First Impressions Of Miss Havisham

Script Breakdown

• When we first see her, we see where she lives - a wealth, rotting, unkept mansion
• Dickens gradually develops her character - we immediately see she is strange, e.g. wearing an old wedding dress, there is no sunlight, etc.
• We become aware that Dickens wants to make a lasting impressions of her from the start - the novel is full of extreme imagery 
• Dickens describes her as looking like "the witch of the place"

http://leokowal.com/wp-content/gallery/witch_shoot/witch07_uploaded.jpg

This is clearly not how I see Miss Havisham (as an actual witch) but I think it could be interesting to use it as an influence and work some elements of a witch into a design of Miss Havisham, e.g. something more similar to the image below...

https://www.flickr.com/photos/3_cool_cats/2792347769/

What we already know

• She was a spoilt child
• Her mother died - father re-married and had a son (Arthur - who took part in fooling Miss Havisham on her wedding day; he helped the groom to betray her)
• Rich
• Proud
• Met a man who she loved/idolised 
• Her life is defined by one single tragic event - jilting on her wedding day
• From that moment she is determined never to move beyond her heartbreak - clocks stop
• Manic
• Obsessive cruelty
• Adopts Estella and raises her as a weapon to achieve her own revenge on men
• Vengeful
• Wears old wedding dress everyday
• Destroys Estella's ability to express emotion

My initial thoughts on Miss Havisham

• Angry
• Bitter 
• Peculiar
• Educated
• Deceitful 
• Misleading
• Twisted
• Delicate/fragile
• Outcast/isolated 
• Lonely

It is only towards the end of the film that I begin to feel slightly sorry for Miss Havisham (when she is asking for Pip's forgiveness). I think this is because she finally comes to the realisation of what she has done, and how she has potentially ruined Estella's life by trying to make her as bitter about men as she is.