I had to do quite a bit of thinking about this blog post. Trabb's boy would have been fun, but I'm afraid of getting a lot of obvious observations along the lines of "The Emperor's New Clothes." That seemed a dreary prospect.
Then I considered our little discussion Friday, but I couldn't—just couldn't!—think of a really suitable question or remark that would stimulate the right sort of conversation.
("Can't you get to the point?" you're thinking about now. Well…I'm afraid not. But I'll try.)
Then reading along merrily in the old G.E. text I thought about the scene we watched of Pip passing by the Havisham relatives on his way to view that cobwebbed bridal chamber that the filmmakers so marvelously portrayed, complete with a superlatively moldy, rat-infested cake.
That's the sort of thing that film can do fantastically well. What it does less well is catch the nuances of setting, tone, character and author's purpose that Dickens wove so well into his narrative.
With that in mind (my God this is long-winded!), re-read the chapter passage that begins:
“Since this house strikes you old and grave, boy,” said Miss Havisham, impatiently, “and you are unwilling to play, are you willing to work?”
and ends:
It was quite a wilderness, and there were old melon-frames and cucumber-frames in it, which seemed in their decline to have produced a spontaneous growth of weak attempts at pieces of old hats and boots, with now and then a weedy offshoot into the likeness of a battered saucepan.
In your comments, consider the characterization of the relatives, the appearance and atmosphere of the bridal chamber, and the narrative tone that Pip adopts as he relates this incident. Some of it is funny, some of it is mordant (look that word up—it's a good one), some of it is foreboding.
The film is wonderful, but this is also a masterly bit of writing that deserves a closer look.
34 comments:
When Pip walks into the room he relates the smoke hanging in the room to the mist in the marsh. This comparison suggests that the room is mysterious and somewhat frightening, a place where Pip feels out of place and uncomfortable. I found the quote "Certain wintry branches of candles on thehigh chimneypiece faintly lighted the chamber;or, it would be more expressive to say, faintly troubled its darkness." to be quite humerous. As one of the only sources of light in the room it seems somewhat unwelcome and as if it doesnt belong with the rest of the decaying and dreary decor.
When I first read this section, Camilla seemed to be an obnoxiously caring person. As I re-read it I notice that she is constantly worrying about her family to the point that it is detrimental to her health. Camilla says to Miss Havisham, "If I could be less affectionate and sensitive, I should have a better digestion and an iron set of nerves." She is very proud of the fact that she worries so much about Miss Havisham and even expects praises for it. Pip easily discovers that she is also a controlling person and refers to her husband as Mr. Camilla, showing that she wears the pants in their marriage. In this scene Miss Havisham responds to her relatives in a way that shows she does not want people to worry about her, or even to visit her. She is only waiting for her death so that she can be placed upon her bridal table.
Lastly, I just want to mention that I found it interesting that not one of Miss Havisham's relatives asked who Pip was...
After observing the bridal chamber, Pip comments, "With some vague misgiving that she might get upon the table then and there and die at once...I shrank under her touch," (85). This feeling underscores the atmosphere of death and decay that is so prevalent in the room. His "misgiving" is justified by Miss Havisham's later comment: "When the ruin is complete and when they lay me dead, in my bride's dress on the bride's table-- which shall be done, and which will be the finished curse upon him-- so much the better if it is done on this day!" It is apparent that all Miss Havisham is looking forward to is her death, making it suitable that the room's "daylight was completely excluded," its "smoke seemed cooler than the clearer air," and in which "every discernible thing in it was covered with dust and mould, and dropping to pieces," (84). The atmosphere is so overbearing that Pip even states, "In the heavy air of the room, and the heavy darkness that brooded in its remoter corners, I even had an alarming fancy that Estella and I might presently begin to decay," (89).
I find Camilla especially entertaining."It's a weakness to be so affectionate, but I can't help it. No doubt my health would be much better if it was otherwise, still I wouldn't exchange my disposition if I could. It's the cause of much suffering, but it's a consolation to know I possess it," she says (87). Evidently Camilla enjoys the sympathy she receives, or thinks she receives, from the terrible disposition of possessing compassion.
While capturing some of the atmosphere of the book, the film simply cannot display all of the subtleties that Dickens' work conveys.
As Pip enters Miss Havisham’s bridal chamber, he sees a very murky and wispy place. Pip compares the room to the marshes he has back home, as the smoke in the room seems colder than the air itself. His description of the room is very dark and dusty as he notes that “covered with dust and mould, and dropping to pieces” (81), which makes the atmosphere feel very old and unclean. Pip notes that the light seems more out of place in the darkness of the room and also that the cobwebs seem to grow as he watches. Pip also is so engrossed in watching all the spiders, beetles, mice and all other “crawling things”(82) that it seems almost humorous. In a room threaded with cobwebs, Pip views Miss Havisham as the “witch of the place”(82). This gives a sense of how heavy and dark the place was.
The transition from the dark, gloomy bridal chamber to the babble of Camilla is a sudden change of atmosphere. Camilla and the other relatives are briefly described. Camilla seems at first obnoxious but she seems to care about her family, claiming herself to be very affectionate. It is obvious that she expects to be sympathized or praised for her sensitivity. Pip’s description of Miss Sarah Pocket seems humorous as well, describing her as a “little dry brown corrugated old woman, with a small face that might have been made of walnut shells, and a large mouth like a cat’s without the whiskers”(84). I find that overall, although the bridal chamber seems almost ominous and reeks of decay, Pip’s tone is slightly humored throughout the passage.
