Miss Havisham: Manipulation and Malice
Miss Havisham appears as a figure of faded grandeur, "dressed in rich materials, - satins, and lace, and silks" but with "no brightness left but the brightness of her sunken eyes". Dickens uses polysyndetic listing and sibilance to emphasise both her wealth and decay.
Her manipulation of Pip is clear from the start. When she asks "Does she grow prettier and prettier, Pip?", she's secretly orchestrating his infatuation with Estella. Her impatient commands like "play, play, play" use juvenile language that reduces Pip to a mere toy in her revenge game.
The phrase "There was such a malignant enjoyment in her utterance" reveals her cruel satisfaction in tormenting Pip. The word "malignant" - meaning evil - shows how she takes sadistic pleasure in his pain, making her one of literature's most chilling villains.
Key Point: Havisham's wealth and status can't hide her fundamental cruelty - she's the opposite of Joe's humble goodness.