“Hear me, Pip! I adopted her, to be loved. I bred her and educated her, to be loved. I developed her into what she is, that she might be loved. Love her!” She said the word often enough, and there could be no doubt that she meant to say it; but if the often repeated word had been hate instead of love – despair – revenge – dire death – it could not have sounded from her lips more like a curse.
– Charles Dickens
Great Expectations, Chapter 29. Miss Havisham sounds more than a little crazy as she passionately continues to persuade Pip to fall in love with Estella. She has brought her adopted daughter up to be a femme fatale to break men’s hearts. Her repeated emphasis on “love” is ironic, given that she is driven by motives of revenge on all men for the one who let her down at the altar. Pip is right when he says that the oft repeated word sounds more like a curse from Miss Havisham’s lips. His obsession with Estella leads him down the path to suffering and regret, something which is foreshadowed here.