Miss Havisham and
her family
Miss
Havisham, wealthy spinster
who takes Pip on as a companion and whom Pip suspects is his benefactor. Miss
Havisham does not discourage this as it fits into her own spiteful plans. She
later apologizes to him as she's overtaken by guilt. He accepts her apology and
she is badly burnt when her dress catches aflame from a spark which leapt from
the fire. Pip saves her, but she later dies from her injuries.
Estella
(Havisham), Miss Havisham's adopted daughter, whom Pip pursues
romantically throughout the novel. She is secretly the daughter of Molly,
Jaggers' housekeeper, and Abel Magwitch, Pip's convict, but was given up to Miss
Havisham after a murder trial. Estella represents the life of wealth and culture
for which Pip strives. Since her ability to love has been ruined by Miss
Havisham, she is unable to return Pip's passion. She warns Pip of this
repeatedly, but he is unwilling or unable to believe her. At one point, Estella
is walking up some iron stairs representing how she is of a higher class than
Pip when in fact she is of the same class.
Arthur (Havisham), Miss Havisham's half-brother, who felt he was
shortchanged in his inheritance by their father's preference for his daughter.
He joined with Compeyson in the scheme to cheat Miss Havisham of large sums of
money by gaining Miss Havisham's trust through promise of marriage to Compeyson.
Arthur is haunted by the memory of the scheme and sickens and dies in a
delirium, imagining that the still-living Miss Havisham is in his room, coming
to kill him. Arthur has died before the beginning of the novel and gambled
heavily, being drunk quite often.
Matthew Pocket, a cousin of Miss Havisham's. He is the patriarch of
the Pocket family, but unlike others of her relatives he is not greedy for
Havisham's wealth. Matthew Pocket has a family of nine children, two nurses, a
housekeeper, a cook, and a pretty but useless wife (named Belinda). He also
tutors young gentlemen, such as Bentley Drummle, Startop, Pip, and his own son
Herbert, who live on his estate.
Herbert Pocket, a member of the Pocket family, Miss Havisham's
presumed heirs, whom Pip first meets as a "pale young gentleman" who challenges
Pip to a fist fight at Miss Havisham's house when both are children. He is the
son of Matthew Pocket, Pip's tutor in the "gentlemanly" arts, and shares his
apartment with Pip in London, becoming Pip's fast friend who is there to share
Pip's happiness as well as his troubles. He is in love with a girl called Clara.
Herbert keeps it secret because he knows his mother would say she is below his
"station".
Camilla, an ageing, talkative relative of Miss Havisham who does not
care much for Miss Havisham and only wants her money. She is one of the many
relatives who hang around Miss Havisham "like flies" for her wealth.
Cousin Raymond, another ageing relative of Miss Havisham who is only
interested in her money. He is married to Camilla.
Georgiana, an ageing relative of Miss Havisham who is only interested
in her money.
Sarah Pocket, "a dry, brown corrugated old woman, with a small face
that might have been made out of walnut shells, and a large mouth like a cat's
without the whiskers." Another ageing relative of Miss Havisham who is only
interested in her money
Excellent perspective on "The 'W' Word" - use it wisely for what it is - high school and college kids shouldn't be citing any general knowledge encyclopedias for serious research - but that doesn't mean there aren't some excellent uses for it.
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