I made this mindmap on Miss Havisham to help analyse her character from her past, the key thing that sent her off the rails of normality, traits of her character and what happens throughout the story.
What I have learnt about Miss Havisham is that she came from a wealthy family and when she was younger her mother died and her father remarried which resulted in him having a son who did not like Miss Havisham. Miss Havisham met a man who she was madly in love with and they got engaged, she didn't know he was a conman who worked together with her step brother to plot to steal her fortune and desert her on her wedding day. This left Miss Havisham so distraught and heart broken that she stops all the clocks in her house (Satis House) and becomes a male-hating, bitter recluse and never removed her wedding gown and remains wearing the one shoe she had on at the time she found out she had been betrayed. Even the room with the table laid for her wedding, featuring an extravagant wedding cake (albeit mouldy and disgusting) remained the same forever. She adopted Estella as a little girl and raised her to be a weapon against all men, raising her to have no heart and normal human emotions, Miss Havisham wanted Estella to break hearts just like how she was treated. This is why she invited Pip over as a little boy to play with Estella, even though Estella bullied and mistreated him. She pushed Pip into falling in love with Estella and under her spell, just to see him get his heart broken.
I decided to look at how Miss Havisham had been portrayed by different actresses since the beginning of TV and film to compare the differences in appearance and age and overall effect as I have only seen her acted by Gillian Anderson (2011 BBC 3 part mini series) and by Helena Bonham Carter.
Florence Reed 1934:
This was the first sound version of Charles Dickens Great Expectation's and was made by Stuart Walker in Hollywood's Universal Studios with mainly an American cast. This was much less popular than the 1946 version and doesn't follow the true story of Great Expectation's, for example Miss Havisham doesn't wear the wedding gown we expect to see from reading the novel and doesn't wear her veil at all times. From the images I have seen I don't think she looks like she is playing Miss Havishams character. It didn't appear that she really organised and plans Pips heartbreak by Estella and ended up dying off-screen from natural causes. I feel like people would have been disappointment because Miss Havishams plan from the moment she got Estella was to bring her up to break hearts and that is why Pip came to meet both Havisham and Estella in the first place. When Miss Havisham burnt to death after apologising to Pip and repenting for all that she had done this had a symbolic meaning as being consumed by a fire is the Christian image of cleansing as well as punishment for sin. To cut these two key events would completely ruin the story for me personally.
Martita Hunt 1946:
This 1946 version was made by David McClean in Britain and won two Academy Awards in Best Art Direction and Best Cinematography and was nominated for Best Picture, Best Director and Best Screenplay. It was the first British film to win an Oscar for its cinematography. It was named by many commentators one of the finest films yet made of a Dickens novel and came third as the most popular film at the British Box Office 1947. I feel like the make-up, hair and costume is much more accurate to Dickens character Miss Havisham than the 1934 version as her outfit is very extravagant, like an old wedding dress and she has a ghostly, unstable and slightly mad look.
Margaret Leighton 1974:
The 1974 adaptation of Great Expectations starred Margaret Leighton as Miss Havisham and Sarah Miles who played both young and older Estella. It was directed by Joseph Hardy and made as a film for television and was entered into the 9th Moscow International Film Festival in 1975. I think Margaret Leighton really looks the part for her Miss Havisham character as she is wearing the white wedding dress and veil with the glittering jewellery around her neck. Her skin is very pale and she appears very tired. However I think her dress looks too white and fresh to be the Havisham that is rotting away in Satis house, I think more subtle make-up and more off-white and moth eaten looking dress would be more effective. I believe her overall look in this film would be much better suited to the theatre stage than a TV series or film as it doesn't look realistic enough to me.
Joan Hickson 1981:
Joan Hickson played Miss Havisham in the 1981 BBC TV mini-series directed by Julian Amyes. Joan Hickson was an English actress best known for her role in Agatha Christies Miss Marple in the TV series Miss Marple. As well as acting the character on TV, she also narrated Miss Marple stories for audio books. Because of this I can only see her as her Miss Marple character instead of as Miss Havisham. I really like her look in this as I feel like its quite accurate to the period its set in, she looks like a very wealthy dowager. The make-up isn't too over the top in the paleness and aging and the hair looks how I believe the Victorians in the earlier part of the era would have worn there hair with the center parting and short curls. The dress is very detailed and fancy with ruffles and sparkles galore. I almost think she looks too normal to be a Miss Havisham though, in my opinion I would like to see her looking more withered and pale, she doesn't look like she has neglected herself as much as I believe Havisham did.
Jean Simmons 1989:
This 6-part series was first aired on ITV in 1991 however was released on video in America in 1989. Jean Simmons who played the role of Estella in the 1946 version played Miss Havisham this time round which means she knew the tale like the back of her hand and had a passion for the novel. From the images of her I have seen it appears as though aging make-up techniques have been used and the curls don't look like the traditional Victorian style we expect, more like her hair has been abandoned for a very long time so that it no longer resembles the hair style she may once have had on her wedding day. This series stretched across 5 hours and this meant that much more detail from the original novel could be included in this adaptation and more concentration could be put into the characters roles within the story.
Anne Bancroft 1998:
Anne Bancroft starred in the 1998 contemporary adaptation of Great Expectations alongside Gwyneth Paltrow as Estella, directed by Alfonso Cuaron set in 1990's New York. The character we know as Pip had been changed to Finn, and Miss Havisham to Nora Dinsmoor. This film received mixed reviews as some said it was too different to the beloved novel by Charles Dickens, I can see why people would think this as just by looking at the photographs of the Havisham or 'Dinsmoor' character, she resembles nothing to the character we think of when referring to the original tale. She is not wearing a wedding gown, or a veil, or have any resemblance to a bitter, heartbroken, Victorian era dowager and appears more as a drag queen because of her emerald green gown, red nails, bright blonde dramatically flicked hair and bold make-up that matches the rest of her look. She appears to be a bizarre and over-the-top in both looks and personality, not the conventional Miss Havisham.
Charlotte Rampling 1999:
My first reaction to this image of Charlotte Rampling as Miss Havisham is that apart from not looking as withered, neglected and aged as some of the other portrayals, I really like the dress, accessories and hairstyle that has been given to this character. I think with a less fancy overall appearance this portrayal could be once of my favourites. If I was the hair and make-up designer I would have styled the hair a bit down giving it a more of an ignored effect and the face a bit more age and some dark circles to represent poor nourishment, lack of sleep and deterioration. I would also make the costume look more old and worn out, like it had never been washed or taken off. This television film was directed by Julian Jarrold and was filmed at the number of Kent locations, which made it more authentic as parts of the original Dickens novel that weren't set in London were set in Kent. It won the BAFTA TV Award for Best Costume Design, Best Design and Best Make-up and Hair in 2000 and the 1999 RTS Television Award for Best Sound in Drama, Best Production in Drama, Best Lighting and Photography and Camera.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miss_Havisham#In_film_and_television
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Expectations_%281934_film%29
http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/02063/Florence-Reed3_2063022i.jpg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Expectations_%281946_film%29
http://www.thecityreview.com/greatex2.jpg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Expectations_%281974_film%29
http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/02062/Margaret-Leighton_2062993i.jpg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Expectations_%281981_TV_serial%29
http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/02062/Joan-Hickson_2062998i.jpg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Expectations_%28miniseries%29
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Simmons
http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/02062/Joan-Simmons_2062995i.jpg
http://www.gothic.stir.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/bancroft.jpg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Expectations_%281998_film%29
http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/02063/Charlotte-Rampling_2063036i.jpg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Expectations_%281999_film%29
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0167187/
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