As part of November’s Autumn Classics Challenge, I read Great Expectations. She prompted us to write about setting this month. And wow does Great Expectations have setting. Obviously the most important is Miss Havisham’s house (which I imagine something like the image below).

Thomas Jorion Urban Decay

But there’s also the Blue Boar, Joe’s forge, the marshes, Pip’s various apartments, the Castle…so much with such meaning. But without Miss Havisham’s mansion, there wouldn’t be a story. That house is as much a part of her character as her old wedding dress or the shoe she doesn’t wear. It embodies her spirit and is torn down when she dies. It is a place that I think Pip is in love with as well as loathes, just like Estella. Without the mansion, Pip wouldn’t have anything.