Miss Havisham hears the news that she has a half-brother from her father when the family cook dies. She learns that her half-brother is named Arthur, and he came to be as a result of an affair between Miss Havisham's father and the family cook. It is fitting that Arthur was born by such a scandalous romance, as he is greatly responsible for many of Miss Havisham's woes. Arthur conspires with Compeyson, a man with whom Miss Havisham was too infatuated to see his falseness. Together, Arthur and Compeyson hatch a plan to steal Miss Havisham's inheritance and leave her humiliated at the alter. Arthur's motivation seems to be out of jealousy, considering that his late father left him a significant amount of money as well, though not as much as he left for Miss Havisham.
Miss Havisham's father, a wealthy brewer, had an affair with his cook. From this unseemly dalliance emerged Arthur, Miss Havisham's half-brother. Miss Havisham only finds out about Arthur's existence when the cook dies and old Mr. Havisham spills the beans. Fairly soon, Miss Havisham wishes she'd never heard of him at all. For Arthur turns out to be a pretty loathsome individual: a greedy, bitter spendthrift who conspires to con his half-sister out of her inheritance. Not only that, but his partner in crime is the disagreeable young rogue who cruelly stands up Miss Havisham on her wedding day. It's not enough that Arthur gets his avaricious paws all over his half-sister's money; he wants to see her publicly humiliated as well. As Arthur and Miss Havisham have never liked each other—in fact, they absolutely detest each other—we can safely conclude that Arthur is as motivated by hatred in stitching up Miss Havisham as he is by sheer avarice.
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