“Mother by adoption,” retorted Estella, never departing from the easy grace of her attitude, never raising her voice as the other did, never yielding either to anger or tenderness, – “mother by adoption, I have said that I owe everything to you. All I possess is freely yours. All that you have given me, is at your command to have again. Beyond that, I have nothing. And if you ask me to give you, what you never gave me, my gratitude and duty cannot do impossibilities.”
– Charles Dickens
Great Expectations, Chapter 38. The damage Miss Havisham has done as a mother is highlighted by Estella’s uncompromising response to her when she demands Estella’s love. Pointedly calling her “mother by adoption,” Estella says she cannot give Miss Havisham what she never gave to her adopted daughter. It’s a painful lesson for Miss Havisham to learn the personal cost of having taught Estella not to love. Her scheme to use her daughter to inflict revenge on men has backfired.