass, therefore she has never taken off her wedding dress and leaves the feast to decay on a table in her home (Satis House) as well as stopping all the clocks at 20 to 9 which is the time she was jilted.
Estella - She is Miss Havisham's adopted daughter. Havisham has brought her up to be a cold woman with 'no heart' and to break all men's hearts.

I had watched Gillion Anderson's series of Great Expectations before reading the book. I had never learnt anything of the Charles Dickens story before watching the series so my first impressions of Miss Havisham is that she seems so fragile and I felt sorry for her at the beginning of the story. I kind of wished her wedding dress looked more recognisable than how it appeared in Anderson's version as it was not so obvious to be a wedding dress at first. However, the dress also fitted in with this version of Miss Havisham as it looked delicate, fragile and broken as was the way she comes across. She also comes off as a cold person because she looks cold and pale as well as being dressed in white to add to this complexion. She also quotes, 'All of me is cold' which confirms this whole characteristic of her being a cold person.
I have learnt that there is more to the story than what seems. As the story continues we find out Havisham's revenge on men and using Pip as the victim of this revenge. She may be broken hearted but she is evil too.
That there can be many ways to interpret the characters especially Miss Havisham.
I think the story of Miss Havisham is a unique idea of showing how awfully heartbroken a woman can be to want to seek revenge through manipulation as well as the dramatic change that happens to her. When it is revealed that Havisham trained Estella her whole life to break Pip's heart (and all mens), it is so sad to see how naive Pip is and how heart broken he is when he's the most innocent character in the story. Pip's dream of becoming a gentleman was so he was worthy of marrying Estella.