In this scene, the dark, decaying room serves as the backdrop for the revealing and humorous interactions of Miss Havisham and her visitors. The musty bridal chamber was left utterly untouched since Miss Havisham’s wedding day, and when Pip comes to it, everything it is “covered with dust and mould, and dropping to pieces.” As Austin mentioned, Miss Havisham seems eager, or at least ready, to die and join her putrefied feast. The abandoned room to some degree represents Miss Havisham; she let herself decay alongside it, and is simply waiting for her painful life to be finished. As she states, “The mice have gnawed at it, and sharper teeth than teeth of mice have gnawed at me.” She sat back and let time take its toll on the chamber, the feast, and herself.
While her relatives pay her a visit on her birthday, Miss Havisham remains extremely apathetic towards them. She doesn’t want much to do with them, and brushes off their feigned concern. Camilla complains of thinking of Miss Havisham more in the night and Miss Havisham briskly replies, “Then don’t think of me.” Pip’s tone throughout the dialogue is often humorous, for example, he describes Sarah Pocket as “a little dry brown corrugated old woman, with a small face that might have been made of walnut shells, and a large mouth like a cat’s without the whiskers.” Pip’s reaction to the visitors also reveals his self conscious nature. “I would have stopped,” Pip explains, “but Miss Havisham twitched my shoulder, and we posted on - with a shame-faced consciousness on my part that they would think it was all my doing.” Pip is constantly concerned with what others think of him or perceive of his behavior.
Even as Pip and Miss Havisham are absorbed in their own thoughts, the relatives (primarily Camilla) are chattering on to Miss Havisham. They have their own agendas: they want in on her inheritance. The majority of their dialogue has the purpose of sucking up to Miss Havisham, though she constantly ignores them. With all of this is happening in shadowy, squalid bridal chamber, the incident takes on an interesting tone and reveals aspects of many of the characters.
When Pip walks into the decaying bridal chamber, his thoughts produce vivid and acute descriptions of what he sees. He throws humor into his otherwise depression depictions. His spider observations demonstrate how the atmosphere is changed with wit (“I saw speckled-legged spiders with blotchy bodies running home to it, and running out from it, as if some circumstances of the greatest public importance had just transpired in the spider community.”). Without his remarks on the spiders, mice, and black beetles, his description would produce a deathly instead of inquisitive atmosphere. Pip’s thoughts would continue if not for the interruption of Miss Havisham’s hand. Pip continues to throw humor into an otherwise dreary situation when he sees Estella and thinks, “If only Estella had come to be a spectator of our proceedings, I should have felt sufficiently discontented.”
The focus then transitions from Pip’s consciousness to a conversation between Miss Havisham and her relatives. Pip subtly characterizes the relatives as money-whores. The first one to claim this title is Miss Sarah Pocket. She tells an obvious lie to suck up to Miss Havisham but is soon called on it. She is outdone by Camilla who goes all out. At first, Camilla slyly insults Miss Sarah Pocket by siding with Miss Havisham and stating that Miss Sarah Pocket’s words are “certainly” false and that “The Idea!” is simply ridiculous. It’s simply a more indirect way to suck up. Then, she expresses emotion to the point of disgust where Miss Havisham basically tells her to stop. After another tear flooded sentiment, Pip sarcastically thinks, “Here another burst of feeling.”
I realize that this can be interpreted as real emotion but when factoring the relatives’ concern for money evidenced by their apathy regarding Pip and only contacting Miss Havisham once a year, it seems more likely that the status obsessed family is looking to profit from their elderly relative.
After this conservation, Miss Havisham explains what is going on to Pip. Her last statement in the passage provides foreshadowing. It most probably refers to the drowning of the man that left her who dies soon after Miss Havisham does.
Though films create a clear, physical image of characters, I have found that certain aspects of description are lost unless read directly from the text. Dickens’s written descriptions are particularly intriguing, such as the explanation of Mr. Camilla (later known as Raymond). Pip’s narrative tells Mr. Camilla to have “eyebrows that wouldn’t lie down but stood up bristling” and eyes “disagreeably sharp and suspicious” (Dickens 88). Such subtle (and rather humorous) hints at the character’s personality are absent when the character is simply added to a scene. Written description allows depth and speculation. Readers of this particular passage grow to imagine Mr. Camilla of being a rather shifty man, his eyes embodying his “sharp and suspicious” attitude toward Pip, and his eyebrows illustrating similar, unfriendly “bristling” at this small waif who he assumes wishes to steal the inheritance of Miss Havisham’s fortune. Even though Mr. Camilla does not take a very important position in the scene, the reader gets to know a great deal about his character that can only be stated through words.
This is similar to Miss Sarah Pocket’s explanation as Pip describes her of having a “walnut-shell countenance” (94). In this way Dickens’s alludes to Miss Pocket’s hard personality without yet having her act in accordance.
