My Miss Havisham

From my reading of the novel 'Great Expectations' I have come to the conclusion that I would like to base my portrayal of Miss Havisham around the beginning of the book, upon our initial descriptions of the character. My reason for this is that I find the imagery Dicken's uses to describe Miss Havisham incredibly captivating, he describes with such attention that I find myself with an abundance of things to work from. Ive highlighted some key quotes in these two initial meetings to help me gauge how I exactly I think Miss Havisham should look.

“She was dressed in rich materials - satins, and lace and silks - all of white. Her shoes were white. and she had a long white veil dependant from her hair, she had bridal flowers in her hair but her hair was white”

The abundance of 'white' Dickens uses gives me the impression miss Havisham is incredibly ghostly in appearance from her hair to her costume. 

“Some bright jewels sparkled on her neck and on her hands…”

To me this quote makes it apparent that Miss Havisham still has an air of wealth about her, despite her neglected appearance. 

“She had not quite finished dressing, for she had but one shoe on”

Miss Havisham only wears one shoe, this gives me the impression she really doesn't care if she gets cold - her misery and woefulness has consumed her.

“Her veil was but half arranged”

I like this quote because it gives me the idea that her veil is sort of askew, as if its been disrupted through movement, perhaps even from scratching as it appears to me someone who remains unwashed in the same clothes is likely to have nits among other bodily maladies.

“I saw that everything within my view which ought to be white, had been white long ago, and had lost its lustre, and was faded and yellow”

There is nothing bright or vibrant about Miss Havisham, she's not just faded away out of society but she's also faded in appearance. 

“I saw that the bride within the bridal dress had withered like the dress, and like the flowers, and had no brightness left but the brightness of her sunken eyes.”

This quote suggests Miss havisham has a very withered and shrunken appearance, her skin clings to her bones and gives the appearance of sunkenness. 

“…the figure upon which it now hung loose, had shrunk to skin and bone.”

The term 'skin and bone' is something you say about someone who is incredibly malnourished. 

“Now, waxwork and skeleton seemed to have dark eyes…”

Pip likens miss Havisham to a wax work, suggesting her skin is rather yellow, perhaps of from illness, her pal our has no life to it.

“You are not afraid of a woman who has never seen the sun since you were born?”

Miss Havisham hasn't seen the sun in at least 8 years, she would surely have effects of no sun light.

"Once, I had been taken to one of our old marsh churches to see a skeleton in the ashes of a rich dress

Now wax-work and skeleton seemed to have dark eyes that moved and looked at me."

Dickens suggests Miss Havisham is skeletal looking, her skin clings to her bones again suggesting to me she has no sustenance. 

'sharper teeth than mice have gnawed at me'

I find this to be a very ambiguous quote, its quite vague as to whether Miss Havisham literally means that harsher things have attacked her, whether these be ferocious creature or personal illness. It could also refer metaphorically to the turmoil suffered after her jilted marriage. 

Miss Havisham isn't the only element of these passages I have investigated. I feel that everything surrounding her from the flowers in her hair to the bridal cake and even the house itself have withered and decayed just as she has, almost mirroring their owners distress. 

I find the description of the bridal cake most fascinating and quite grotesque at the some time.

"it was so heavily overhung with cobwebs that its form was quite indistinguishable...seeming to grow, like black fungus, I saw speckled-legged spiders with blotchy bodies running home to it'

Like everything in the room the bridal cake is covered in dust and cobwebs, it decays from within and is infested with creatures that gnaw away at it. If you compare this to the state of Miss Havisham, its quite similar. 

The most pivotal things that stand out to me through these descriptions is that Miss Havisham really takes no action in her appearance and is actually quite neglectful of herself and as a result is physically (and mentally) decaying. For my Miss Havisham, whether it be for film, tv or theatre, I want to portray her with attention to her own self neglect, in a fairly literal manner I want encompass in my designs how she would have actually looked. But why did Miss havisham look this way? I believe she has become trapped in her own grief, sorrow and intentions for revenge that in fact nothing else matters to her. 

Miss Havisham's face could be very hollow
and skeletal looking
http://tinyurl.com/njcmztr

For this I think I should look in to how lack of food, sleep and sunlight affects the body and how I can portray a look of neglect and decay. 

Initial ideas:

- She would a very skeletal appearance, sunken in cheeks

- Her skin would be incredibly pale, through lack of sunlight

- Her skin could be tinged with yellow, a sign of sickness

- Her hair could be unruly, askew

- She could have had nits for a long time, would her skin be sore and scarred?

- If she doesn't sleep surely her eyes would be sore and red, and sunken in
- Her body could show other signs of decay, as if she were a corpse 

What happens to the body when we die and began to decay?
To me, Miss Havisham is somewhat of a living corpse,
dead inside yet kept alive by her sorrow and quest for revenge
http://tinyurl.com/l7kz794