Estella (Great Expectations) Estella (Great Expectations) Estella Havisham (best known in literature simply as Estella) is a significant character in the Charles Dickens novel, "Great Expectations". Like the protagonist, Pip, Estella is introduced as an orphan, but where Pip was raised by his sister and her husband to become a blacksmith, Estella was adopted and raised by the wealthy and eccentric Miss Havisham to become a lady. Pip and Estella meet when he is brought to Miss Havisham's ill-kept mansion, Satis House, ostensibly to satisfy the elder Miss Havisham's "sick fancy" to be entertained by watching Pip and Estella play together. It is
Sondra Sherman begun to express a sense of human character and emotion. For example, the piece Miss Havisham uses Charles Dickens' archetypal character to explore the stereotype of the old maid and society's discomfort with nontraditional women. As Sherman describes, "Miss Havisham, a chagrined, wealthy old woman, was left standing at the alter. The interior of her magnificent house remains as it was decorated to celebrate her wedding day. An atmosphere of bitter disappointment prevails." Sherman has also worked at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston,