Introductory
Charles Dickens was bornon February 7, 1812, and spent the first nine years of his life living in the coastalregions of Kent, a county in southeast England. Dickens’s father, John, was akind and likable man, but he was incompetent with money and piled up tremendousdebts throughout his life. When Dickens was nine, his family moved to London.When he was twelve, his father was arrested and taken to debtors’ prison.Dickens’s mother moved his seven brothers and sisters into prison with theirfather, but she arranged for the young Charles to live alone outside the prisonand work with other children pasting labels on bottles in a blacking warehouse.Dickens found the three months he spent apart from his family highly traumatic.Not only was the job itself miserable, but he considered himself too good forit, earning the contempt of the other children. After his father was releasedfrom prison, Dickens returned to school. He eventually became a law clerk, thena court reporter, and finally a novelist. His first novel, The Pickwick Papers, became a huge popularsuccess when Dickens was only twenty-five. Great Expectations was first published as aweekly series in 1860 and in book form in 1861. Early critics had mixedreviews, disliking Dickens' tendency to exaggerate both plot and characters,but readers were so enthusiastic that the 1861 edition required five printings. It was set in early Victorian England, a time when great social changes weresweeping the nation. The Industrial Revolution of the late eighteenth and early nineteenthcenturies had transformed the social landscape, enabling capitalists andmanufacturers to amass huge fortunes. Although social class was no longerentirely dependent on the circumstances of one’s birth, the divisions betweenrich and poor remained nearly as wide as ever. More and more people movedfrom the country to the city in search of greater economic opportunity.Throughout England, the manners of the upper class were very strict andconservative: gentlemen and ladies were expected to have thorough classicaleducations and to behave appropriately in innumerable social situations. These conditions defined Dickens’stime, and they make themselves felt in Great Expectations. Pip, the novel’s protagonist, lives in the marsh country, works at ajob he hates, considers himself too good for his surroundings, and experiencesmaterial success in London at a very early age, exactly as Dickens himself did.In addition, one of the novel’s most appealing characters, Wemmick, is a lawclerk, and the law, justice, and the courts are all important components of thestory. Pip’s sudden rise from country laborer to city gentleman forces him tomove from one social extreme to another while dealing with the strict rules andexpectations that governed Victorian England. Ironically, this novel about thedesire for wealth and social advancement was written partially out of economicnecessity. In form, Great Expectations fits a pattern popular in nineteenth-century European fiction depictinggrowth and personal development, generally a transition from boyhood to manhoodsuch as that experienced by Pip. I have read the Russian version of this book and Iliked the plot very much. Then I read it in original version. I especiallyliked the way author showed Pip’s growth from little boy to a gentleman, alsohis feelings, changes in his outlooks. The part where he starts to realize thatsocial class or money do not matter, when one has no human values andqualities, is my favorite part in the novel. After reading this book I analysedand uncovered new life-situations for us, the young, and came to the conclusionthat in spite of the importance of education, proper behavior, it is not lessimportant to gain and maintain certain values and stay true to them throughoutthe whole life.
