being daily confronted with the result of unfortunate dreams, and partly
19)
to the passionate nature she inherited from her murderour mother.
Her hatred of the Pockets is as excessive as Pip's dislike of
Mr. Pumblechook, but it is better motivated:
'You had not your little wits sharpened by their intriguing against you,
suppressed and defenceless, under the mask of sympathy and pity and what not,
that is soft and soothing, I had" (XXXI11,253In her search for affection,
she had been disillusioned, and this had made her cold and distrustful. That
is why Pip's subservience makes her so violently cruel: she associates him
with the fawning Pockets. But she becomes more interested in him once he
symbolically defeats the Pockets by successfully defending himself against
Herbert, and her attitude changes from cold contempt to a certain capricious,ness:
'Sometimes, she would coldly tolerate me; sometimes, she would condescend to me;
sometimes, she would be quite familiar with me; sometimes, she would tell me
energetically that she hated me' (XII,88).
Although Miss Havisham exults in her little tormentor, and encourages her,
one could sense a little uncertainty in Estel la's behaviour.
She has changed when she comes back from her 'finishing school' in France.
Not only has she grown into a most beautiful woman, but she has become milder
and apparently more languid in her behaviour. Although we are never explicitly
told so, one might expect that, far away from Satis House, she has thought
deeply about herself, especially in connection with Miss Havisham's plans,
and come to the conclusion that her ingrown distrust of other people as
well as herself has made her into a curiously incomplete if not contemptible
personality. Until she conquers her distrust and discovers there is some
altruistic goodness in man, she will never make anyone a worthwhile companion.
And where will she find altruism She is part of people's dreams, she is used
as an instrument for revenge, but no one cares for her. Coming back to
Satis House means giving herself up to Miss Havishem's plans, and she does so
only with the resignation of someone that is tired of the inner struggle.
In this we can trace a marked resemblance with Edith Dombey and Louisa
Gradgrind. They are all love-starved young, beautiful women, sadly used by their
(pseudo) parents to promote their plans, until they lose all sense of self-
pride and self-fulfilment and become self-destructive. At least Edith had
Florence, and Louisa had Sissy as a positive example, the embodiment of
unselfish goodness. But there is nobody in Estella's world to prove to her
there is innate goodness in Man.
For all that, there is innate goodness in Estella. Although she denies
any affectionate feelings in herself, her constant warnings to Pip that
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