Great Expectations Rhetorical Analysis

Great Expectations acts as a cautionary tale of a Victorian society. Pip’s transformation serves an immense purpose contributing to this with the way he acts and feels when becoming a gentleman. Dickens portrays the novel as a cautionary tale by using satire, themes, and Pip’s mood with his transformation from a forge boy to a gentleman.

Dickens uses satire in his great novel to warn readers of the Victorian society. As Pip becomes a gentleman, social criticism is expressed through satire in this novel . For example, as Pip attains his fortunes, he would flee and “spend as much money as [he] could” (215). As Pip grows and becomes a young gentleman he additionally becomes more unintelligent with his money. This is very ironic, on account of

Pip feels ashamed numerous times in the novel. For instance, after seeing Miss Havisham’s house and bedrooms, then comes back to his own home, he believes “it is a most miserable thing to feel ashamed of home” (82). Pip is not amused with his little bedroom or the little furniture he has. As Pip sees how a Victorian society acts he feels ashamed of his home, which is the leading cause of his unhappiness. Another instance when Pip feels ashamed is when Joe visits Pip in London. Pip is “not with pleasure” (170) that Joe comes to see him. The whole time Joe is in town Pip treats him poorly. Dickens shows Pip is now ashamed of his family on account of they are of lower class and do not have the money or education like himself now; ruining his relationship with his family. Another example of the theme, feeling ashamed, is when Pip returns home in a carriage ride with convicts from his past. For example, when Pip recognizes the convict he had helped in his childhood, he begins to “tremble” (180) and he wishes the convict would leave his “memory” (180). Pip feels this way because he is ashamed of his past in addition to feeling ashamed of his home, his family. As Pip grows, more warnings of how living in a Victorian society changes the way he feels about loved ones and how his life appears. A Victorian society leads to feeling ashamed of either how you use to live (which is