Great Expectations Estella Quotes

Estella finds out Pip is a ‘common’ boy.
“Her contempt for me was so strong, that it became infectious, and I caught it.”

Estella gets excited seeing Pip and Herbert fight in Satis House garden
‘there was a bright flush upon her face, as though something had happened to delight her’

Estella tries to explain to Pip that she is incapable of love. She shows this truth to Pip in an attempt to be kind, to warn him away from her (although he takes this as encouragement instead – silly boy!)
“I have a heart to be stabbed in or shot in, I have no doubt, and, of course, if it ceased to beat, I would cease to be. But you know what I mean. I have no softness there, no—sympathy—sentiment—nonsense.”

“I have not bestowed my tenderness anywhere. I have never had any such thing.”

Estella gets upset when Miss Havisham tells her off for speaking to her inappropriately when discussing Estella’s engagement to Drummel.
“I am what you designed me to be. I am your blade. You cannot now complain if you also feel the hurt”

Estella separates from Drummel, and his horse kills him two years later. She has learned to be a real person and might be able to love.
“I have been bent and broken, but – I hope – into a better shape”

“I took her hand in mine, and we went out of the ruined place; and… I saw no shadow of another parting from her.”

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