The Journey to Richmond — Great Expectations

Miss Havisham sends for Pip with increasing frequency, usually to witness some interaction with Estella or to relay messages between them. Each summons feels significant to Pip, reinforcing his belief in her plans for his future. During one visit, Miss Havisham pulls him aside to ask if he finds Estella beautiful, changed, and accomplished.

When Pip confirms he finds her perfect, Miss Havisham reacts with disturbing satisfaction, as if Pip's suffering is exactly what she hoped to produce. The relationship between Miss Havisham and Estella has grown more complex, Estella has learned her lessons too well, becoming so cold that even her creator sometimes seems disturbed by the results. Estella treats Miss Havisham with the same indifference she shows everyone else, frustrating the old woman who perhaps expected to be exempt from her ward's heartlessness.

The dynamics reveal a revenge plot that's escaped its creator's full control. Miss Havisham wanted Estella to break men's hearts but didn't anticipate that the girl would be equally cold to her benefactor.

Watching them interact, Pip occasionally glimpses the dysfunction driving everyone's behaviour, but he immediately reinterprets any concerning signs to fit his preferred narrative. His capacity for delusion has become so practised that even obvious red flags get absorbed into his fantasy of eventual happiness.