All In White
There is a certain horror which Charles Dickens arouses in the minds of readers at the memorable state of Miss Havisham in his novel, Great Expectations. The idea of a woman, jilted on her wedding day, forever clinging to her hope in the absent bridegroom creates a grotesque, frightening image. Despite the obvious repulsiveness in Miss Havisham’s character, interesting parallels may be drawn between her story and that of a religious sister. As I personally pursue the possibility of a religious vocation, the remarkable witness of the women who, like Miss Havisham, have sacrificed their lives for the Bridegroom continues to baffle me. However, Miss Havisham’s sacrifice is due to a fallen, sinful man, and the fruits of her sacrifice are only more pain and suffering, not the wealth of grace a religious sister experiences. Miss Havisham devotes herself to the gods of anger and disappointment, marring her life with despair, and making her a great contrast to the joyful hope of a God-loving sister. Although Miss Havisham is a profoundly twisted, unchristian character, she allows readers to see a corrupted version of devotion which makes the true light of religious life shine brighter in the darkness.
Ask anyone who has read Great Expectations about a character perpetually wearing a yellowed wedding dress, whose wedding cake is rotting on her table, and there is no doubt of Miss Havisham’s name coming to mind. All clocks and watches in Miss Havisham’s house have stopped at the exact moment she learned her fiancé had deserted her, but the frozen time cannot prevent natural decay. The state of Miss Havisham and her clothing is that of a corpse in its burial clothes rather than a bride. When she repeatedly complains of her broken heart it is certain that the wound never healed, but rather became an infected, rotting mass of uncontrolled emotion. Miss Havisham’s distinguishing identity as the jilted bride sets her apart from every other character in Great Expectations, and separates her from any Dickensian villain.
The same, all-important identity as a bride permeates into religious life so that a sister is known first and foremost as a Bride of Christ. The Dominican Sisters of Saint Cecilia, with whose order I am most familiar, wear the distinctive white habit which has the appearance of a wedding gown. The Sisters take far better care of their ‘wedding gowns,’ keeping them spotlessly white with advanced laundry skills, so as not to fade into a yellow decay like Miss Havisham’s. Having placed their expectations on a true Lover, the Sisters have good reason to keep themselves ready in white as they wait for their Bridegroom to return at any day, at any hour. In order to commit themselves to the Bridegroom, the Sisters have died to the world, but because of their new life they have not become corpses.
It is only natural that Miss Havisham, in her corpse-like state, creates more miserable, loveless people whenever she touches them. Hatred hardens the jilted bride so that she wishes her abhorrence of men to extend to the innocent heart of her dependent, Estella. Miss Havisham’s goal when adopting Estella was to be loved by the girl while training her to torture any man who might fall in love with her. Learning only hatred from Miss Havisham, Estella cannot love the woman, nor do any of Miss Havisham’s greedy relatives foster tender sentiments toward her. Miss Havisham is devastated when Estella casts her off as a loathsome creature. Surrounded by hate, nurturing hate, Miss Havisham experiences and despises the physical manifestations and fruits of her commitment to evil.
Dedicated to love, the life of a religious sister bears physical fruits in the apostolate to which she is called. No matter where a sister is placed – in schools, hospitals, pregnancy centers, slums, or anywhere – she loves the people in her care unconditionally. Religious life is a response to Christ’s call “…to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” (John 15:13) The people to whom a sister ministers learn to love through her example, and become a legacy of her love. Family and friends of a sister find that, even in her poverty, a sister brings a wealth of blessings to the family through her intercessory prayer. A sister continues to grow closer to her Bridegroom, drawing with her everyone whom she holds dear.
Miss Havisham cannot boast of growth as she decays to her death. Living in the shadow of disappointment, Miss Havisham’s story spirals down into final despair and death. Miss Havisham’s end is hastened when she sits too close to her fire and her wedding gown goes up in flames. Just as she was earlier stripped of the imagined love of Estella, Miss Havisham is stripped of her life passion in the burning of her wedding gown which symbolizes attachment to her wedding day. Shortly after suffering through her inferno, Miss Havisham dies of shock. To the last, Miss Havisham is haunted by guilt over her instruction of Estella, her fate left ambiguous beyond a small indication that she generously bequeathed money to her disagreeable relatives. Reveling in opportunities to create misery, Miss Havisham’s hopeless life leads to a similarly hopeless death.
For a religious sister, death is only the beginning of a deeper relationship with her Lord and God. Life on earth is meant to prefigure heavenly life, as St. Catherine of Siena famously wrote: “All the way to heaven is heaven, because Jesus said, ‘I am the way.’” Religious life is devoted to Christ and His Way, and when it is led well, there is no ambiguousness about final judgement. Love for the real, living Bridegroom establishes the Bride ever more soundly in her identity as His possession. If there are any flames which the true Bride of Christ must pass through they are only the fire of purification, not of painful punishment and damnation. This present, mortal life, with all of its trials, must be passed through with peace, joy, and hope for Eternity.
Yes, Miss Havisham is a horrible, wicked woman, but her complete union with evil exemplifies the strength of human devotion. Fidelity to the absent Bridegroom is a beautiful virtue when ordered toward a worthy subject. Care and concern for fellow men and women flows from the powerful love engendered by the Bridegroom. Such powerful love keeps hope alive no matter what tribulations are encountered for the Bridegroom’s sake, and no matter how the end of mortal life comes about. As Victor Hugo observes, religious sisters are the ones “…who dare to dwell on the very brink of the mystery, waiting between the world which is closed and heaven which is not yet open….”1 So, just as the idea of a shriveled bride in yellow strikes disgust in our minds, let the brightness of Christ’s Brides inspire heavenly hope in the depths of our hearts.
1 Victor Hugo, Les Misérables, trans. Isabel F. Hapgood (New York: Thomas Y. Crowell & Co., 1887), http://www.gutenberg.org/ (Accessed May 14, 2021.)
