In depth analyses of Miss Havisham

Miss Havisham is arguably the most eccentric character of 'Great Expectations'. She encompasses revenge, hate and distress, which obviously affects her appearance.

In the book, there are several quotes from Pip that describe Miss Havisham's appearance:

• " I saw that the bride within the bridal dress had withered like the dress, and like the flowers, and had no brightness left but the brightness of her sunken eyes. I saw that the dress had been put upon the rounded figure of a young woman, and that the figure upon it now hung loose, had shrunk to skin and bone."
• "She was dressed in rich materials- satins and lace, and silks- all of white"
• "She has a long white veil dependent from her hair, and she had bridal flowers in her hair, but her hair was white."
• "I saw that everything within my view which ought to be white, had been white long ago, and had lost its lustre, and was faded and yellow."
• "The bride within the bridal dress had withered like the dress, and like the flowers, and had no brightness left but the brightness in her sunken eyes"
• "Now, wax-work and skeleton seemed to have dark eyes that moved and looked at me"

When I see the portrayals of her on screen, I find that my favourite ones are those from the BBC version and from the 2012 film. This is because the makeup and hair conforms to what I imagined Miss Havisham to look like more than other imitations of her that I have seen. 

This face chart that I created is my interpretation of Miss Havisham. I would like to create sharp cheekbones, sunken, dark eye circles as this is what has been described in the book. White eyebrows as she has white hair, and chapped lips because she will not have been looking after herself. I want to accentuate all the hollow areas of the face, and also the lines on the face as this will show age and misery. I believe that I would like for this look to appeal to a television audience, as I would like to create something rather realistic instead of an exuberant theatrical version. However a television version will most likely require latex and/or old age stipple to look more realistic. In addition, I need to make sure that the makeup is camera appropriate, which would include adding a tinge of yellow to the eyebrow so that the white does not appear blue. If this was for the BBC or a movie, I believe that the audience figures would be large and so the expectations of the audience for the hair and makeup would be high. Moreover, access to TV and film is much easier nowadays which also heightens the amount of viewers, whereas in the movies from the 60's and 70's, audience figures would not have been as high and so less need for elaborate makeup and hair. 

When it comes to the hair, it has to be noted that Great Expectations was set in the the early 1800's rather than the late, and so the hairstyles would have differentiated. This means there would be no hair hanging at the bottom from the back of the head, and buns at the back of the head were popular. In addition, the book describes Miss Havisham as having jewels in her hair, this is because she was getting married and at that time she was a woman of money and of a high class. The jewels that I use can be costume jewellery as that will be used in television, but it would have to look real as her jewellery will have been real.