Thursday’s Special: Expectations – see you again on 9th January

Recently, I got a nice collection of porcelain dolls made after famous female literary characters (some of you have already met my Madame Bovary) and among them there was Estella from Great Expectations, my favourite novel by Charles Dickens. Who is Estella? Estella is a little heartless bitch that was raised to break men’s hearts – in this case Pip’s. Did she succeed to do so? Most definitely.

Dickens wrote two endings for this novel; the original one in which Pip who remains single, briefly sees Estella in London who has remarried after becoming a widow, and the revised one (Dickens yielded to a friend’s persuasion to make a new, more upbeat ending) in which Pip visits Miss Havisham’s house once more to find Estella walking the grounds, being all single, beautiful, and sad about having thrown Pip’s love away. There is a suggestion that they might finally end up together.

If you have read the novel, you have probably read the one with the revised more promising ending.

I personally think that Dickens should have stuck with his original plot, but I allow that people need to see happy endings.

 

estella_closeup

“The unqualified truth is, that when I loved Estella with the love of a man, I loved her simply because I found her irresistible. Once for all; I knew to my sorrow, often and often, if not always, that I loved her against reason, against promise, against peace, against hope, against happiness, against all discouragement that could be. Once for all; I love her none the less because I knew it, and it had no more influence in restraining me, than if I had devoutly believed her to be human perfection.”

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**About Thursday’s Special: It is a ‘non-challenge’ challenge that appeals to bloggers eager to wake up their creativity and show their own ideas and interpretation of the world. I invite everybody interested to join in. There are no themes, titles and techniques set for your expression, there are no limits and restrictions (no red tape whatsoever). The only thing required is to post a photo post on Thursdays entitled “Thursday’s Special: (your theme/title)” (as explained in my Thursday’s Special introductory post), to provide a link to my Thursday’s Special post, and to leave a link to your post in the comments section of my post. If you like Thursday’s Special widget, feel free to grab it and post it on your blog.

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Check out the other entries to Thursday’s Special:

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60 Comments on “Thursday’s Special: Expectations – see you again on 9th January”

  1. La beauté froide de la poupée correspond bien au personnage… Bon choix de chanson ! 🙂
    Je suis d’accord avec toi, les meilleures fins ne sont pas forcément les happy endings…

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  2. Foreigner, huh. 😉

    Pretty eclectic selection you have going here. Have you been introduced to Mantovani and his orchestra? My favorite of his is Lara’s Theme. He just has a great, Italian take on many classics.
    Oh, and speaking of Foreigner, what do you think of Journey? Faithfully is my song to my wife. (I’m that cheesy) 🙂
    Lol, anyway… I like your song selections as well as I like your pictures. Porcelain dolls can be creepy though.
    Our neighbor has all the walls in her house lined with bookshelves with old porcelain dolls propped on them. I tell the kids, when they act up, that I’ll make them spend the night there. 😀
    Whatever works, right? Right!

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    • 😀 I haven’t been introduced to Mantovani – thank you for recomendation Dinkerson :). Yes, my music and even my pics are very eclectic. I assure you none of my porcelain dolls is creepy 😉

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    • P.S. I like all of their stuff so “Faithfully” too 🙂 I am glad you have shared that info about yourself 🙂

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  3. I prefer Dickens’ first ending too – seems more in line with the heartless character that he had created.
    Your porcelain doll is beautiful Paula.

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    • I am glad we share the same view on Dicken’s novel 🙂 Thank you, Colline. I also thought this little Estella was a knockout – but not as much as my Mme Bovary 😀

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  4. Thank you for sharing your precious collection, Paula! This is a beautiful post of the doll Estella and the story about her. I haven’t read the book, but have watch the movie… My TS is coming 🙂

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  5. Pingback: Every step is a new start | Le Drake Noir

  9. I agree with keeping the original ending. It’s quite believable to real life. Heartless bitches and bastards tend to remain heartless bitches and bastards. Very seldom to they change, so there’s no hope for them. I see more hope for Pip now that he has a chance to eventually clear his head and move on with the rest of his life bitchless.

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    • Hehe, awesome Allen! 😀 I was in a bad mood when I got up this morning, but Allen’s comment to your post made me smile. He nails it – heartless people tend to stay heartless.