Let me also remark that I found Camilla an extraordinarily funny character. Her scene is fraught with irony, not to mention a load of sarcasm from Miss Havisham. I find it quite truthfully entertaining as she rambles on about the “state” she remained in for “hours and hours, on account of Matthew’s strange and inexplicable conduct,” abhorred by the fact that “nobody [had] thanked [her]” (93). What exactly does she expect to be thanked for? Lying on the sofa overwhelmed with fake grief? Her ludicrous rant at first annoyed me, then made me laugh as Miss Havisham and Miss Pocket expressed their (and my) sentiments. Pip’s narration of this scene makes it all the more amusing. He explains the occurrence with not quite the view of a child, but more as one who remembers the event well and has just now understood the irony of the situation.
I have a difficult time spotting humor/irony in passages, but I find it interesting when Pip says, "...I felt that I was highly obnoxious to Camilla" (p. 90). First, I think it's interesting because it seems no one was even paying any attention to Pip, so why he should feel he had an affect on anyone, I do not know. Also, it seems that Camilla was the one being obnoxious, which is a bit ironic (or maybe just humorous), if I am using ironiy the right way.
Dickens shows Pip's character and the atmosphere when he has Pip explain, "With some vague misgiving that she might get upon the table then and there and die at once... I shrank under her touch" (p. 88). This comment, along with the description of the bridal chamber, gives way to a somber atmoshpere. This comment also shows the sympathetic person Pip is. Pip relates the bridal chamber to the marshes when he says, "...reluctant smoke which hung in the room seemed colder than the clearer air--like our own marsh mist" (p. 88). By relating the bridal chamber and the marshes, Pip relates the convict and Miss Havisham. Pip is sympathetic towards the convict and saying "I shrank under her touch", shows that Pip is sympathetic towards Miss Havisham.
Pip's narration gives insight into how he views himself. He says, "Of course I made no further effort to refer to it" and "I was taken down into the yard to be fed in the former dog-like manner" (p. 93). Both comments are said in a non-chalant way and make Pip seem like an object to do what is wanted of it and will follow along to what is expected (which we see later on in the book, Pip doesn't change his ways, he follows along and does what is expected of him).
As Pip hesitantly walks into the bridal chamber, he notices every slightest detail as if a newborn child observing every sensory impulse received. Pip vividly describes the room with every sense, from the “rattling” of mice to the “airless smell”. However, the most stimulated sense is sight. From the descriptions of the “great cake,” readers cringe at the detail of the grotesque “discernible thing” with growing “black fungus”. The presence of decay ominously looms over as Ms. Havisham bombards Pip with very personal and bold statements.
While Ms. Havisham and Pip walk in the decaying bridal chamber, the Pockets enter, bringing with them a desperate yet witty passage. Sarah Pocket attempts to compliment Ms. Havisham, who snaps back “I do not… I am yellow skin and bone.” Ms. Havisham knows that her kindness is merely a surface act, so she immediately embarrasses Sarah by turning her comment into an insult. Next Camilla seizes the chance to flatter Ms. Havisham by saying how she worries too much about Ms. Havisham. Wittily, Ms. Havisham bluntly replied, “Then don’t think of me”. The tension between the greedy relatives and the sharp Ms. Havisham creates an awkward yet amusing dialogue. Although Ms. Havishams clever responses are humorous, there is a darker underlying tone. She is a lonely old woman, who’s only human relationships are based on the greed for her wealth, and she recognizes that. Insultingly, she commands the pockets to leave after she had given them their “stations [for] when [they] come to feast upon [her]”. Recognizing Ms. Havishams anger towards the Pockets, Pip and Estella “remained quiet”. Even at such a young age, Pip understood this was a day where Ms. Havisham would not want to remember. Pip felt the heaviness of the room, cleverly commenting that he might “begin to decay” as well.
Chapter 11 really showcased Dickens’s ability as a writer, he was able to illustrate a dismal setting simultaneously to injecting tid bits of humor, a sort of comical scene during the reader’s realization of the loveless and greedy relationship that exists between Miss Havisham and her relatives. To fully place myself back into this scene, I actually started reading from the beginning of the chapter, and found some paragraphs that caught my attention. The relatives of Miss Havisham are artificial beings, putting up a show for her in order to gain her love (and ultimately her money). “Conveyed to me that they were all toadies and humbugs, but that each of them pretended not to know that the others were toadies and humbugs: because the admission… would make him out of be a toady and humbug,” (80) this nicely portrayed a picture in my mind of the atmosphere that surrounded the scene, everyone seemed tense, trying to dodge the truth, and “were listless…waiting somebody’s pleasure.” (80) The line that states “I heard the mice too, rattling behind the panels, as if the same occurrence were important to their interests. But, the black-beetles took no notice of the agitation…in a ponderous elderly way,” was a good juxtaposition to their relationship to Havisham, the relatives are impatient, waiting to get a piece of the “feast,” but she sees right through their fake interest in her health and calls them out for the sycophants that they truly are. As she continuously went around and around the table covered in cobwebs, even where the others entered the room, it made me think that Havisham does not regard her relatives as the center of her world, contrary to what Camilla believes. (Loved her humor by the way, who knew a person could use so many I‘s in a speech and having “tears overflow” even after stating “I don’t wish to make a display of my feelings.”)
I think Pip uncovered and understood the situation that Havisham was in with her relatives, so his narrative was a bit humorous but at the same time dark with all the “mice” and other dreary animal references. Havisham needed to support herself with a “stick against her heart” (89) which related to Pip in chap. 4 as he “clutched the leg of the table” (29), because these inanimate objects seem to be their only protection from their relatives.
