Great Expectations - Estella Flashcards
What quotes show change in Estella?
“I have been bent and broken, but—I hope—into a better shape.”
What quotes show Estella’s coldness?
“I have no heart”
“Boy” “Why don’t you cry for me again?” “We shall never understand each other.”
“You silly boy,” said Estella, quite composedly, “how can you talk such nonsense?”
“Coarse and common”
What quotes + moment shows Estella’s inability to feel emotion?
“Who taught me to be proud? Who praised me when I learned my lesson?” - Estella confronts Miss H calmly - showing she has no capacity for any emotion at all and has learnt the lesson she was taught so well
” said Estella, quite composedly” - again cant express verbal or physical emotion
Why is Estella’s name significant to her character? what quote further amplifies this?
Estella means star, the quote “like a star” further shows her character designed to be distant and unattainable but cosmically beautiful and wonderous
Why is Estella an important character to Pip’s journey?
- Influences change in life ambitions
- Plays part of ‘love interest’ - switches the roles of classical novels as Pip chases her
- challanges the notion of women of the time - she is designed to control men not have men control her
- She serves as an ambition to Pip - Dickens seeks to give Pip a purpose by looking to attain Estella
Can Estella be forgiven? why/why not?
Yes because:
* She is a product of how Miss H designed her to be. She is not to blame for the misguided nurturing she was given
* She eventually grows on her own and discovers a capacity for change, forgiveness and friendship
* Estella is percieved as villanous to most and so adapts to their view of her instead of challanging it - she faces lots of hatred as a result of their views on Miss H and herslef
No because:
* She treats Pip badly and does not realise the error of her ways - she is easily influenced into a manipulative and superiority mindset
* She is narcisictic and uses her attributes against others repetatively while seeking joy from their misery
* She uses her status and power to benefit from others
What are words to describe Estella?
Beautiful, cold, sharp, manipulative, selfish, isolated, heartless, trapped
what quotes show contempt for the way she is raised + Miss H?
“it is the nature formed within me”
“a part of Miss Havisham’s plans for me, Pip,” said Estella, with a sigh, as if she were tired”
“I am what you designed me to be. I am your blade. You cannot now complain if you also feel the hurt”
why is the image of a star heavily tied in with Estella? what links to this star idea?
She is cold, beautiful but unattainable and distant, she is etherial as something that cannot be quite understood - her name links to stars, she is described by pip like a star and her mannerisms summed up by dickens further excentuate this
What quote shows Estella is aware of how she has been raised and the flaws of her character?
“I must be taken as I have been made. The success is not mine, the failure is not mine, but the two together make me.”