Plot
OnChristmas Eve of 1812, Pip, a boy aged 7, encounters an escaped convict in thevillage churchyard while visiting his mother and father's and younger brothers'graves. The convict scares Pip into stealing food for him and a file togrind away his leg shackles. He threatens Pip not to tell anyone and do as hesays or his friend will cut out Pip's heart and liver. Pip returns home, wherehe lives with Mrs. Joe (whose name is later revealed to be Georgiana Maria),his older sister, and her husband Joe Gargery. His sister is very cruel andbeats him as well as her husband with various objects regularly; however Joe ismuch kinder to Pip. She was the one who «brought him up by hand».Early the next morning, Pip steals food and drink from the Gargery pantry(including a pie for their Christmas feast) and sneaks out to the graveyard. Itis the first time in Pip’s life he’s felt truly guilty. This is an importantevent in the book because the convict will never forget the kindness (albeit forced)that Pip showed to him. The convict, however, waits many years to fully showhis gratitude. During Christmas dinner with the minister Dan, Mr. Wopsle, Mr.and Mrs. Hubble, and Uncle Pumblechook, Pip and Mrs. Joe's moderately wealthyuncle, no one notices the missing food or brandy until Uncle Pumblechook drinkssome brandy and spits it out. Pip realizes that he filled the brandy jug notwith water, but with tar-water, (a foul tasting tonic made of pine tar andwater often used for medicinal purposes), instead. He had brought some of thebrandy to the convict and had to replace it somehow. Pip sits at the tablebeing told how lucky he is by all the relatives all the while in fear thatsomeone will notice the missing pie. However, the moment his sister goes to thepantry to retrieve the pie and discovers it is missing. Soldiers approach thehouse and ask Joe to repair their handcuffs and invite Joe, Pip and Mr. Wopsleto come with them to hunt for some escaped prisoners from the local jail. Asthey hunt through the marshes outside the village, they accost two convictswhile engaged in a fight. One of them is the convict helped by Pip; the convictfreely confesses to the theft of the file and «some whittles» of foodin order to shield Pip. The police take the two to the Hulk, a giant prisonship, and Pip is carried home by Joe, where they finish Christmas dinner. Awhile after Pip’s encounter with the convict, Pip's life returns to normal. Hecontinues to attend the local school which is run by Mr. Wopsle's great-aunt,and becomes friends with Biddy, an orphan who was adopted by the Wopsles; eventhough no more was said of the incident with the convict and he has beenabsolved of any wrong doing, he still feels guilty for the theft. A wealthy oldwoman named Miss Havisham asks Pip's Uncle Pumblechook to find a boy of acertain age and bring him to her home to play. Pumblechook immediately selectsPip and brings him to Miss Havisham's, who lives in the village in Satis House.Miss Havisham is a spinster who wears an old wedding dress with one shoe on andhas all the house clocks stopped at 20 minutes to nine. She hasn't seensunlight in years and claims to have a broken heart and just wants to see Pipplay cards with Estella, a young girl she has adopted.
Pip'sfirst encounter with Miss Havisham and Estella is a strange one. He discoversMiss Havisham is a shut-in who has boarded up the windows around the entirehouse so as not to allow any light in. She remains seated in a tattered chairwhere she instructs Pip to play cards with Estella. Here, Estella is cruel toPip, calls him names and laughs at him. Miss Havisham seems to delight in thisill-treatment of Pip and asks him repeatedly what he thinks of Estella in turnby whispering it in her ear. Miss Havisham continuously praises Estella for herpride and her beauty. Hurt and angry, Pip leaves Satis House to walk thegrounds and cries. Estella brings him food however she begins to make fun ofhim again as she sees that he has been crying and teases him for doing so.Outside, Pip is accosted by a young man of about the same age who tries toengage him in a fight. He calls Pip out but Pip refuses to fight with him atfirst, however, after this has gone on for a time, Pip swings at and strikesthe young man, knocking him to the ground. The young man repeatedly encouragesPip to hit him even though he is clearly losing and becoming increasinglybattered and bloody. After the fight is over, the two part ways; Estella,having seen the fight, lets Pip kiss her, excited that two young men arefighting for her, and he returns to the forge. Pip's first encounter with Miss Havisham and Estella isa strange one. Pip realizes that he is in love with Estella. Pip behaves badly in society (mostly over jealousy ofEstella) and squanders his allowance, running into debt. He is rescued on his21st birthday, when he is notified by Jaggers that he is awarded 500 pounds(equal to £36,000 today) and an increased steady allowance, until such atime as his benefactor will appear and make himself known to Pip. Piporiginally