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In Great Expectations, Charles Dickens created one character with too much money and too little sanity. Miss Havisham was the kind of wealthy goofball Dickens’ audiences could sneer at, and someone whose very existence would warn Pip of the dangers of class and wealth. And Dickens built a house for Miss Havisham, worthy of the woman’s delusions of grandeur. Let’s spend a full 60 seconds in Satis House, shall we? That’s all anyone should be forced to endure.

Video Transcription:

If you remember one thing about Great Expectations, it’s probably going to be Miss Havisham and her crazy house of mouldering bridal paraphernalia. Guess what? That’s good news because it’s the central symbol of this book.

Satis house. It’s where bridal paraphernalia goes to die.

The bridal dress yellows.
The cake grows stale and is nibbled by mice.
The clocks are stopped at 20 minutes to nine.

So what does it all stand for?

OK, think about it. Satis House is where Pip first dreams his dreams of being a gentleman. It’s where he falls in love with the girl he can’t have—the girl he can’t have because he’s a lowly, rough, common boy and she’s a lady.

So basically Satis House symbolizes Pip’s romanticized perception of the upper class—and how that perception will eventually crumble. Like everything from Miss Havisham’s thwarted wedding day.

Oh, but that’s not all. There’s something simultaneously ridiculous and moth-eaten about the place, too, right? That’s because Dickens used Satis House to poke fun at the upper class, as well.

Those crumbling stones outside? The dust and darkness within? That’s the decadence of the wealthy for you—corrupt, rotting, and so meaningless it must crumble and fall.

Gee, Dickens. Tell us what you really thought.