Great Expectations 2

• "To see her, with her white hair and her worn face, kneeling at my feet, gave me shock through all my frame... 'What have I done! What have I done!' She wrung her hands, and crushed her white hair, and returned to this cry over and over again. 'What have I done!'" (p. 400-401)

In the beginning of the novel, Dickens portrays Miss Havisham as a controlling, strange woman whereas Pip is more innocent and vulnerable. Now, towards the ending of Miss Havisham's life, their characteristics appear to completely switch. Miss Havisham desperately cries at Pips feet, "What have I done!" The once powerful woman appears overwhelmed, broken down, and apologetic -- a state Pip is shocked to see her in. The line "what have I done" seems strikingly similar to Conrad's line in Heart of Darkness, "The horror! The horror!" As a reader, it can be interpreted that both Kurtz and Miss Havisham repetitively shout these lines, reflecting on their unhappy life.