believes Miss Havisham is his benefactress. For severalyears Estella had been studying abroad in Europe. Upon her return, Pip findsEstella much changed and her attitude refined. She apologizes for her earliercruelty however, seeing Pip's affections warns him that he should not fall inlove with her. Pip ignores these repeated warnings as he long harbored thebelief that Miss Havisham (as his benefactress) intended them for each other.Estella continues to warn him that her heart is cold and cannot love him andentreats him to take her seriously, but he refuses, still believing they willbe married and that her heart is not as cold as she claims. During this time, Mrs. Joe dies. Pip's benefactor turnsout to be instead Abel Magwitch, the convict whom Pip helped, who had beentransported to New SouthWales, where he had eventually prospered andbecome extremely wealthy. Magwitch leftall his money to Pip in gratitude for that kindness and also because Pipreminded him of his own child, whom he believes to have been killed by her motherover two decades prior. However, Magwitch now expects to spend the rest of hislife living with Pip in England. Pip, very reluctantly, lets Magwitch stay withhim. There is a warrant out for Magwitch's arrest in Englandand he will be hanged if he is caught in the country. Pip becomes increasinglysuspicious of being watched and tells his landlord and all other close people thatMagwitch is an uncle by the name of Provis. Duringthese events, it is revealed to Pip that Estella is the daughter of Mr. Jaggers'housemaid, Molly, whom he defended in a murder charge and who gave up herdaughter to be adopted by another of his clients, Miss Havisham, in return forhis service in allowing her to be acquitted of the charge. Pip later realizesMagwitch is Estella's father. Shortly before Magwitch and Pip are scheduled to flee,Pip receives an unsigned note at his home telling him to appear at the marshesnear his old home that night at 9pm. Pip is timid at first, but the lettermentions his «Uncle Provis» and threatens his safety. Pip is lured inby the threats to his benefactor and leaves for the village by carriageimmediately. On the marshes, Pip is struck on the head by a blunt object,rendering him unconscious for a period of time. When he awakens, he finds himselfbound in a small shack far away from any other residences. It is revealed thatboth the author of the anonymous note and his attacker is Orlick, who admitsthat he was in fact the one who attacked Mrs. Joe. Orlick confides that heintends to kill Pip as he was always jealous of young Pip when he worked withJoe and for Pip's intervention with his advances on Biddy. Pip is sure he isgoing to die though he refuses to cry out or beg for mercy. Pip is rescued by Herbert, a village shop boy . Meanwhile,out of spite for Miss Havisham, Estella has married Bentley Drummle, a boastfulrival of Pip's whom he very much dislikes. Pip, Herbert and another friend,Startop, make a gallant attempt to help Magwitch escape, but instead he iscaptured and sent to jail. Pip is devoted to Magwitch by now and recognizes inhim a good and noble man and is ashamed that he had formerly looked down onMagwitch as his inferior. Pip tries to have Magwitch released but Magwitch diesshortly before his execution. Under English law Magwitch's wealth forfeits tothe Crown, thus extinguishing Pip's «Great Expectations». During anextended period of sickness, Pip is nearly arrested for his numerous unpaiddebts to several creditors however due to his condition, which includes fever,he is not arrested at that time. During this illness, he is looked after by Joeand he eventually returns to good health. Joe leaves early one morning leavingPip with only a note of well-wishes, believing that as Pip had not visited himin years since, he would not visit him then and that he likely would never seePip again. Pip is greatly saddened by this turn of events and realizes howthankless and ungrateful he had been over the years. His guilt is compounded bythe discovery that the police did not leave to allow Pip time to recover, butbecause Joe had paid all of his debts in full. Pip returns home to ask Biddyand Joe for forgiveness and to thank Joe for his unprovoked kindness, andunfailing love for which Pip felt unworthy. When he arrives in the village, hefinds that it is Biddy and Joe's wedding day. He congratulates the couple, Afterwards, Pip goes into business overseas withHerbert. After eleven relatively successful years abroad, Pip goes back tovisit Joe and the rest of his family out in the marshes. Pip meets Estella on the streets. Herabusive husband Drummle has died. Estella and Pip exchange brief pleasantriesand Pip states that while he could not have her in the end, he was at leastglad to know she was a different person now, changed from the coldhearted girlMiss Havisham had reared her to be. The novel ends with Pip saying he could seethat «suffering had been stronger than Miss Havisham's teaching and had givenher a heart to understand what my heart used to be.
