Hull , Shrinking into her yellowing wedding gown with the decay of her wedding breakfast around her, Miss Havisham, from Charles Dickens’s 1861 novel, Great Expectations, is one of the best-known characters in English literature.
Jilted on her wedding day by her unscrupulous fiance, Havisham can be understood by modern readers as a victim of “romance fraud”, where a fraudster manipulates someone under the guise of courtship for their own financial gain.
Although romance fraud is a 21st-century term, through the character of Havisham, Dickens clearly demonstrated its often-devastating effects.
In her youth, Havisham was manipulated by her fiance, the conman Compeyson and her half-brother Arthur, in a plan to rob her of her fortune.
Both the romance itself and the wedding are a ploy, and she is jilted at the altar, losing not only her wealth but also any hope of future romantic prospects due to the scandal that followed.
Alone, rich and looking for a companion, Havisham was particularly vulnerable to a criminal wanting to take advantage. Though she lost her fortune, Dickens makes it clear that the romantic betrayal is what had the biggest impact on her psychology.
The romantic duplicity shapes her relationships with both her adopted daughter, Estella, and Pip, the novel’s protagonist, making her cold and hostile toward them.
The psychological impact of romance fraud
Since being jilted, Havisham has become a recluse, “stuck” within the moment of her abandonment. She remains in the house with the clocks all stopped, perpetually wearing her wedding gown. Her decayed hopes of romance are reflected in the decayed objects which surround her. As Pip muses:
Avoiding her eyes … I took note of the surrounding objects in detail, and saw that her watch had stopped at twenty minutes to nine, and that a clock in the room had stopped at twenty minutes to nine. “Look at me,” said Miss Havisham. “You are not afraid of a woman who has never seen the sun since you were born?”
The clocks are all stopped at the time the promise of her future life ended – the moment that she received the letter from Compeyson, which made the crime apparent.
Herbert recounts the story to Pip:
A certain man, who made love to Miss Havisham … Well! This man pursued Miss Havisham closely and professed to be devoted to her. I believe she had not shown much susceptibility up to that time, but all the susceptibility she possessed certainly came out then, and she passionately loved him.
This description mirrors many modern elements of romance fraud. Compeyson “made love” to her, and she became “susceptible”. Like contemporary romance fraudsters, Compeyson inserted himself into Havisham’s life and manipulated and controlled her to believe that he loved her.
Romance fraud in Dickensian Britain
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There was a lack of progression in fraudulent law during Dickens’ time. It wasn’t until the Fraud Act of 2006 that real change came about, making fraud by misrepresentation a criminal offence in the UK. Today, romance fraud is considered a “serious crime”.
Long before this most personal form of fraud became illegal, Dickens saw its prevalence and drew attention to it. Others followed in his path, such as Mary Elizabeth Braddon in Lady Audrey’s Secret , Arthur Conan Doyle in A Case of Identity and Agatha Christie in Death on the Nile .
Havisham can be viewed in two ways, either as a victim or a fool. It is hard to determine how Dickens wanted her to be interpreted. Was she the stereotypical hysterical Victorian woman, as seen in other novels such as The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins or the character of Bertha Rochester in Jane Eyre ?
I don’t think so. As he was with so many other social issues, I believe that Dickens was ahead of his time and was actively trying to raise the profile of the crime of romance fraud and the impact it has on his victims.
Beyond the canon
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As part of the Rethinking the Classics series, we’re asking our experts to recommend a book or artwork that tackles similar themes to the canonical work in question, but isn’t considered a classic itself. Here is Emma Linford’s suggestion:
If you’re gripped by Dickens’s depiction of fraudsters and criminals, you may also enjoy Dickens’s Villains: Melodrama, Character, Popular Culture by Juliet John . In it, John explores the complex villains and anti-heroes of Dickens’ novels. She looks at what inspired his writing, as well as the dramaturgical characteristics of his work. SKS
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