Howard Bloom, a literary critic notes, "That is, Dickens portrays Havisham and the convict as social products who self-defeatingly embrace the ideology of the class that has unjustly destroyed their innocence and happiness" (Bloom 258). Estella is another example. She is a member of the upper class, a ward of Miss Havisham, but she is really the child of a convict and a cold, calculating woman who only manipulates Pip. She represents all that was wrong with Victorian British society and culture, and it takes Pip nearly the entire novel to see her and society for what they really are. Biddy is the exact opposite of Estella, but because she is "lower class," Pip never sees her for what she is. Indeed, she represents the best of a person, while Estella, the untouchable, represents the worst of British society and culture.

References

Bloom, Harold, ed. Charles Dickens Great Expectations. Philadelphia:...
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