Characters
Pip — Great Expectations presents the growth and development ofa single character, Philip Pirrip, better known to himself and to the world as Pip. Pip is by far the most important characterin Great Expectations: he is both the protagonist,whose actions make up the main plot of the novel, and the narrator, whose thoughtsand attitudes shape the reader’s perception of the story. Because Pip is narrating his story manyyears after the events of the novel take place, there are really two Pips in Great Expectations: Pip the narrator and Pip the character—the voice telling the story and theperson acting it out. Dickens takes great care to distinguish the two Pips, imbuing the voice ofPip the narrator with perspective and maturity while also imparting how Pip thecharacter feels about what is happening to him as it actually happens. This skillfullydistinction is perhaps best observed early in the book, when Pip the character isa child; here, Pip the narrator gently pokes fun at his younger self, but also enablesus to see and feel the story through his eyes. As a character, Pip’s two most important traits are his immature, romanticidealism and his innately good conscience. On the one hand, Pip has a deep desireto improve himself whether educationally, morally, or socially. His longing to marry Estellaand join the upper classes stems from the same idealistic desire as his longingto learn to read and his fear of being punished for bad behavior: once he understandsideas like poverty, ignorance, and immorality, Pip does not want to be poor, ignorant,or immoral. Pip the narrator judges his own past actions extremely harshly, rarely givinghimself credit for good deeds but angrily castigating himself for bad ones. As acharacter, however, Pip’s idealism often leads him to perceive the world rathernarrowly, and his tendency to oversimplify situations based on superficial valuesleads him to behave badly toward the people who care about him. When Pip becomesa gentleman, for example, he immediately begins to act as he thinks a gentlemanis supposed to act, which leads him to treat Joe and Biddy snobbishly and coldly. On the other hand, Pip is at heart a verygenerous and sympathetic young man, a fact that can be witnessed in his numerousacts of kindness throughout the book (helping Magwitch, secretly buying Herbert’sway into business, etc.) and his essential love for all those who love him. Pip’smain line of development in the novel may be seen as the process of learning toplace his sense of kindness and conscience above his immature idealism. The fact that he comes to admire Magwitchwhile losing Estella to the brutish nobleman Drummle ultimately forces him to realizethat one’s social position is not the most important quality one possesses, andthat his behavior as a gentleman has caused him to hurt the people who care abouthim most. Once he has learned these lessons, Pip matures into the man who narratesthe novel, completing the novel.
Estella — Often cited as Dickens’s first convincingfemale character, Estella is a supremely ironic creation, one who darkly underminesthe notion of romantic love and serves as a bitter criticism against the class systemin which she is mired. Raised from the age of three by Miss Havisham, Estella winsPip’s deepest love by practicing deliberate cruelty. Unlike the warm, winsome, kindheroine of a traditional love story, Estella is cold, cynical, and manipulative.Though she represents Pip’s first longed-for ideal of life among the upper classes,Estella is actually even lower-born than Pip; as Pip learns near the end of thenovel, she is the daughter of Magwitch, the coarse convict, and thus springs fromthe very lowest level of society. Rather than being raised by Magwitch, a man ofgreat inner nobility, she is raised by Miss Havisham, who destroys her ability toexpress emotion and interact normally with the world. And rather than marrying thekindhearted commoner Pip, Estella marries the cruel nobleman Drummle, who treatsher harshly and makes her life miserable for many years. In this way, Dickens usesEstella’s life to reinforce the idea that one’s happiness and well-being are notdeeply connected to one’s social position: had Estella been poor, she might havebeen substantially better off. Despite her cold behavior and the damaging influences in her life, Dickensnevertheless ensures that Estella is still a sympathetic character. By giving thereader a sense of her inner struggle to discover and act on her own feelings ratherthan on the imposed motives of her upbringing, Dickens gives the reader a glimpseof Estella’s inner life, which helps to explain what Pip might love about her. Estelladoes not seem able to stop herself from hurting Pip, but she also seems not to wantto hurt him; she repeatedly warns him that she has “no heart” and seems to urgehim as strongly as she can to find happiness by leaving her behind. Estella’s long, painful marriage to Drummlecauses her to develop along the same lines as Pip—that is, she learns, through experience,to rely on and trust her inner feelings. In the final scene of the novel, she hasbecome her own woman for the first time in the book. As she says to Pip, “Sufferinghas been stronger than all other teaching… I have been bent and broken, but—Ihope—into a better shape.”
