As part of November’s Autumn Classics Challenge, I read Great Expectations. She prompted us to write about setting this month. And wow does Great Expectations have setting. Obviously the most important is Miss Havisham’s house (which I imagine something like the image below).
 |
| Thomas Jorion Urban Decay |
But there’s also the Blue Boar, Joe’s forge, the marshes, Pip’s various apartments, the Castle…so much with such meaning. But without Miss Havisham’s mansion, there wouldn’t be a story. That house is as much a part of her character as her old wedding dress or the shoe she doesn’t wear. It embodies her spirit and is torn down when she dies. It is a place that I think Pip is in love with as well as loathes, just like Estella. Without the mansion, Pip wouldn’t have anything.