Parallelism's Role In Great Expectations by Charles Dickens

Parallelism's Role In Great Expectations by Charles Dickens

Parallelism in Great Expectations is used by Charles Dickens to

develop an overall theme of good and evil in the story and to create a

kind of suspense about the outcomes of the characters and their

parallel lives. Pip encounters many people in his rise in status and

his past endeavors. These well-crafted characters are all linked

together through parallelism as the novel progresses. The good choices

and the wrong choices are made by the separate individuals but are

somehow all linked to create a theme to the story. Conclusions are

made from the character's decisions and the outcomes are made clear.

The role of parallelism in Great Expectation is great in constructing

a well-produced theme and role of all the characters.

Parallelism in the novel creates comparisons and contrasts to allow

for the reader to develop a fine tuned sense of each character. As the

novel progresses, each character begins to develop around Pip's

judgements of their lifestyles. These views of the individual

characters bring about suspicions about how the character will end up

and where their particular lives will lead. During Pip's adulthood, he

learns more and more about the characters impacting his life. As a

child Pip believes Miss Havisham to be a wicked woman who prides

herself in insulting him and encouraging Estella's cruelties.

As he did with Miss Havisham, Pip develops misconceptions about

Magwitch and suspects him to have killed Mrs. Joe and believes him to

be a sinister criminal. As an adult, Pip believes Miss Havisham to be

a noble woman who is responsible for his rise in status and he

believes she wants him to be Estella's suitor. The story reveals, to

Pip's surprise, that Miss Havisham is not the precious benefactor who

is compelled for Pip to marry Estella nor is she an evil witch who

longs to break Pip's heart but is an embittered woman. Also, parallel

to Pip's preconception of Miss Havisham, Magwitch is not the violent

pirate as he is portrayed in the beginning of the text nor is he the