The Theme of Great Expectations
Many critics consider "Great Expectations" one of Dickens greatestworks. The two main characters, Pip and Estella represent two far distantmembers of economic classes that were so important in Victorian Englishsociety. Pip is an orphan who is raised by a blacksmith and his wife, butlongs for greater things. Estella is the adopted daughter of MissHavisham, a bitter old woman who was jilted at the alter and has neverforgotten her experience. Pip falls in love with Estella, but knows as amember of the working class, he has no hope of winning her heart, so hesets out to get an education and become a gentleman. Some of his friendsare the worst sort of society, including criminals and pickpockets, but heis determined to rise above them in his "great expectations." One warnshim of others who have attempted to be gentlemen, but were not borngentlemen. His good friend Herbert notes, "no man who was not a truegentleman at heart, ever was, since the world began, a true gentleman inmanner... no varnish can hide the grain of the wood; and that the morevarnish you put on, the more the grain will express itself" (Dickens 179).
Pip becomes an educatedgentleman, but what he really learns is that Joe, Magwitch, and Biddy arehis true, dear friends, who are kind and loving no matter who he is, whileJaggers, Estella, and Bentley Drummle look down on him and cannot see thegood in him because of his social status. rt is trying to gently let Pip know that a man can look a gentleman onthe outside, but without "breeding" and a family line, he will never be atrue gentleman. The novel turns the tables onthe social classes, and is still interesting and entertaining readingtoday. This is the heart of this novel - the belief that goodbreeding automatically created a "superior" kind of people who were farbetter than the "lower" classes beneath them. He has been bothrich and poor, and finds that wealth does not bring him any more happinessthan he had when he was poor. However, by the end of the novel she realizes that she is really afailure because of her snobbery and social climbing, and begins torecognize that Pip is really the man for her. "'He callsthe knaves, Jacks, this boy!' said Estella with disdain, before our firstgame was out. However, Joe, and the criminal Magwitch are two of the kindest and mostdecent characters in the novel. Pip must make his waythrough all the adventures of the novel before he truly recognizes this,and understands that he himself is a good and moral man because of hisupbringing and his heart, rather than his social status. Early in the book, she puts him in his place. And what thick boots!'"(Dickens 61). Dickens is illustrating that classstructure does not make a gentleman or good man, but the heart and soul ofthe individual really make the man. As a young man, Pip is ashamed of the "common" Joe who raises him. In conclusion, this novel is a satirical and often painful look at thevery structured social class society in Victorian England, and how itpigeonholed individuals who could never make their way out of their socialclass, and so never achieve success and approval.
Common topics in this essay:
Miss Havisham,
Pip Pip,
Victorian England,
Victorian English,
Bentley Drummle,
Magwitch Biddy,
Pip Estella,
Expectations Dickens,
true gentleman,
gentleman heart,
,
social status,
begins recognize,
social class,
true gentleman heart,
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