Miss Havisham — a wealthy dowager who lives in a rotting mansion and wears an old weddingdress every day of her life, is not exactly a believable character, but she is certainlyone of the most memorable creations in the book. Miss Havisham’s life is definedby a single tragic event: her jilting by Compeyson on what was to have been theirwedding day. From that moment forth, Miss Havisham is determined never to move beyondher heartbreak. She stops all the clocks in Satis House at twenty minutes to nine,the moment when she first learned that Compeyson was gone, and she wears only oneshoe, because when she learned of his betrayal, she had not yet put on the othershoe. With a kind of manic, obsessive cruelty, Miss Havisham adopts Estella andraises her as a weapon to achieve her own revenge on men. Miss Havisham is an exampleof single-minded vengeance pursued destructively: both Miss Havisham and the peoplein her life suffer greatly because of her quest for revenge. Miss Havisham is completelyunable to see that her actions are hurtful to Pip and Estella. She is redeemed atthe end of the novel when she realizes that she has caused Pip’s heart to be brokenin the same manner as her own; rather than achieving any kind of personal revenge,she has only caused more pain. Miss Havisham immediately begs Pip for forgiveness,reinforcing the novel’s theme that bad behavior can be redeemed by contrition andsympathy.
Abel Magwitch (“The Convict”) — a fearsome criminal, Magwitch escapes from prison at the beginning of Great Expectations and terrorizes Pip in the cemetery. Pip’skindness, however, makes a deep impression on him, and he subsequently devotes himselfto making a fortune and using it to elevate Pip into a higher social class. Behindthe scenes, he becomes Pip’s secret benefactor, funding Pip’s education and opulentlifestyle in London through the lawyer Jaggers.
Jaggers — The powerful, foreboding lawyer hired by Magwitch to supervise Pip’s elevationto the upper class. As one of the most important criminal lawyers in London, Jaggersis privy to some dirty business; he consorts with vicious criminals, and even theyare terrified of him. But there is more to Jaggers than his impenetrable exterior.He often seems to care for Pip, and before the novel begins he helps Miss Havishamto adopt the orphaned Estella. Jaggers smells strongly of soap: he washes his handsobsessively as a psychological mech-anism to keep the criminal taint from corruptinghim.
Mrs. Joe — Pip’s sister and Joe’s wife, known only as “Mrs. Joe” throughout the novel.Mrs. Joe is a stern and overbearing figure to both Pip and Joe. She keeps a spotlesshousehold and frequently menaces her husband and her brother with her cane, whichshe calls “Tickler.” She also forces them to drink a foul-tasting concoction calledtar-water. Mrs. Joe is petty and ambitious; her fondest wish is to be somethingmore than what she is, the wife of the village blacksmith.
Joe Gargery — Pip’s brother-in-law, the village blacksmith, Joe stays with his overbearing,abusive wife—known as Mrs. Joe—solely out of love for Pip. Joe’s quiet goodnessmakes him one of the few completely sympathetic characters in Great Expectations. Although he is uneducated and unrefined, he consistently acts for the benefitof those he loves and suffers in silence when Pip treats him coldly.
Bentley Drummle — An unpleasant young man who attends tutoring sessions with Pip at the Pockets’house, Drummle is a minor member of the nobility, and the sense of superiority thisgives him makes him feel justified in acting cruelly and harshly toward everyonearound him. Drummle eventually marries Estella, to Pip’s chagrin; she is miserablein their marriage and reunites with Pip after Drummle dies some eleven years later.
