The portrayal of society in Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations is that of a symbol of contemporary British civilization, with Miss Havisham representing the epitome of such. By utilizing this particular character as the conduit between social body and physical body, the author successfully blends together the kinship inherent to these aspects of British life. Miss Havisham is instrumental in establishing the link between the traditional Victorian society and the manner in which women finally gained significant changes in their investments. The economic health of society at the time of Great Expectations can easily be determined by the manner in which Miss Havisham’s personal history of poor investment strategy reflects the community’s somewhat fragile situation.
Also pertinent to the social aspect of Dickens’ Great Expectations is the relationship between younger and older generations, as effectively portrayed between Miss Havisham and eight-year-old Philip Pirrip. Upon meeting this rather outrageous representation of womanhood, the boy – in a child’s infinite innocence – he is compelled to separate himself from what he deems is a strange and unusual existence of alcohol. To him, the rotting barrels that once housed unlimited supplies of beer were symbolic of how he viewed Miss Havisham, a fermentative essence that had long since dried up from disuse and moribund old age. In comprising these thoughts, the young boy was left with the conclusion that such descriptive characterization is both frightening and hostile, choosing to abide by his inner instinct and institute avoidance.
"Better not try to brew beer there now, or it would turn out sour, boy; don't you think so?"
"It looks like it, miss."
"Not that anybody means to try," she added, "for that's all done with, and the place will stand as idle as it is, till it falls. As to strong beer, there's enough of it in the cellars already, to drown the Manor House" (Dickens PG).
Clearly representative of an impoverished society is that of Miss Havisham’s forsaken brewery, left in its decaying state with barrels and their “sour remembrance of better days” (Dickens PG). Indeed, the decrepit condition of the brewery is indicative of a more affluent class of social acceptance that once existed, only to ultimately give way to the likes of Miss Havisham’s degraded reality. The life that has left the brewery can be equated to the life that has been lost from society, as Miss Havisham has led an existence rife with humiliation, deception and heartache.
As humans grow up, they must all experience the awkward phase of the teen years, as they leave behind childhood for adulthood. In these times of transformations, one often finds themselves marred by the wicked ways of naïve love and the humiliation many experience. In Charles Dickens novel Great Expectations, one is able to watch an innocent boy’s transformation into a mature gentleman who is still a child at heart. Pip is plagued with the daunting responsibilities of adulthood and deciding where his loyalties lay. Torn between the alluring world of the rich and his roots in a destitute village, Pip must make a decision.
‘Havisham’ is a poem about a woman (based on the character from Charles Dickens’ ‘Great Expectations’ of the same name) who lives alone, often confining herself to one room and wallowing in self-pity because she was apparently jilted at the alter by her scheming fiancé. ‘Havisham’ has been unable to move on from this trauma and is trapped in the past. Her isolation has caused her to become slightly mad.
Miss Havisham “was dressed in rich material- satins, and lace, and silks,” which “had been white long ago, and had lost [its] luster, and [is] faded and yellow” (57,58). Miss Havisham’s “once white dress, all yellow and withered” drapes over her “ghastly waxwork” of “yellow skin and bone” (89,58,86). She is “a skeleton in the ashes of” “the frillings and trimmings on her bridal dress, [which] look like earthy paper” (58,60). Miss Havisham’s bridal dress swallows her withered figure, and she “[has] no brightness left but the brightness of her sunken eyes” (58). In agreement with Bert Hornbeck, a world class literary critic, the “white at first represented innocence and purity” just as a white wedding dress should, but the transition of the dress from white to yellow alludes to the “decay of innocence and purity” (216). Withered and worn like her clothes, Miss Havisham is burying herself alive by stopping time and hiding away in her house. Her yellow and tarnished bridal dress is like her burial outfit, her veil is like the shroud, and her house is like the dark casket. She has frozen time and is no longer living in her stagnant state. In her place of stagnation, she is eaten alive by the pain inflicted upon her by a man just as the mice have gnawed on the house and gnawed at her (Dickens 89). As portrayed through her
Here, Dickens focuses on the word “suffering”, to reinforce the idea that being wealthy, which is related to being better than other, a materialistic view of society is not what gives happiness, but the surroundings and
Carswell, Beth. “11 Charles Dickens Facts.” Abe Books’ Reading Copy. 1996. Web. 28 March 2014.
The famous American comedian, Groucho Marx once said, “While money cannot buy happiness, it certainly lets you choose your own form of misery.” Marx believes that money will be the downfall of society because it is corrupt and creates individuals’ own different forms of misery. Throughout the book Great Expectations, Dickens repeatedly shows characters not pleased with their life because money has taken over them and has ‘chosen’ their own misery. Furthermore, Dickens uses Miss Havisham, Pip, and Joe Gargery to show how he develops his characters to define what a true gentleman is which proves how wealth that one inherits oftentimes leads to corruption and discontent in life.