      I agree with you Paula that Dickens should have stuck with his original plot – it’s much more interesting than the Hollywood version. I wonder why people always have a need for happy endings? Nearly all the movies and all the books are the same: the hero wins the fight (against whatever it is that he’s fighting for/against), the hero gets the girl, everyone likes the hero, etc, etc, boring.

      BTW: Nice “portrait” of the porcelain doll. Here’s my entry. “Lowered expectations” perhaps? I think it definitely looks like he has some sadness captured in his soul: http://artishorseshit.wordpress.com/2013/12/19/graffiti-0422/

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      • Thank you very much, Max. I would have seen it sooner, but I am recovering with some complications after dental surgery.

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          • I haven’t taken anything for the pain,but the antibiotics have ruined my stomach and it hurts now, and my face is swollen 😦 I have spent a month and a half trying to figure out what my health problem was, spent a great deal of money, sinus CT and so on .. and now I have to recover from this….

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                  • 🙂 Great. I will be working through this period except for 25th and 26th December and then again 1st and 6th of January when I will be home eating and possibly taking pics of candles and Christmas lights. It will give me time to catch up with everything I have missed on my favourite blogs.

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                    • I’ll be working this Monday and then we’re off until Thursday the 2nd of January.
                      Needless to say that I love having those days off!

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                    • That’s a really good news. Will you be travelling to visit your family or you’ll stay at home during that time? Whatever you do enjoy the break! We both know you need and deserve one.

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  12. Never read the book and probably never will, it not being my type of book… but the porcelain dolls being made for you, now that does interest me… is it possible to have someone make one up for you ? Must be fairly expensive … I would have thought…

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    • To have custom-made porcelain dolls or ones after your image – that’s an amusing idea – I would imagine it to be very expensive. These dolls I have are mass production costing about €6.

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  13. Pingback: Graffiti 0422 | artishorseshit

  14. I think I red Great Expectations but this must have happened in some other age because I can’t remember much about it…..anyway, I wouldn’t choose the happy end…..
    Your post is very original and your doll very delicate……
    Didn’t know you collected porcelain dolls!

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  15. What a very cool, calm and collected young lady she looks, Paula! Can’t wait to see the others.
    The original ending is much more true to life, and your choice of music made me smile. Yes, we all need our bit of fantasy. 🙂

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    • Thank you very much, Jo. I am very uncommitted to visit eagerly others’ blogs lately (health problems), but I did not forget about you. I will do my bit when I have recovered.

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  16. Pingback: “Dog, I Shall Drink Your Blood!” – Hauz Khas Kitsch! | The Urge To Wander

  18. I like to think Pip manned up somewhere along the line and maybe left Estella in the lurch; Miss Havisham, the ghost of Brides to be . . .

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  20. Pingback: Thursday’s Special | Dot knows! (elleturner4)

  22. Pingback: Plucky Great Blue Heron’s Happy Ending | Babsje Heron

  23. Wow Paula, what an amazing post you have here today! It’s so richly textured and nuanced, and makes me look at that book with a fresh set of eyes. Curiously, my own post ends with the statement “I love happy endings,” and I had written it before reading your own post talking about happy and sad endings. For my herons, I always want the happy endings, but in other cases? Not so clear cut, is it. What is it about very sad music that actually provides a lift? Fascinating how that works. Well, enough rambling, Enjoy your holiday break, and Happy New Years, too.

    Plucky Great Blue Heron’s Happy Ending

    http://babsjeheron.wordpress.com/2013/12/19/plucky-great-blue-herons-happy-ending/

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    • A good point about sad music, Babsje :). I won’t have much of a break, but thank you ;). My best wishes to you. P.

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      • Thanks, maybe the upliftingness of sad music would make a good post topic some day, but not today, that would take a certain mood to pull it off I think. Have a lovely weekend, see you next time.

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  24. I didn’t know about the first ending. I think the first draft made more sense and keeping in tone with what the whole story is about. I shouldn’t have read this whole post. I thought I was reading about a doll. It turns out it’s just gonna ruin the great story I’ve known. I had such great expectation, and now ….
    Thanks for the share, Paula. I will shake it off. 😀

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