Miss Havisham is a wealthy spinster who was jilted on her wedding day and thereafter lives frozen in the moment of her heartbreak. Once the heiress of a prosperous brewer, she is deceived by her fiancé, Compeyson, who conspires with her bitter half-brother Arthur to steal her fortune.

After receiving Compeyson’s letter of betrayal while dressing for the ceremony, she stops every clock in her decaying mansion, Satis House, and withdraws from the world, wearing her wedding dress until her death, preserving the untouched wedding feast, and allowing time itself to decay around her.

In an attempt to save a child from a fate like her own, she has Mr. Jaggers bring her an orphan to adopt, Estella, but her desire for protection gradually transforms into a vengeful mission. Miss Havisham raises Estella to be beautiful, elegant, and incapable of love, using her as an instrument to break men’s hearts, with Pip becoming the prime target of this cruel experiment.

Only late in life does Miss Havisham come to understand the harm she has caused, particularly when Estella marries the harsh Bentley Drummle and Pip stands before her as a mirror of her own crushed hopes. Wracked with guilt, she begs Pip for forgiveness. Soon after, her tattered bridal gown catches fire, and although Pip saves her, her injuries prove fatal.

Before dying, she expresses a final wish for forgiveness both for herself and for Estella leaving her fortune primarily to her adopted daughter and offering a final, tragic glimpse of a woman destroyed by betrayal but not entirely devoid of redemption.

All published appearances of Miss Havisham from before January 1, )-(95)}} are public domain in the US.

Some notable appearances are listed below:

* Great Expectations (1861)

* Great Expectations (1917)
* Great Expectations (1922)

* Great Expectations (1871)

*[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miss_Havisham Wikipedia]
*[https://comicvine.gamespot.com/miss-havisham/4005-112827/issues-cover/ Comic Vine]

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