One thing that really confused me and I hope someone might clear up, is the whole saucepan metaphor (if you could call it that) that is interwoven into this chapter. The first time was when pip arrived into the weeded garden staring at the box-tree and the second time is where we were suppose to finish reading for this blog. I cannot quite connect the two, and I think there is a connection, because a saucepan twice in a chapter is too much of a coincidence.
The bridal chamber, as described by Pip, has become a sort of tomb, in which the air has become stagnant which is noticeable even in the scent of the room. The decaying cake seems to be the centerpoint of the room and by not even being able to recognize it as a cake really says something about the age and filthiness of the room that has already been described as covered in mold and dust, and is infested by all sorts of "crawling things". While the scene is very dark and depressing, Pip seems almost fascinated by the place, while feeling out of place (he compares it to the marshes which is a place where Pip will always feel uncomfortable, yet has a strong connection with). Instead of feeling sorry for Miss Havisham, Pip starts to see her as the crazy old lady she is.
Then the visitors enter and Pip immediately catches on to their scheme to become the heir to the old woman's fortune. Started with Ms. Pocket's obvious and terrible attempt at flattery, to the over done sob-story of Camilla, which are both batted down by Miss Havisham and even mocked silently by Pip when he says "here, another burst of feeling" during Camilla's story, then when he watches Ms. Pocket and Georgiana try to outdo the other to be the last to leave the room which is ended by Ms. Pocket's "artfull slipperiness" which made way for her "seperate effect of departing" which I think was more transparent than her useless compliment upon her entrance.
While the scene seems like it should be dark and gloomy, it takes an almost sarcastic tone as the old bridal room seems just weird instead of scary and the money-grubbing family enters providing a target for Dickens to poke fun at, making the scene funny at points, but dark at others.
The humor Dickens uses in crafting the dialogues between Ms. Havisham and her relations is more mocking and ironic than lighthearted, and heightens the morbid and mysterious tone of the passage rather than detract from it. While insisting that she does not wish to make a display of her feelings, Camilla expresses her concern for Ms. Havisham in a most lugubrious, ridiculous manner. Mr. Camilla’s sudden interjections seem to me quite sarcastic: “Camilla, my dear, it is well known that your family feelings are gradually undermining you to the extent of making one of your legs shorter than the other.” The bickering between Camilla and Sarah Pocket demonstrate the constant competition between them for Havisham’s attention. Instead of trying to build themselves up, these two characters seek to profit by driving down each other’s reputation. Their behavior reminds me of those “crawling things” in the decaying corners of the room, myopic busy bodies like the “speckled-legged spiders with blotchy bodies running home to it, and running out from it, as if some circumstance of the greatest public importance had just transpired in the spider community”. The struggles of Havisham’s relations are not grand, but low and ugly like the mold and rot around the Satis House. The mocking portrayal of these people makes the place seem even more depressing, as it illustrate the dustiness not only in the rooms but also in the people that surround Ms. Havisham.
The bridal chamber is the epitome of decay. Dickens uses words like “oppressive,” “damp,” “reluctant,” “darkness,” “fungus,” and “dust” to illustrate the corrosion of the room, and figuratively, Miss Havisham (75). My favorite picture is the one Dickens paints of the centerpiece: “…it was so heavily overhung with cobwebs that its form was quite undistinguishable; and, as I looked along the yellow expanse out of which I remember its seeming to grow, like a black fungus, I saw speckled-legged spiders with blotchy bodies running home to it…” (76). Pip’s vivid description of what he sees, feels, and smells gives the reader a sickening sense of the absolute decay of the room.
Dickens has a distinct way of characterizing Miss Havisham’s relatives. He begins with Miss Sarah Pocket, whose sycophantic manner fails to impress Miss Havisham. She tells her that she looks well and Miss Havisham responds bluntly, “I do not” (77). Dickens writes that another relative, Camilla, perks up in response to Miss Havisham’s rejection of Miss Sarah Pocket’s attempt at flattery, giving the idea that there is a certain level of jealousy and competition among the relatives. Camilla babbles on and soon finds herself in a nervous breakdown of sorts. After claiming to frequently think about Miss Havisham in the night, she proclaims, “It’s a weakness to be so affectionate, but I can’t help it” (78). After reading some of the previous posts, it seems like some people interpreted Camilla’s sentiments to be heartfelt, but on the contrary, I sensed a rather disingenuous tone in the depiction of the relatives; that their concern and adulation isn’t truly sincere, but rather to gain Miss Havisham’s favor and thus her inheritance.
Pip's tone shifts throughout this passage. In the depiction of the bridal chamber, his tone is rather grim; however, it gradually becomes less serious as he begins to talk with Miss Havisham and later as the relatives are introduced into the scene. After Miss Havisham tells Pip that the long table is where she will be laid when she dies, he writes: “With some vague misgiving that she might get upon the table then and there and die at once…” (76). I actually found this thought of Pip’s to be quite humorous; it is about where I felt the tone lighten up a bit. During the scene with the relatives, the tone becomes almost irreverent, making the relatives seem petty and insincere. Tone is one critical aspect of a novel that becomes much weaker when the novel is turned into a film.
After re-reading this passage I felt like the tone of all the character's voices were rather blunt and to the point. Even how the visitors (the Pockets, Camilla, etc.) speak. They obviously try not to speak of anything that will upset Ms. Havisham but they speak bluntly to each other and it adds to the intensiveness of the atmosphere. I didn't quite catch on to much irony or humor most of the passage I thought was just weird, strange and somewhat creepy. For instance when Ms. Havisham gives details of where everyone will stand around her body when she is dead. "When I am laid on that table..." (89). I found that rather disturbing. I suppose you could think its funny but I really did not.
