Fan Friday - Estella

"Are you tired, Estella?"

"Rather, Pip."

"You should be."

"Say rather, I should not be; for I have my letter to Satis House to write, before I go to sleep."

"Recounting to-night's triumph?" said I. "Surely a very poor one, Estella."

"What do you mean? I didn't know there had been any."

"Estella," said I, "do look at that fellow in the corner yonder, who is looking over here at us."

"Why should I look at him?" returned Estella, with her eyes on me instead. "What is there in that fellow in the corner yonder — to use your words — that I need look at?"

"Indeed, that is the very question I want to ask you," said I. "For he has been hovering about you all night."

"Moths, and all sorts of ugly creatures," replied Estella, with a glance towards him, "hover about a lighted candle. Can the candle help it?"

"No," I returned; "but cannot the Estella help it?"

"Well!" said she, laughing, after a moment, "perhaps. Yes. Anything you like."

"But, Estella, do hear me speak. It makes me wretched that you should encourage a man so generally despised as Drummle. You know he is despised."

"Well?" said she.

Ooooh!!! We're getting classy up in this bitch! Talking about grown-up stuff like classic literature and books and shit. Give me a crumpet for my Long Island Ice Tea! I don't know what a crumpet is, but it sounds fucking delicious and I want it. On today's Friday... what? I never know what I'm saying. Anyway, we're talking about the icy-cold temptress herself, Estella from Charles Dickens' classic novel Great Expectations.

You might be asking yourself, "Dustin, what made you want to blog about Estella?" I'm glad you asked! The other day I was listening to the great musician known as Alanis Morissette. There's a line in her song "All I Really Want" that goes: I'm like Estella, I like to reel it in and then spit it out. And then I was like "Oh! Dat bitch from the Charles Dickens novel!" and thats how we got here. It was a messed up stream of consciousness, but I'm glad we took that ride together.

Estella is a character in the Charles Dickens classic Great Expectations. The character is used as a comparison to Pip, the protagonist of the story. Like Pip, Estella is an orphan, but was raised by the wealthy, eccentric Miss Havisham to be an aristocratic lady, where as Pip was raised by his sister and her husband to be a hard working blacksmith in the real world.

Miss Havisham herself is fucking crazy. She was jilted as a young bride, and since that very day, she has refused to change anything. It's as if time has stopped for her, she has left everything from that day to decay and rot as a reflection of her heart. She even wears the same wedding dress. It's actually really gross, if social services were a thing back then, Estella would have been taken from this bitch.

Miss Havisham has Pip come over and play with Estella. It's all a part of her sick, twisted game to have Pip fall in love with the beautiful Estella, only to break his heart. You see, Miss Havisham didn't only raise Estella to be a lady, she also raised her to be absolute poison to men. She's cold and emotionless. She's never learned how to love or show her love, she's only ever learned how to break a man's heart. This is Miss Havisham's revenge on all men. This is unfortunate for Estella. She never learns how to deal with her feelings, she only learns how to properly seduce men into falling in love with her, and then simply breaking their hearts. She's used as a pawn for vengeance and cruelty by Miss Havisham.

Despite the fact that Estella tells Pip over and over that she does not love him, Pip continues to pursue her. He's absolutely infatuated by her and deeply loves her. She refuses any pass he makes at her. Despite what Estella says, her actions prove otherwise. She shows numerous times in the novel that she has some sort of affection for Pip. She holds him in much higher regard than other men. I think Estella actually loves Pip, but due to her inability to deal with emotions, she has no idea how to love him. She can't recognize the feelings she has due to her upbringing of strongly suppressing emotions.

Pip is warned of Estella's cold heart numerous times, but it doesn't matter. Though she is raised to inspire unrequited love from men around her, Pip somehow feels what he and Estella share is different. Because of Estella, Pip's life is turned upside down from a young age. He feels the need to become better than his current station in life. He feels the need to become a gentleman as opposed to a working stiff, all to become the right man for Estella. When he's older, Pip is given support by an unknown benefactor and moves to London to learn how to be a gentleman. It's here Pip is thrown into Estella's social circles. He relentlessly pursues her, but Estella continues to tell him that she can't love him, in fact, she can't love anyone, including her adopted mother. Pip and Estella go visit Miss Havisham, and despite her gestures of affection toward Estella, she is met with nothing but coldness. She is shocked that Estella is either unable or unwilling to return her love. Estella points out to Miss Havisham that it was her who taught her to be hard-hearted and unfeeling. Despite witnessing this, Pip still lives in hope that he and Estella will have a happy ending.

His hopes are somewhat dashed when Estella begins pursuing Pip's arch-rival Bentley Drummle. She eventually marries him for his money. Seeing Estella show such love and flirtation towards Bentley drives Pip mad. He bitterly asks Estella why she's never showed any affection or love towards him the way she has towards Bentley, leading to this bitter exchange:

"Do you want me then", said Estella, turning suddenly with a fixed and serious, if not angry, look, "to deceive and entrap you?"

"Do you deceive and entrap him, Estella?"

"Yes, and many others—all of them but you."

This shows Estella's love for Pip, though she doesn't realize it. For one, around everyone else, Estella pretends to be someone she's not, but around Pip, there are no cages, no ties to restrain who she really is. She's herself around Pip, and no one else. She also pushes Pip away, not because she doesn't return his love, but because she does love him. She knows she's nothing but a robot built to systematically destroy men. Then reason she never returns Pip's affections is because she doesn't want to destroy him or the person he is. She denies herself happiness to spare Pip her monstrous ways.

Throughout the rest of the novel, Pip makes several frustrating attempts to awaken some sort of emotion in Estella, but it's fruitless. Pip's devotion and affection toward her leaves Estella confused. She sees Pip's efforts as irrational and doesn't understand why he continues on a path of self-destruction. Despite marrying for wealth and prosperity, Estella's life is far from easy. Bentley viciously abuses her until his death at the hands of a horse he apparently abused as well.

"Estella looked towards Miss Havisham, and considered for a moment with her work in her hands. Then she said, 'Why not tell you the truth? I am going to be married to Mr. Drummle.' I dropped my face into my hands."

There is really no definitive ending for Estella and Pip. She has been manufactured to be a bitter, cold person, never knowing or feeling love. Though I think she does love Pip, she's never able to come to terms with her feelings. In the end, Estella continues to be unable to love Pip, but Pip seems to be okay with it. Though she does apologize to him, assuring him that the death of her husband has opened her heart a bit. She never tells Pip she loves him, only that she empathizes with him.

Estella has always been one of my favorite females in classic literature. She's definitely my favorite Charles Dickens' character. She's so complex and fascinating. As a female character in a novel, she's very ahead of her time. She's a woman who is built for the purpose of destroying men and she knows it. Her malice and cruelty doesn't make her a villain though. This is all she knows. She doesn't know how to express emotion or love. She's a sad character, and though she's cold and bitter, we as readers are still rooting for her. We want her to have a happy ending despite all she's done, because in the end, we can't blame her for her actions. She's just as much a victim as the brokenhearted men she leaves behind her.