Since its publication in 1860, Charles Dickens' novel Great Expectations has gained a reputation as one of the the most powerful and moving of the 19th century. Great Expectations follows the story of a poor young boy named Pip in his more fortunate adult years where he transforms into a gentleman. A constant in Pip's ever-changing life is his love for the cold, beautiful Estella. Pip is introduced to Estella when he is just a boy, and his affection for her only grows as the years pass. However, Estella will never return his love because she was adopted and raised by Miss Havisham, whose only goal in life is to wreak havoc on men. Using Pip and Estella as pawns in her sick revenge game, Miss Havisham transforms herself into a twisted puppeteer, sitting behind the scenes and pulling the strings just to watch tragedy ensue. Although Miss Havisham eventually gets what she wants, her heart, Pip's, and Estella's are all in ruins. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay The unrequited love shown between Pip and Estella throughout the novel illustrates the negative effects of ruthless revenge for love gone wrong. Throughout Great Expectations, Miss Havisham and the people around her suffer greatly because of her quest for revenge. Not always heartless, Miss Havisham swore revenge on men the day she was left at the altar. Miss Havisham, “loved him passionately… [but] he practiced his affection in this systematic way” (Dickens 166), all her future husband, Compeyson wanted from Miss Havisham was his money. Yet Miss Havisham now uses Estella to systematically use men, literally dropping herself to the low level of Compeyson's heartbreaking games. Haunted by that day, Miss Havisham never takes off her decrepit wedding dress, her only shoe, and all her clocks are forever stopped at twenty minutes to nine, the hour at which her life of happiness ended. Here, Miss Havisham is determined to freeze time by refusing to change anything since the day an unrequited love came to threaten her. To take revenge on humanity, Miss Havisham grooms Estella to play men from a young age by saying, "break their hearts, my pride and my hope, break their hearts and have no mercy!" » (87). With Estella only a little girl at that time, Miss Havisham was able to easily shape her into whatever shape she wanted her to be. As well as influencing Estella, Miss Havisham also curses Pip to be in love with Estella forever, chanting: Love her, love her, love her! If she favors you, love her. If she hurts you, love her. If she tears your heart – and as it gets older and stronger, it will tear deeper – love her, love her, love her! (219) However, as time passes and she realizes Estella's coldness towards everyone (including herself) and Pip's true feelings, Miss Havisham feels bad about her hellish revenge. When speaking to Pip, Miss Havisham reveals: "Until you spoke to him the other day, and until I saw in you a mirror that showed me how I used to feel, I didn't know what I had done. » 365). “What have I done!” (364) becomes a mantra for Miss Havisham. The shame and guilt of her actions to encourage unrequited love drive her to such extreme devastation that she throws herself into the flames. As Miss Havisham's rotting wedding dress caught fire, all the hatred,the revenge and pain she had clung to for all these years burst into flames. Paradoxically, Miss Havisham's greatest sin was against herself. Ultimately, unrequited love and its negative effects led to Miss Havisham's final demise. Estella, Miss Havisham's pretty little pawn, ends up leading arguably the most devastating life of all the characters affected by unrequited love. As a girl, Estella was essentially brainwashed by Miss Havisham with no autonomy to do what would make her truly happy in life. His only goal on earth was to "take revenge on men for Miss Havisham." (276). Since her childhood, Estella had tried to warn Pip as best she could to stay away from her because she knew she had no heart. By competing, “'oh! I have a heart that can be stabbed or shot in, I have no doubt about it...but you know what I mean. I have no sweetness there, no — sympathy — feeling — absurdity.' » (217). However, despite his warnings of cruelty, the lovesick Pip could not stay away. One can't help but feel sorrow, when Estella is even cold towards her adoptive mother, asserting, "'I am what you made me. Accept all the praise, accept all the blame; take all the success, take all the failures; in short, take me. » (277). Recognizing that she is merely a puppet for Miss Havisham, readers cannot help but feel sympathy for her sloppy character. Perhaps the most heartbreaking moment in the novel is when Pip professes his love for Estella and she says, "'You don't touch anything in my chest, you don't touch anything in it.' I don't care at all what you say. » (331). In a way, Estella's character doesn't fully develop until the end of the novel. Until the end of the novel, Estella is a one-sided character whose only goal is to make men unhappy because of her unrequited love. However, after marrying Bentley Drummle - presumably to make Pip unhappy - Estella ends up discouraged. When Pip meets Estella at the end of the novel, he says: The freshness of her beauty had indeed disappeared, but her indescribable majesty, and her indescribable charm, remained. I had seen these attractions before; what I had never seen before was the saddened and softened light of once proud eyes; what I had never felt before was the friendly touch of the once insensible hand. (441) Essentially, Estella marries Bentley Drummle without loving him and suffers for it. She is no longer a tall, beautiful and terribly cold figure, she is nothing more than a worn-out woman – all her grandeur has disappeared because of the negative effects of unrequited love. Pip's unrequited love for Estella is arguably the main driving factor of the plot and the only thing that inspires Pip to seek gentlemanly status, even if it means abandoning his old life and family. Similar to Estella, Miss Havisham groomed Pip as a child to fall hopelessly in love with Estella. The "curse" that Miss Havisham inflicted on Pip haunts him to the point that Estella is almost the only thing he can think about. After being haunted all his life by his love for Estella and Miss Havisham, Pip finally breaks down and says, "I am also as unhappy as you ever wanted me to be." » (328). The turning point in this novel on the theme of unrequited love is undoubtedly the moment when Pip fully brings his heart to Estella in this moving passage: Out of my thoughts! You are part of my existence, a part of myself. In all the lines I have read, since I arrived here, you have been the ordinary, rough boy whose.