I did find one line i thought was pretty funny, "the question...who did you expect to thank you, my love?"(89) I thought it was a pretty hilarious come back to Camilla. The way Camilla came off to everyone (annoying maybe?) that was amusing.
To Sarah D's last comment about Pip, I disagree. I don't think he's just doing what is wanted of him, it seems more like Pip just doesn't want to upset Ms. Havisham quite like everyone else doesn't. The atmosphere is already tense and gloomy, it sounds like Pip just doesn't want to add to it. He is young still in this part of the book and no kid his age ever wants to get in trouble. They want to be happy and happy is the very opposite of the emotions in the air.
My last thought was that you really see Ms.Havisham's character in this section. She's distraught but she knows what she wants and what she wants is really out of the ordinary. You see all these parts of her in this section. Its very interesting, "so much the better if it be done on this day"(91).
Hope this saves some people some time:
"mor⋅dant /ˈmɔrdnt/
–adjective
1. sharply caustic or sarcastic, as wit or a speaker; biting.
2. burning; corrosive.
3. having the property of fixing colors, as in dyeing."
-courtesy of dictionary.com and Trevor Hodson
It is ironic that a wedding, which symbolizes hope, renewal, and love, could lead to such sadness and decay. Where her wedding cake sits is where Miss Havisham will be "laid when [she] is dead" and where, like sharing the cake, Miss Havisham will be feasted upon. There is more decay in Havisham's bridal chamber. Dickens likens the cake to "black fungus" and spiders, rats, and beetles have made the room their abode. The room symbolizes Miss Havisham. She in her splendid bridal dress decays along with the room. As the room is bothered by mice, Havisham is also bothered by her own set of mice. Just like how the room is abandoned, Havisham is as well. Both the room and her are awaiting death. Even the faintest light seems not to belong. The fire in the fireplace is "more disposed to go out than to burn up" and the candles don't belong in the room.
Her relatives want her inheritance and act courteously to her to gain her favor, but Havisham knows their tricks. She counters them by subtly exposing their ill intentions. When Sarah Pocket states how well Havisham looks, Havisham immediately points out the lie, saying, "I do not...I am yellow skin and bone." Once Miss Havisham has had enough of their money grubbing antics, she throws them out, dismissing them from her presence.
There is much humor in the chapter. Pip worries that after sitting in the bridal chamber for too long, that he and Estella "might presently begin to decay." Another quote I found funny was the black beetles that "grouped about the hearth in a ponderous elderly way, as if they were short-sighted and hard of hearing and not on terms with one another."
I was impressed that amid all the dark and dank details of the table room there are some scintillating descriptions of the creatures within the room. The way the creatures are portrayed I suspect they may even be an allegory to the characters in Ms. Havisham's house. The "speckle-legged spiders with blotchy bodies running home to (the decaying cake) and running out from it as if some circumstance of the greatest import had just transpired within the spider community," appeared to be a metaphor for how the relatives reacted to Pip's presence. Then Pip notices the Beetles who take no notice of Pip and "grope about the hearth in an elderly way as if they were short-sighted and hard of hearing," which are reminiscient of Ms. Havisham.
For all those wondering, the passage is in Chapter 11.
One cannot evaluate the appearance of the bridal chamber or the characterization of the relatives without considering Pip’s viewpoint, as he is the sole narrator. Though the chambers are macabre and repulsive, “black fungus” and “blotchy bodies” elicit that feeling without any further description, Pip does show the commonplace curiosity of young boys about the critters that run rampant in the room; he personifies the different species.
Pip perceives the adults in a negative light, like most adults in his life. Tess points out Pip’s witty description of Sarah pocket. These relatives are overbearing, and blame Mrs. Havisham for the troubles in their lives just as the adults at the Christmas dinner blamed Pip for the ills of the world. I wonder if he could feel any sympathy for Mrs. Havisham’s situation. The relatives are petty, and Kathy suggests that they are “low and ugly” just as Satis House. This makes the decaying room all the more an appropriate setting.
I have to digress from the blog prompt and consider an artistic touch I found. Mrs. Havisham lives a circular life. The same events occur day after day, year after year, in a macabre hypnotic pattern. The relatives’s annual visit demonstrates this repetition: ceremony, frustration, and well-worn dialogues. During the interaction, Mrs. Havisham walks around and around the table. It’s annoying and dizzying, just like Mrs. Havisham’s long life is to her heirs.
Before Pip even enters the bridal chamber Dickens uses word choice to set the atmosphere for the room. Miss Havisham's points to the room to where Pip is to go but her hand is described as "withered." I thought this was a clever way to hint at what is to come. Even though the house is already presented to be dark and grave, with the description of Miss Havisham's hand pointing the way the reader can foresee that the atmosphere and scenery is not going to change. Which is doesn't and almost gets worse. I say that the atmosphere and scenery get worse due to the fact that the bridal chamber had such promise of joy and happiness and is now the best reminder of pain and lost. Even Pip mentions that is had potential. "It was spacious, and I dare say had once been handsome" (81).
