Playing Hamlet to Miss Havisham's Ghost: Theatricality and Embodied Allegory in Great Expectations

Abstract: Dickens's attitude to the theater was contradictory: at times he took the position of a realist, uncompromisingly mocking the sensational and uncanny dimensions of Melodrama, but at other times he was drawn precisely to the mystique of the stage. In this paper I explore the "ghostly" dimensions of Miss Havisham in Great Expectations , suggesting that she invokes the haunting, allegorical power of the melodramatic actress. I argue that her self-assigned role as an actress renders her simultaneously supernaturally vivid and fraudulent, connecting her with the theatrical imposters mocked in Wopsle's Hamlet spoof. This has broader implications for what have been described as the unreal and transcendent qualities of Dickens's characters.