Themes,Symbols & MotifsAmbitionand Self-improvement
Themoral theme of Great Expectations is quite simple: affection, loyalty, and conscienceare more important than social advancement, wealth, and class. Dickens establishesthe theme and shows Pip learning this lesson, largely by exploring ideas of ambitionand self-improvement—ideas that quickly become both the thematic center of the noveland the psychological mechanism that encourages much of Pip’s development. At heart,Pip is an idealist; whenever he can conceive of something that is better than whathe already has, he immediately desires to obtain the improvement. When he sees SatisHouse, he longs to be a wealthy gentleman; when he thinks of his moral shortcomings,he longs to be good; when he realizes that he cannot read, he longs to learn how.Pip’s desire for self-improvement is the main source of the novel’s title: becausehe believes in the possibility of advancement in life, he has “great expectations”about his future.Ambition and self-improvement take threeforms in Great Expectations—moral, social, and educational; thesemotivate Pip’s best and his worst behavior throughout the novel. First, Pip desiresmoral self-improvement. He is extremely hard on himself when he acts immorally andfeels powerful guilt that spurs him to act better in the future. When he leavesfor London, for instance, he torments himself about having behaved so wretchedlytoward Joe and Biddy. Second, Pip desires social self-improvement. In love withEstella, he longs to become a member of her social class, and, encouraged by Mrs.Joe and Pumblechook, he entertains fantasies of becoming a gentleman. The workingout of this fantasy forms the basic plot of the novel; it provides Dickens the opportunityto gently satirize the class system of his era and to make a point about its capriciousnature. Significantly, Pip’s life as a gentleman is no more satisfying—and certainlyno more moral—than his previous life as a blacksmith’s apprentice. Third, Pip desireseducational improvement. This desire is deeply connected to his social ambitionand longing to marry Estella: a full education is a requirement of being a gentleman.As long as he is an ignorant country boy, he has no hope of social advancement.Pip understands this fact as a child, when he learns to read at Mr. Wopsle’s aunt’sschool, and as a young man, when he takes lessons from Matthew Pocket. Ultimately,through the examples of Joe, Biddy, and Magwitch, Pip learns that social and educationalimprovement are irrelevant to one’s real worth and that conscience and affectionare to be valued above erudition and social standing.SocialClass
Throughout Great Expectations, Dickens explores the class system of VictorianEngland, ranging from the most wretched criminals (Magwitch) to the poor peasantsof the marsh country (Joe and Biddy) to the middle class (Pumblechook) to the veryrich (Miss Havisham). The theme of social class is central to the novel’s plot andto the ultimate moral theme of the book—Pip’s realization that wealth and classare less important than affection, loyalty, and inner worth. Pip achieves this realizationwhen he is finally able to understand that, despite the esteem in which he holdsEstella, one’s social status is in no way connected to one’s real character. Drummle,for instance, is an upper-class lout, while Magwitch, a persecuted convict, hasa deep inner worth.Perhaps the most important thing to remember about the novel’streatment of social class is that the class system it portrays is based on the post-IndustrialRevolution model of Victorian England. Dickens generally ignores the nobility andthe hereditary aristocracy in favor of characters whose fortunes have been earnedthrough commerce. Even Miss Havisham’s family fortune was made through the brewerythat is still connected to her manor. In this way, by connecting the theme of socialclass to the idea of work and self-advancement, Dickens subtly reinforces the novel’soverarching theme of ambition and self-improvement.Crime,Guilt, and Innocence