Pip wasn't even able to describe everything in the room because of the amount of dust and cobwebs on the furniture. I thought this helped provide detail of the scenery without even saying for sure what something was. Just as Pip couldn't tell what the center piece was. "An epergne or centre-piece of some kind"(81). This shows that Pip didn't even know all what was on the table which creates a better image of the table in the readers mind. For all we know there could be more items on the table that can't even be seen. The most humorous part to me in the description of the room was when Pip was describing the ants on the table. "I saw speckled-legged spiders with blotchy bodies running home to it, and running out from it, and if some circumstance of the greatest public importance had just transpired in the spider community" (81). You get a sense of the commotion and immense number of spiders that are not just passing by but living in this dusty room.
The relatives that come visit Miss. Havisham on her birthday are interesting, but they are almost what I expect out of the "friends" (if you can even call them that) of Miss. Havisham. I would expect that those who know Miss. Havisham to act how they did. Seeking for attention and hoping to be liked by her so they will hopefully be rewarded in the future. I only expect this because Miss. Havisham is not someone easily to be friend even if someone tried. They just want her fortune and it is even more obvious in this chapter. I also got the sense that Miss. Havisham would pick favorites for the day. As you see when Miss. Pocket tries to compliment Miss. Havisham and fails and Camilla takes control of their meeting. Even though Miss. Havisham may be harsh she still lets her continue on with her story.
Now that I have reread this scene, and seen a filmed version of it, I can clearly hear the ironic bells ringing in Pip's voice. He feels quite uncomfortable with where he stands in that room, and he is beginning to realize that Miss Havisham is using him, even if it is more subconscious than anything else. The room seems to be a giant chess board; all who enter there are maneuvering for Miss Havisham's attention and approval. Pip stands in as a filter for Miss Havisham, and therefore is exposed to some of the more malicious and humorous encounters that take place.
For instance, there are his observations of Miss Sarah Pockets appearance. His rendering of her appearance as that of a walnut makes me burst out laughing, and sadly is something no film could ever follow true to the book. Pip's narration of her appearance is highly humorous, and Pip hardly allows for his own wittiness at that pronunciation. His narration is vital to the scene because otherwise one would be sucked into the mordant setting. Everything in that room is dead or decaying and Pip's humor adds a sweet, fluffy flavor to the naturally dark timbre of the setting. These things all add to the vicious spin which takes place later in the Temple, starting with the crushing of Pip's dream of Miss Havisham's being his benefactress.
Miss Havisham's chamber and Dicken's use of somber themes to darken the mood and escalate the secrecy of Miss Havisham. The whole scene adds to her mysterious and powerful dramatic persona. The staggering aura of the room foreshadows deeper layers of importance to be revealed later on. Pip deftly observes ".., I even had an alarming fancy that Estella and I might presently begin to decay."(86)
Dickens shows prodigious skill in intricatly intertwining two disparate moods into one passage. He explores Pip's inner musings of the room in a foreboding, almost morbid tone. There is also witty remarks and reflections by Pip interspersed with the grand theme of decay and obscurity."...the blackbeetles took no notice of agitation, and groped...in a ponderously eldrely way...were short-sighted..hard of hearing,..."(82)
I concur with Evan's verdict of the relatives as a greedy bunch with a insatiable appetite for money. They visit Miss Havisham every year on her birthday and, while they compliment her on her health, they actaully rue each day she lives. For they believe they will obtain her fortune after she passes. But Miss Havisham sees through thier façade and calls them out on it. Pip's humorous and sometimes even acerbic diction lambastes the foolish relatives--especially Camilla.
I found this particular chapter not as dark and dreary as one may expect, but rather intriguing. The description of the room down to such minute details painted a picture for me even grander and stranger than the scene portrayed in the film, which in itself was an excellent recreation of the room.
The characters introduced in the chapter were, for me, almost as interesting as the room itself. Though none of them were what I would personally describe as queer or comical, I find that they do a good job of highlighting the absurdity of Miss Havisham's character. An exchange I rather liked between Miss Sarah Pocket and Miss Havisham would be an example:
"'Dear Miss Havisham,' said Miss Sarah Pocket. 'How well you look!'
I do not,' returned Miss Havisham. 'I am yellow skin and bone.'" (p. 83)
I simply cannot get over Dicken’s use of creatures to animate his settings. With the description of the chamber he states, “I saw speckled-legged spiders with blotchy bodies running home to it, and running out from it, as if some circumstance of the greatest public importance had just transpired in the spider community” in reference to the moldy cake center piece. Not only does he describe the “dust”, “mould”, and “black fungus”, he brings in the spiders to create a truly vivid image in the readers imagination, becoming thee dimension instead of remaining flat, like a drawing. Then, again he inserts “I heard the mice too, rattling behind their panels, as if the same occurrence were important to their interests”, and “the blackbeetles took no notice of the agitation and groped about the hearth in a ponderously elderly way”. Similar to the child-like feelings Dickens expresses through Pip, he personifies these animals quite flawlessly, looking not from a human perspective, but instead at the same level as the creatures. The diction Dickens utilizes, with words such as “speckled”, “blotchy”, “rattling” and “agitation”, create quirky and animated descriptions.
