I first time I read Great Expectations was during the summer before tenth grade. I had become a fan of Charles Dickens’s writing style from other novels I previously read such as Oliver Twist, A Christmas Carol, and David Copperfield. When I first read Great Expectations, I was more interested in the plot than looking for a deeper thematic meaning and less noticeable literary devices. However, in reading Great Expectations for the second time this past winter break, I took a different approach. Since I already knew how the plot resolved, I read the story more critically and paid attention to individual details and their purpose in the text. From this careful reading I noticed the symbolism of the Satis House as well as a motif of doubles. These …show more content…
The stopped clocks within the Satis house represent Ms. Havisham’s determination to freeze time by refusing to change anything, most obviously her outfit and the wedding feast, from the way it was when she was jilted on her wedding day. However, upon the second read, I realized that the Satis House also had symbolic meaning. The run down state of the house with the “rustily barred” windows and “old brick” on the exterior and “every discernible thing covered with dust and mould, and dropping to pieces” in the interior represent the ruin of Ms. Havisham’s life (84). Since her wedding day, it seems as though she has just been rotting away in her dress just as the Satis House is crumbling. The poor state of the house could also be meant to cast a negative light upon the upper class that Pip aspires to join. Though the house is grand, it is filled with darkness as “daylight was completely excluded” as well as “a smell that was oppressive” (85). In portraying characteristics of the house with words with negative connotations including “oppressive” and “miserable”, the Satis house could represent that love and happiness do not thrive in the upper class …show more content…
I didn’t quite pick up on the coincidentally similar characters or events in Pip’s life the first time I read Great Expectations. In realizing this during my reread, I was intrigued with how cleverly Dickens incorporated such doppelgangers. Pip encounters Biddy and Estella who are both female interests, Magwitch and Compeyson who are both convicts charged with the same crime of “putting stolen notes in circulation”, as well as Miss Havisham and Mrs. Joe who are both “invalids” who are seemingly bound to their homes (323, 121). There are also two secret benefactors within the story; Magwitch, who gives Pip his fortune, and Pip, who then imitates Magwitch by helping Herbert go into mercantile trade. In addition, the past relationship between Compeyson and Miss Havisham—common man and a privileged woman respectively—mirrors Pip and Estella’s relationship. Furthermore, there are two adults who mold their children after their own interests- Magwitch, who aspires to raise a “true gentleman” and subsequently molds Pip into one, and Miss Havisham, who teaches Estella to be a heartbreaker as revenge for her own broken heart
Charles Dickens Pip’s character’s importance to the plot of the novel “Great Expectations” is paramount. Charles Dickens uses an ongoing theme over the course of this novel. Dickens creates Pip to be a possible prototype of his own and his father’s life. Pip’s qualities are kept under wraps because the changes in him are more important than his general personality. Dickens created Pip to be a normal everyday person that goes through many changes, which allows a normal reader to relate and feel sympathetic towards Pip.
Charles Dickens utilizes his life for inspiration for the protagonist Pip in his novel Great Expectations. They both struggle with their social standing. Dickens loved plays and theatre and therefore incorporated them into Pip’s life. Dickens died happy in the middle class and Pip died happy in the middle class. The connection Dickens makes with his life to Pip’s life is undeniable. If readers understand Dickens and his upbringing then readers can understand how and why he created Pip’s upbringing. Charles Dickens’ life, full of highs and lows, mirrors that of Pip’s life. Their lives began the same and ended the same. To understand the difficulty of Dickens’ childhood is to understand why his writing focuses on the English social structure. Dickens’ life revolved around social standing. He was born in the lower class but wasn’t miserable. After his father fell into tremendous debt he was forced into work at a young age. He had to work his way to a higher social standing. Because of Dicken’s constant fighting of class the English social structure is buried beneath the surface in nearly all of his writings. In Great Expectations Pip’s life mirrors Dickens’ in the start of low class and the rise to a comfortable life. Fortunately for Dickens, he does not fall again as Pip does. However, Pip and Dickens both end up in a stable social standing.
The decaying House of Usher in the story represents Rodericks’ death. It also represents the death of the Usher family. The author is able to show us that life is full of choices and that each person has their own mindset. We all have those terrible memories we often think about but we shouldn’t focus on the negativity. Instead, we should think positively and move forward with our lives and leave the negative aspects of life behind
The Relationship Between Pip and Abel Magwitch in Charles Dickens' Great Expectations In this essay, I am to observe the changes in the relationship between
As a bildungsroman, Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations presents the growth and development of Philip Pirrip, better known as Pip. Pip is both the main character in the story and the narrator, telling his tale many years after the events take place. Pip goes from being a young boy living in poverty in the marsh country of Kent, to being a gentleman of high status in London. Pip’s growth and maturation in Great Expectations lead him to realize that social status is in no way related to one’s real character.
In order to make more money Pip’s uncle sends Pip to a psychotic old lady’s house named Mrs. Havisham. Mrs. Havisham is a mean and nasty character who constantly bickers at Pip and tells him of his unimportance. Pip continues to be mild mannered and respectful to Mrs. Havisham yet he begins to see that he will never get ahead in life just being nice. Mrs. Havisham uses Pip as sort of a guinea pig to take out her passion of revenge against men. She does this by using her daughter, Estella to torment Pip.
