The Blaze
Original: The Wind
Paraphrased: The Breeze
Great Expectations portrays Miss Havisham’s brokenness. Compeyson cheated her on their wedding, leaving her in grief. Miss Havisham’s use of fire symbolises her death, her anger, and eventually her return to understanding.
Compeyson’s actions have left Miss Havisham in shock. Everyday, she wears her wedding attire and one shoe. Her clock is set at 8:40 every morning to mark the anniversary of her tragic discovery. Her candles are blowing out in her home, symbolizing her slow death and the fact that time has passed. Burnt candles create light and leave rooms in darkness. As such, Estella finds herself in a dark time of her lives and cannot see that it has moved on. Miss Havisham’s obsession with false appearances is a constant theme. When her family visits, her candles get lit. Although she does not normally light candles, she does so to conceal her true motives. This is how Estella plans to make Estella a fake lover show for Pip in order to get her revenge on men.
However, Miss Havisham finally realizes that her actions were wrong. She then sets fire to her wedding gown in self-repentance. The use of fire to destroy her wedding dress represents her remission of past vengeful thoughts. Although she died from her injuries, the fire represents her release from all the pain that had burdened her for so many years. It is a sign of moving forward that a fire can still be lit in a space where candles would normally have been out. Like fire burning upwards, Miss Havisham is also lifted.
Great Expectations has a crucial role to play because fire is an emotion-carrier. Miss Havisham’s deceitful thoughts and dark thoughts can be reflected by a lack fire. As she seeks to extinguish her grief by setting fire to her past, fire becomes a weapon of retribution.