Dickens additionally uses animal images in this section as metaphors for what is happening in the scene. The spiders, mice, and beetles represent Ms. Havisham in her utter decay, and reversely the relatives scurrying around her, awaiting the moment of her death, as she says, “take your stations when you come to feast upon me”, similar to scurrying of the spiders to the cake, and then the scurrying away, all hoping for her money and property. Ms. Havisham herself says “sharper teeth than teeth of mice have gnawed on me”, representing the endless gnaw of her relations. Although Camilla is passionate, she is irrevocably scripted, and almost ironic in her want of gratitude for her so-called “suffering” on the behalf of Ms. Havisham. Once more, the animal metaphor is extended to Pip as he leads Ms. Havisham around the room as a dog on a leash, and fed “in the former dog-like manner”. Effectively Dickens reveals the characters through their animal-likenesses, his tone ,not judgmental, but open eyed and innocent as child Pip.
As Pip walks into the Bridal Chamber it's clear that the decay of Ms. Havisham and her home stems from the wedding day that none of her reletives dare mention. Ms. Havisham's relationship with her reletives (Georgiana, Sarah Pocket, Raymond and Camilla) is even more loveless than her relationship with Pip which is particularly ironic seeing as your family is typically who you are closest with and Ms. Havisham only invests in a relationship with Pip so she can raise Estella to break hearts (using Pip as practice).
As for her reletives, their visit to Satis House is based purely on greed, hoping to please her enough so as to be given some money after her death. She is well aware of this and several times mentions her dead body laid out as a meal for her relatives on the same table where her decaying cake now sits.
-Alexis
When Pip first walks into the room, he relates it to the marsh—gloomy, dreary, cold, but also mysterious. He begins to imagine that the cobwebs are growing.
Pip’s tone, when describing the relatives, is that of mockery. He describes Sarah Pocket as a “little dry brown corrugated old woman, with a small face that might have been made of walnut shells, and a large mouth like a cat’s without the whiskers”. He also describes each dramatic move made by Camilla—showing that she’s putting on a show. At one point, Pip refers to Camilla’s husband as “Mr. Camilla”, which shows that she controls her husband.
Both Camilla and Miss Pocket try, and fail, to suck up to Miss Havisham: Miss Pocket’s tactic of flattery fails as her compliment to Miss Havisham is blantantly rejected, while Camilla tries to show herself as affectionate and caring towards her family, claiming that she often thinks and worries about Miss Havisham in the night. It’s obvious from Pip’s tone that he knows that the relatives are only after Miss Havisham’s fortune, and are awaiting the day she dies. Though Miss Havisham also knows this, she continues to invite them over year after year—as if for her own amusement.
Pip's description of the room brightens one of the most dreary and morbid places in the book, making it come alive through lots and lots of characterization. Phrases such as "...I saw speckled-legged spiders...running home to it, and running out from it, as if some circumstance of the greatest importance had just transpired in the spider community" (84) and "But, the black-beetles took no notice of the agitation, and groped about the hearth in a ponderous elderly way, as if they were short-sighted and hard of hearing, and not on terms with one another" (84) serve, as some people have said, to represent the relatives; I thought that the scurrying and bumbling of the insects (especially the ponderous, elderly beetles) and the mice nicely paralleled the fawning, false behavior of the golddigging relatives.
I found the tone of this passage to be very tongue-in-cheek and irreverent. Pip, under the guise of great respect for and objective description of the relatives, manages to cut right through the pretenses of the Pockets and co. Pip's diction in "'Very easily said!' remarked Camilla, amiably repressing a sob..." (86) shows that though Pip is a bit of an innocent child, he is not taken in by her display of fake emotion, and realizes that her crying is only "amiable", done because it is expected of her.
I enjoyed this passage because Pip transforms it from a depressing place into one with many lively, non-human characters that an adult would probably ignore or be repulsed by. I found this to be a refreshing part in an otherwise morbid chapter.
Emilia I like your simile to the excerpt being like a chess board. I agree with you in that all the "players" are working towards Miss Havisham's approval. This is seen when Camilla confesses her worry for Miss Havisham. I'm sure Camilla isn't sharing this just to fill dead air, she's sharing her sleepless nights with the room to show Miss Havisham her concern- hoping to to gain approval in return. It also becomes evident in this passage that Pip is starting to notice that he is being used. This is seen when he refers to the circling of the table, "I would have stopped as a matter of course, only Miss Havisham wouldn't stop" (Pg. 83). Obviously, Miss Havisham has the reigns and control of poor Pip.
I also liked Amber's notice of the "withered finger". I did not notice this my first time re-reading the excerpt. I think it DEFINITELY eludes to the dreary, damp, dark and prepared for death room Pip is about to enter. It is those little things that make Dicken's writing so great. Little things like that are quite hard to portray in the best of films, I think this is why we still read Great Expectations today.
The thing that jumped out at me as I first reread the chapter were the little idiosyncrasies that Pip notices, most of which are humorous. The air is so rotten in the cake room that even smoke seems fresher. “I saw speckled-legged spiders with blotchy bodies running […] as if some circumstance of the greatest public importance had just transpired in the spider community.” He eccentrically compares a tree to pudding and vividly caricaturizes Jaggers’ face. In fact, all of the new characters in this chapter are a tad quaint (the boxing albino, for example). Havisham’s benefactors are all “toadies and humbugs” who continue sucking up to Havisham even though she is well aware of their motivations.
