Arthur Havisham

Arthur Havisham in BBC's Dickensian. As played by Joseph Quinn.

In Charles Dickens' novel Great Expectations, Arthur Havisham is Miss Havisham's younger, rebellious half-brother who was a result of Mr Havisham's affair with the cook after Mrs Havisham died. He and Compeyson plot against her and swindle her to gain more money, despite the fact that Mr Havisham left him plenty when he died. Arthur was jealous that Mr Havisham favored his sister and was extravagantly greedy with money. He is a background character in Great Expectations, working with the main antagonist. He dies of an illness caused by the guilt of how he treated his sister.^[1]

Representations

The most recent representation of Arthur was in the BBC 2015–2016 television series Dickensian in which he helped Compeyson jilt his sister, take back the brewery and inherit the rest of his father's money that he believed to be his due to his suppressed homosexuality. However, this doesn't exactly go to plan, mainly because Compeyson is a manipulative young gentleman that kept Arthur wrapped around his finger. (Portrayed by actor Joseph Quinn^[2])

In the 2011 BBC television series of Great Expectations, Arthur is portrayed as a cold-hearted murderer who enjoyed killing butterflies and keeping them on his wall in a collection.

Other than that, descriptions in the book were kept minimal. The only reference to him was in chapter 42, where Abel Magwitch described his past experiences:

There was another in with Compeyson, as was called Arthur – not as being so christened but as a surname. He was in a Decline, and was a shadow to look at. Him and Compeyson had been in a bad thing with a rich lady some years afore, and they'd made a pot of money by it; but Compeyson betted and gamed, and he'd have run through the king's taxes.^[3]

References