Thetheme of crime, guilt, and innocence is explored throughout the novel largely throughthe characters of the convicts and the criminal lawyer Jaggers. From the handcuffsJoe mends at the smithy to the gallows at the prison in London, the imagery of crimeand criminal justice pervades the book, becoming an important symbol of Pip’s innerstruggle to reconcile his own inner moral conscience with the institutional justicesystem. In general, just as social class becomes a superficial standard of valuethat Pip must learn to look beyond in finding a better way to live his life, theexternal trappings of the criminal justice system (police, courts, jails, etc.)become a superficial standard of morality that Pip must learn to look beyond totrust his inner conscience. Magwitch, for instance, frightens Pip at first simplybecause he is a convict, and Pip feels guilty for helping him because he is afraidof the police. By the end of the book, however, Pip has discovered Magwitch’s innernobility, and is able to disregard his external status as a criminal. Prompted byhis conscience, he helps Magwitch to evade the law and the police. As Pip has learnedto trust his conscience and to value Magwitch’s inner character, he has replacedan external standard of value with an internal one.Symbols. Satis House
InSatis House, Dickens creates a magnificent Gothic setting whose various elementssymbolize Pip’s romantic perception of the upper class and many other themes ofthe book. On her decaying body, Miss Havisham’s wedding dress becomes an ironicsymbol of death and degeneration. The wedding dress and the wedding feast symbolizeMiss Havisham’s past, and the stopped clocks throughout the house symbolize herdetermined attempt to freeze time by refusing to change anything from the way itwas when she was jilted on her wedding day. The brewery next to the house symbolizesthe connection between commerce and wealth: Miss Havisham’s fortune is not the productof an aristocratic birth but of a recent success in industrial capitalism. Finally,the crumbling, dilapidated stones of the house, as well as the darkness and dustthat pervade it, symbolize the general decadence of the lives of its inhabitantsand of the upper class as a whole.The Mistson the Marshes
Thesetting almost always symbolizes a theme in GreatExpectations and always sets a tone thatis perfectly matched to the novel’s dramatic action. The misty marshes near Pip’schildhood home in Kent, one of the most evocative of the book’s settings, are usedseveral times to symbolize danger and uncertainty. As a child, Pip brings Magwitcha file and food in these mists; later, he is kidnapped by Orlick and nearly murderedin them. Whenever Pip goes into the mists, something dangerous is likely to happen.Significantly, Pip must go through the mists when he travels to London shortly afterreceiving his fortune, alerting the reader that this apparently positive developmentin his life may have dangerous consequences.BentleyDrummle
Althoughhe is a minor character in the novel, Bentley Drummle provides an important contrastwith Pip and represents the arbitrary nature of class distinctions. In his mind,Pip has connected the ideas of moral, social, and educational advancement so thateach depends on the others. The coarse and cruel Drummle, a member of the upperclass, provides Pip with proof that social advancement has no inherent connectionto intelligence or moral worth. Drummle is a lout who has inherited immense wealth,while Pip’s friend and brother-in-law Joe is a good man who works hard for the littlehe earns. Drummle’s negative example helps Pip to see the inner worth of characterssuch as Magwitch and Joe, and eventually to discard his immature fantasies aboutwealth and class in favor of a new understanding that is both more compassionateand more realistic.Motifs. Doubles
In Great Expectations,perhaps the most visiblesign of Dickens’s commitment to intricate dramatic symmetry—apart from the knotof character relationships, of course—is the fascinating motif of doubles that runsthroughout the book. From the earliest scenes of the novel to the last, nearly everyelement of Great Expectations is mirrored or doubled at some other point inthe book. There are two convicts on the marsh (Magwitch and Compeyson), two invalids(Mrs. Joe and Miss Havisham), two young women who interest Pip (Biddy and Estella),and so on. There are two secret benefactors: Magwitch, who gives Pip his fortune,and Pip, who mirrors Magwitch’s action by secretly buying Herbert’s way into themercantile business. Finally, there are two adults who seek to mold children aftertheir own purposes: Magwitch, who wishes to “own” a gentleman and decides to makePip one, and Miss Havisham, who raises Estella to break men’s hearts in revengefor her own broken heart. Interestingly, both of these actions are motivated byCompeyson: Magwitch resents but is nonetheless covetous of Compeyson’s social statusand education, which motivates his desire to make Pip a gentleman, and Miss Havisham’sheart was broken when Compeyson left her at the altar, which motivates her desireto achieve revenge through Estella. The relationship between Miss Havisham and Compeyson—awell-born woman and a common man—further mirrors the relationship between Estellaand Pip.This doubling of elements has no real bearing on the novel’s main themes,but, like the connection of weather and action, it adds to the sense that everythingin Pip’s world is connected. Throughout Dickens’s works, this kind of dramatic symmetryis simply part of the fabric of his novelistic universe.Comparisonof Characters to Inanimate Objects