As the first stray hints of bright morning begin to peek over the urban horizon, ominous, shadowy trails of smoke erupt from the gray giants soon to be filled up with machines. Leaving behind embalming coats of soot and residue in every direction, the endlessly winding serpents indiscriminately constrict the breaths of the impoverished workers and devour fancy in their paths. Meanwhile, on a hill overlooking the town, the factory owner rests easily in a bulky red house bearing BOUNDERBY upon a brazen plate. Dickens’ depictions of Coketown in Hard Times embody the flaws and corruption that persist in the fictional, industrialized city. The political and economic systems in the story, modeled after those in mid-19th century England, call for conformity and monotony while devaluing imagination and individuality amongst its citizens, all for the selfish gains of a small number of upper class individuals. The interminable streams of smoke emerging from the factory chimneys recurrently enunciate the dangers of increasingly prevalent industrialism as well as Bounderby’s pomposity and immorality.
The novel, Great Expectations, presents the story of a young boy growing up and becoming a
"The Victorians were avowedly, unashamedly, incorrigibly moralists. They . . . engaged in philanthropic enterprises in part to satisfy their own moral needs. And they were moralists in behalf of the poor, whom they sought not only to assist materially but also to elevate morally, spiritually, culturally, and intellectually . . . ." (Himmelfarb 48(8)). Charles Dickens used characterization as the basis of his pursuit of this moral goal in the serialized Oliver Twist. His satyr was meant to draw parallels to the dark side of an era of British progress. One side of progress is wealth, the other side of the same coin is poverty, despair, misery and crime. Dickens allegorized evil in contrast to good through characterization and melodrama. "Most of the moral judgments of the reader are pre-made for him or her. As a result, the reader objectively absorbs the moral lessons Dickens has set forth" (Stoddard).
“Charles Dickens: Great Expectations.” (2 Feb, 2006): 2. Online. World Wide Web. 2 Feb, 2006. Available http://www.uned.es/dpto-filologias-extranjeras/cursos/LenguaIglesaIII/TextosYComentarios/dickens.htm.
In the novel ‘Great Expectations’ there are three women who Dickens portrays differently to his contemporary’s, writers such as Austen and Bronté, and to the typical 19th century woman. These three women go by the name of Mrs Joe (Pips sister), Miss Havisham, and Estella. Mrs Joe who is Pips sister and Mr Joe’s wife is very controlling and aggressive towards Pip and Mr Joe. ‘In knowing her to have a hard and heavy hand’. This shows Dickens has given Mrs Joe very masculine qualities, which is very unusual for a 19th century woman. Mr Joe has a very contrasting appearance and personality to Mrs Joe. ‘Joe was a fair man, with curls of flaxen hair on each side of his smooth face, and with eyes of such a very undecided blue that they seemed to have somehow got mixed with their own whites.’ In many ways Dickens has swapped the stereo type appearances and personalities of 19th century men and women. Dickens portrays Miss Havisham to be rich but lonely women. ‘I should acquit myself under that lady’s roof’. This shows Miss Havisham owns her own property which is Satis House. This woul...
Charles Dickens’ aptly titled novel Great Expectations focuses on the journey of the stories chief protagonist, Pip, to fulfill the expectations of his life that have been set for him by external forces. The fusing of the seemingly unattainable aspects of high society and upper class, coupled with Pip’s insatiable desire to reach such status, drives him to realize these expectations that have been prescribed for him. The encompassing desire that he feels stems from his experiences with Mrs. Havisham and the unbridled passion that he feels for Estella. Pip realizes that due to the society-imposed caste system that he is trapped in, he will never be able to acquire Estella’s love working as a lowly blacksmith at the forge. The gloomy realizations that Pip is undergoing cause him to categorically despise everything about himself, feeling ashamed for the life he is living when illuminated by the throngs of the upper class.
Dickens knew how hard-pressed life was for thousands of English families in mid-ninteenth century England, and he knew the legal side of such desperation--a jungle of suspicion and fear and hate. He was especially attentive [if] . . . hungry, jobless men, women, children with few if any prospects became reduced to a fate not only marginal with respect to its "socioeconomic" character but also with respect to its very humanity. (575)
Throughout the novel, the author explores the class system of Victorian England, ranging from the criminal Magwitch, to the poor peasants Joes and Biddy, to the middle class of Pumblechook, and finally to the rich Miss Havisham. This theme, being the procedure that people where categorized into classes, is essential throughout the story, since Pip realizes that wealth and class are less significant than affection, loyalty, and inner worth. The most important fact to be remembered about the post-industrial revolution class system is that Dickens ignores the nobility and aristocracy in favor of the main theme of this novel: ambition.
However, the strong, yet subtle implications that Charles Dickens introduces to his novels, particularly “Great Expectations”, has made a strong impression during his time and even in the modern day. Dickens explores the wide gap among the “most wretched criminals (Magwitch), the poor (Joe and Biddy), the middle class (Pumblechook), and the very rich (Miss Havisham)” (Gupta, 18), a social hierarchy resulting from the Post-Industrial Revolution. “Great Expectations” demonstrates the role of social class in the society by emphasizing that social class does not define the character of the individual, the relationship with in the characters, and the value of the characters.