There are so many important characters in this book that it would take me longer to describe the characters and there importance than it would to summarize the book. So I will keep it to a minimum with just a few crucial people. First there is Pip he is the main character in this book. When he was very young his parents died and know he is raised by his sister and her husband Joe Pip is a very innocent and caring person who wants to have a greater fate than the one presently owned. But is burdened by the fact that he lives in poverty. Next there is Mrs. Joe who raised Pip but is very mean to him and controlling of everyone in her house. Then Joe he is the person that gives Pip help. They play games and explain a lot of things to Pip he is about the only nice person in Pips life. Mrs. Havasham she lets Pip come over to her house and is very wealthy and the people around him think that she will raise him to be a gentleman. But hates men and never changes out of her wedding dress. She also has a daughter named Estella that was adopted and is very beautiful. But is being raised to hate men as well and is using her looks to break there hearts. Magwitch escapes from prison at the beginning of Great Expectations and terrorizes Pip in the cemetery. But out of Kindness Pip still bring the man what he asks for. Pip's kindness, however, makes a deep impression on him, and he subsequently devotes himself to making a fortune and using it to elevate Pip into a higher social class. Herbert pocket who is a good friend of Pip's and gives him advice throughout the book.
After this devastating event, Miss Havisham confined herself in her house, wearing her yellow wedding dress with all the clocks stopped at 8:40 - the exact time she was walked out on. When Pip comments on the eeriness of the house, she answers, "So old to me. . . so familiar to me; so melancholy to both of us" (54). When Miss Havisham says this, she is revealing how long she has actually been in the house and how it has stayed unchanged for that entire period of time. By this comment, she is also showing her frustration at being confined within herself and within her jadedness.
Shades of Dickens' childhood are repeatedly manifested throughout Great Expectations. According to Doris Alexander, Dickens "knew that early circumstances shape character and that character, in turn, shapes reactions to later circumstances" (3). Not coincidentally, then, the novel is initially set in Chatham and the action eventually moves to London, much like Dickens did himself. The "circumstances" that young Pip experiences a...
These elements are crucial to the structure and development of Great Expectations: Pip's maturation and development from child to man are important characteristics of the genre to which Great Expectations belongs. In structure, Pip's story, Great Expectations, is a Bildungsroman, a novel of development. The Bildungsroman traces the development of a protagonist from his early beginnings--from his education to his first venture into the big city--following his experiences there, and his ultimate self-knowledge and maturation. Upon the further examination of the characteristics of the Bildungsroman as presented here it is clear that Great Expectations, in part, conforms to the general characteristics of the English Bildungsroman. However, there are aspects of this genre from which Dickens departs in Great Expectations. It is these departures that speak to what is most important in Pip's development, what ultimately ma...
Great Expectations, a novel written by Charles Dickens during the Victorian era. This novel was set in early Victorian England at a time when great social changes were taking place. During the late eighteenth and nineteenth century, the Industrial Revolution had transformed the social landscape, allowing industrialists and manufacturers to accumulate huge fortunes that would otherwise have been inaccessible. Aside from the political and economic change which occurred, a profound social change took place. The populace seeking to better their lives, sought after employment in newly-formed industries. During this era, the society was categorized into three classes: upper, middle, and lower class and this system was the called the social class system. In Charles Dickens’s Great Expectations, the class system played an important role. These classes and the differences between them were clear in the interaction of the characters and in the plot of novel. Dickens had a negative view of this system, where the upper class is omnipotent, the middle class consists of those envious of the upper class, and the lower class who are unable to succeed due to their birth status. Charles Dickens was part of this era, he sprung from the lower middle class, and thoroughly acquainted with the life of the poor. Most of Dickens’s novels were shaped by the events that were taking place during that time. Throughout his novel, Dickens emphasizes the difference between appearance and reality through Pip's expectations of something better, social status, and settings in the book.
Throughout Dickens’ novel Great Expectations, the character, personality, and social beliefs of Pip undergo complete transformations as he interacts with an ever-changing pool of characters presented in the book. Pip’s moral values remain more or less constant at the beginning and the end; however, it is evident that in the time between, the years of his maturation and coming of adulthood, he is fledgling to find his place in society. Although Pip is influenced by many characters throughout the novel, his two most influential role models are: Estella, the object of Miss Havisham’s revenge against men, and Magwitch, the benevolent convict. Exposing himself to such diverse characters Pip has to learn to discern right from wrong and chose role models who are worthy of the title.
Crime, guilt, and innocence play a major role throughout Great Expectations. The lives of every character are greatly changed, if not totally transformed by these three factors. Every setting in the story is somehow connected to crime, guilt, or innocence. The outcome of the novel is based on crime, guilt, and innocence as well. Charles Dickens’s novel would not have been the same story if not for these vital factors. In 1861, a love story was written and it combined that love with crime, guilt, and innocence to make Great Expectations.
Great Expectations is a novel by Charles Dickens that thoroughly captures the adventures of growing up. The book details the life of a boy through his many stages of life, until he is finally a grown man, wizened by his previous encounters. Dickens’ emotions in this book are very sincere, because he had a similar experience when his family went to debtor’s prison. Pip starts as a young boy, unaware of social class, who then becomes a snob, overcome by the power of money, and finally grows into a mature, hardworking man, knowing that there is much more to life than money.
Great Expectations is merely timeless. It is about all the things that life is about: how relatives can be loving, or abusive, how people can choose their own families; how a woman might be driven to destroy her child, or give her child away; how people may be corrupt, may be redeemed; how your upbringing defines your character, and how you may rise above or embrace that definition; and how, finally, love is a choice.