Though the chapter has lighthearted elements, gloominess pervades it’s a great deal of it. Havisham is the cause, as she tours Pip through the house. The room holding the cake is as decaying as the pastry itself. The Satis house contains more vermin life than all of Britain, it appears. Pip discovers Havisham was abandoned on her wedding (Happy Birthday!) and has planned out her death. Estella continues to torture Pip, and the chapter concludes with her teasing him with a kiss.
Dickens is able to haunt us with his detailed entry into the strange room that contains the long table holding the vague and at the same time, eye-catching bride-cake. One can feel the abrupt stop to what was supposed to be a warm and spiritful wedding. Everything, including the bridal cake, feast, clock, and even the air, feels dense and heavy and has an overall color of yellow. The romantic mystery carried by the Satis House gives off a fascinating and eerie, yet alluring atmosphere. This vibe is felt when Miss Havisham shows Pip around the room and says, "'This,' said she, pointing to the long table with her stick, 'is where I will be laid when I am dead. They shall come and look at me here'" (113). The room is a living part of her, so she intends to spend her last moments with it. The way Pip narrates this passage emphasizes his childish, innocent, and limited thoughts. For example, seeing the "speckled-legged spiders with blotchy bodies" as a "spider community" can only be expected from the viewpoint of a child.
The Satis House and those who occupy it are described to be sad, drab, and indeed, mordant. Miss Havisham's bridal chamber is old and decrepit, much like the woman who maintains it. The room is crawling with creepy insects and rats that inhabit the moldy wedding cake. The room is made all the more eerie when Miss Havisham tells Pip that "this is where I will be laid when I am dead. They shall come and look at me here," as if she needed to be any more attached to the room and what it represents. Though the room and the story behind it are quite sad, Pip manages to make witty remarks about how the spiders scurried about as if "the greatest public importance had just transpired in the spider community" and how Miss Havisham "looked like the witch of the place."
The relatives are also quite pathetic in their description as old, brown leeches who cling onto Miss Havisham's every word. Camilla, according to the dialogue between her and Miss Havisham, is quite fragile and the thought of poor Miss Havisham ails her. Camilla's husband Raymond only adds to her account of her "chokings and nervous jerkings" that occur late at night due to these worries. Pip's tone in describing the relatives is frank, honest, and funny; much like how he describes all other characters he comes across. He describes Sarah Pocket as "a little dry brown corrugated old woman, with a face that might have been made of walnut-shells," adding to how sad this scene would be to witness; an old yellowed "Witch" being worshiped by equally old and desperate relatives.
Prior to reading the passage, I looked up the term "mordant," after that, I began to read the passage of course. The first thing I noticed was Pip's description of the candles hanging from the ceiling and how they "faintly lighted the chamber, or it would be more expressive to say, faintly troubled its darkness." I don't remember making a mental note of this passage the first way through, however, it seems to be very mordant in nature, as google search put it, full of black humor. Pip works in quite a witty manner to describe the ancient, decrepit, and morbid chambers of the Satis house. He is humorous in that he makes it seem like the Satis house like to be mordant in nature. It's a very gothic and depressing place but you can find humor in the hyperbolistic nature of Miss Havisham. Both the Satis house and Miss Havisham are so extreme but at the same time depressing and overwhelmingly depressing, you can't help but find humor in the paradox.
The passage begins with Pip walking into the chamber of death, to a room of decay. The atmosphere reflects this. "From that room, too, the daylight was completely excluded, and it had an airless smell that was oppressive." Dread is accumulated especially after Miss Havisham announces that her cake, which is covered in cobwebs and spiders, is her wedding cake. Dickens conveys a dreary sort of tone in the passage where Pip describes the dying room.
It is Pip's child-like humour that saves the room from being a totally morbid place. "I saw speckled-legged spiders with blotchy bodies running home to it... as if some circumstance of the greatest public importance had just transpired in the spider community." And when the relatives arrive, the atmosphere changes into a more humourous one. One by one, the relatives try to flatter Miss Havisham in hopes of cheering her up; however, Miss Havisham sees through their tactics and strikes them one by one, over and over, like a bowler to bowling pins. The account of the relatives also make for a funny passage. For example, Pip describes Miss Sarah Pocket as "a little dry brown corrugated old woman, with a small face that might have been made of walnut shells, and a large mouth like a cat's without the whiskers." Imagine! An extremely wrinkly woman with a walnut shelled face and a cat's mouth. What is NOT funny about that?
So while the bridal chamber itself contributes to the dreary and morbid atmosphere, Pip's childhood essence saves it from complete and utter death(which is much like the beginning chapters -- such as Chapter 3 when he runs to give the convict his file and vittles, he imagines all living and non-living things to accuse him of theft).
In Trevor's comment he talks about the creature's in the room, which before reading on further, made me first believe he was referring to the "toadies and humbugs", or the guests. This humored me as I continued reading his post.
I must say that, having not been present to watch the film adaptation of this chapter, I am inclined to think it must be a real challenge to accurately portray such descriptions that are given to each guest of Miss Havisham. However, I can only imagine what fun it must have been to see the room itself, as all the description, of which there is a surplus, can bring about an accurate presentation of the setting. As for all the humor of the conversation between the guests and Miss Havisham as she is helped around by Pip, I know not whether this could be correctly portrayed. In this chapter, there is such humor, not only in the dialogue, but in the way the dialogue is written. For that reason I am skeptical of how a film adaptation could capture this chapter with all of its humor and nuance intact.
That movie poster is friggin' fantastic.
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