Throughout Great Expectations, the narrator uses images of inanimate objectsto describe the physical appearance of characters—particularly minor characters,or characters with whom the narrator is not intimate. For example, Mrs. Joe looksas if she scrubs her face with a nutmeg grater, while the inscrutable features ofMr. Wemmick are repeatedly compared to a letter-box. This motif, which Dickens usesthroughout his novels, may suggest a failure of empathy on the narrator’s part,or it may suggest that the character’s position in life is pressuring them to resemblea thing more than a human being. The latter interpretation would mean that the motifin general is part of a social critique, in that it implies that an institutionsuch as the class system or the criminal justice system dehumanizes certain people.
dickens reporter chapter
Conclusion
Are Great Expectations and ambitions alwaysdestined for everyone? In Great Expectations, the central recurring theme is thataffection, loyalty, and inner worth is more important than a progressive increasein wealth and social status. Dickens makes this theme evident through the interactionsof the characters, and by discovering the idea of wealth and self-improvement (specificallyin social classes). The thesis can be discovered in situations such as Pip's awarenessof his harsh treatment toward his loved ones, the loyalty that Joe and Biddy continuedto have toward Pip, and the emptiness in the life of Estella Therefore, by investigatingspecific characters and their occurrences with each other it can become quite evidentthat the theme of loyalty; happiness; and love over wealth is clearly displayedthrough the novel. At a certain point in the novel Pip came to understand that affection andloyalty is more important than wealth and social status. For example, When Pip came to know thathe had inherited a big fortune and that it was destined for him to become an honorablegentleman; he quickly packed for London and left the Forge without saying a propergood-bye. Although, in London when Pip got a very high fever and became ill it wasJoe who came back and nursed Pip back to health and even paid off all of his remainingdebts. This made Pip realize that even though he was tight and unkind to Joe, Joestill came back and took care of Pip while the rest of his money-hungry „friends“forgot about him. In addition, when Magwitch arrives at London he tells Pip thathe is His benefactor. Full of affection and love towards Pip, Magwitch continuesto tell Pip how he was the only thing in his life worth living for. Meanwhile, Estella asks Pip to forgiveher, he does, and all is well. So the story ends, with grown Pip and a changed Estellaboth at peace with each other. In conclusion, I thought that this was a very wellwritten book. It took me a while to get into it and understand the plot, but nowI see that Dickens wrote Great Expectations with a very complex plot and well describedcharacters. From Joe Gargery to Miss Havisham, I really got to know the charactersas if they were people. Every scene in the book felt like real, true to life. Besides,this book highlights actual problems of this century, like staying true to onesprinciples, trusting people, having the desire to prosper mentally, spiritually.I would describe this book as a delightful story with a sprinkle of mystery anda handful of romance, with a pinch of fun all mixed in. This may be one of the most impressive booksI have ever read. It tells the story of a young boy who becomes a man; it showsour Pip (his name) as he truly was. I mean, the author never justified his behaviour,not even when he was weak and offensive. Pip is not a hero, he is just human being.He is not a criminal either, you can say he didn't do anything extraordinary suchas save the world nor invent the light bulb. In change, he grew in compassion andgratitude. With him we learn the „worst sides of the human nature“; heloses his fortune, but at the end he accomplishes his „Great Expectations“.
Literature list
1. Charles Dickens «Great Expectations».