van Ommeren-Egberts 1 Saskia van Ommeren-Egberts Ms.

Gardner Honors English 10 1st 4 March 2014 The Dark and Light in Forgiveness In mythology, a phoenix is a long-living bird that dies by fire and is reborn from its own ashes. The fire denotes a renewal, out with the old and born anew. The light symbolizes the ending of darkness and their new beginning. This timeline of a new and light beginning is one that Charles Dickens uses to represent Miss Havishams forgiveness in his novel, Great Expectations. The new Miss Havisham can compare to a phoenix: they are born from the past and got transformed into something with greater beauty. Miss Havisham contains unforgiving hatred towards men, and she has every intention of hurting them because she was jilted on her wedding day. The dark and light settings in this Bildungsroman parallels to Miss Havishams conflict in finding remission for mankind. The light and dark settings exemplify Miss Havishams forgiveness and is ultimately used to resemble the dark and light side of human beings. The dark and frigidity of the Satis house exaggerate Miss Havishams bitterness, developing an adverse exposition in her relationships. Miss Havisham made Pip stand in the dark in a mysterious passage (Dickens 58). The dark is an interpretation for the malice Miss Havisham has towards men and in this case Pip. The ominous hallway is a metaphor for Miss Havisham: dark. When Estella, Miss Havishams daughter, got called up into the hallway, her light came along the dark passage like a star (58). Estella was specifically picked out as a light star because she was the closest relation to light

van Ommeren-Egberts 2 there was in the Satis house. Pip was forced into the dark hallway, while Estella could be luminous because Miss Havisham held dark resentment toward Pip, not light and joyous feelings like she reserved for Estella. Later, Miss Havisham remarked to Estella, you can break his heart (58) to teach Estella how to act bitter towards men. Like most consanguinities, like most mother-daughter relationships, one is a role model to the other. Since Miss Havisham is hostile to Pip, she leads by example for her daughter to mimic her mothers behavior. By granting permission to Estella to break mens hearts, Miss Havisham created a charming, yet dark, heart breaker, born out of her own hatred toward men. Miss Havisham dulls Estellas brightness only because of the animosity she holds toward men. The reflection of Miss Havishams malevolence is further developed by the murkiness in the Satis house as it is faintly troubled (82) throughout the passage. The negativity manifest as the smoke that hung in the room that seemed colder than clearer air (82). Smoke is usually involved with fire, yet in the Satis House, the gothic elements created an environment in which smoke was cold and crisp. The supernatural elements caused the opening scenes to stand as a metaphor for the darkness of her personality and her refusal to forgive men. The exposition of the novel contained the bleak side of Miss Havisham and the dark mystery behind the Satis House. The rising action in the tripartite structure creates faintly lit scenes to use as a timeline, marking Miss Havishams changes. Candles burnt with the steady dullness of artificial light in air that is seldom renewed (304). The Satis house is renewed because of the artificial light, just as Miss Havisham is renewed because of her inner transformation. Miss Havisham underwent changes as she started treating Pip to some money for his new job, rather than forcing him to play with Estella. Her renewal was

van Ommeren-Egberts 3 evident when she rewarded Pip with money. Miss Havisham had more respect for Pip than before because of her change. However, the gleaming light- rather than the previous nonexistent one- does not drastically change her behavior toward men. The dark imagery creates a variation in the room as there is a spider on the cloth (304), tracks of mice (304), and beetles on the floor(304) in her wedding room. The contrasting imagery, artificial light yet beetles on the floor, highlights the variety of feeling throughout the Satis house and Miss Havisham. The contrasting elements resemble a tug-of-war between the relationships, specifically mens and Miss Havishams. The light and dark attributes in the Satis house resemble the light and dark sides of Miss Havisham: to forgive men or not to forgive. During the pinnacle of the novel, conflicts of light and dark come to a resolution as the negativity in the Satis house, as well as in Miss Havisham, burn away. In a great flaming light (404), Miss Havisham catches on fire, symbolizing her forgiveness to mankind as she regrets her wild resentment, spurned affection and wounded pride (401). Once the climax was reached and the lighting became just right, and the whirl of fire (404) inside Miss Havisham exploited her vengeance. In the Satis house, the darkness was erased, parallel to the nullification of negativity in Miss Havishams life. The darkness and negativity mirror each other as they both dwindle away as the plot reaches the climax. When Miss Havisham had flames soaring at least as many feet above her head as she was high (404), her whole body was engulfed in the fiery outcome of decades containing hatred. In one burning light, she was released from her own misery and could finally forgive men. The light in the pinnacle concluded the

van Ommeren-Egberts 4 internal fight Miss Havisham battled within herself and ultimately created a new way of living--a way of living without grudges. In the tripartite structure, each setting element and emotion mirror each other, specifically the changes in forgiveness and changes in light setting. Great Expectations divided itself into dark and dark and light sections, eventually leading up to the fiery crux of the novel. This full circle from dark to light conclusively ended Miss Havishams life, as well as her own inner structure of forgiveness. The phoenixs actions are a beautiful work of art, eventually giving birth due to its own death. Miss Havisham rebirthed herself as a woman who forgave her enemies in her own fire and died in a work of forgiveness. Light and dark mirror Miss Havishams life and the Satis House, as well as our society: everybody has a light and dark side, and it is up to us to decide whether or not we are ready to complete the circle from light to dark and from resentment to forgiveness.