The Influence of Women - 1225 Words

Women are powerful. Though society has not always recognized and respected women as they deserve, members of the female gender have strongly influenced the world ever since the beginning of time when Eve ate of the forbidden fruit. Today, women continue to increasingly achieve power and status. Likewise, in Charles Dickens’s Great Expectations, women play an important role in influencing the protagonist, Pip, although both positively and negatively. Through their words and actions, women cause Pip to make significant lifestyle changes, either beneficial or adverse. He is continuously pushed to pursue different personae by Mrs. Joe, Miss Havisham, Estella, and Biddy, and he learns important lessons from each of them. In the first few†¦show more content†¦Much of the harm done to Pip can be attributed to the ‘lovely’ Estella, the third major woman in Pip’s life to abuse him. Aesthetically, she is beyond beautiful; internally, rotten. To Pip, she is irresistible. The adopted daughter of Miss Havisham, Estella is raised for a single purpose. The adult Pip discovers much too late that Miss Havisham has bred her as a tool of vengeance to break men’s hearts. In this way, Estella is, like her adoptive mother, as much of a victim as Pip. Estella, alongside her adoptive parent, emotionally abuses Pip, leading him to believe that she loves him. Thus, she becomes the subject of Pip’s irrational, devoted, and unhealthy love. Pip relates: â€Å"The unqualified truth is, that when I loved Estella with the love of a man, I loved her simply because I found her irresistible†¦ I loved her against reason, against promise, against peace, against hope, against happiness, against all discouragement that could be† (Dickens 232). She uses him just as Miss Havisham wants, to inflict pain and heartbreak. Also, she mocks Pip for being common and boring. Upon being instructed by Miss Havisham to play with Pip, she expresses her disgust: â€Å"With this boy! Why he is a common laboring-boy† (Dickens 58). This causes the young Pip to be ashamed of his family and background and to attempt to escape them. Estella pervades Pip’s thoughts. After they meet, she is present in everything he does. Pip naively yearns for her affection; he wantsShow MoreRelatedWomen s Influence On Women1167 Words   |  5 PagesA notion of women have changed through encounter of various European people. Before that, they have their original culture, especially women role in the society was characteristic among mid-seventeenth centry to eighteen century. At the beginning of the book, the author Gunlong Fur shows that women had important role in the Native American society of Lenape. Firstly, they had responsibility of cultivating food, like corn and other vegetables. At this point, women knew when they should sow seeds byRead MoreWomen s Influence On Women1288 Words   |  6 Pagespeople perceive women. 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