Victorian Women: Dickens Take on their Crucial Roles

916 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Gender issues and roles in great expectations by Charles Dickens

Women play a life-changing and life-controlling role in Charles Dickens’ mid Victorian novel, Great Expectations. The main character, Pip, is constantly being moved and affected by the female characters, whether it be the harsh, brutal Mrs. Joe or the gorgeous yet fleeting Estella. Many believe that there are indeed only three types of women in all of Dickens’ works. In the novel Great Expectations, the female characters are in nature one of three things: evil, satirical, or Dickens’ representation of the perfect woman. There are three women that are particularly good examples of these qualities: Mrs. Joe, Mrs. Pocket and Estella.
First, through her brutality and unfairness towards Pip, Mrs. Joe is revealed to be an evil, malevolent person. In this excerpt from the story, Pip recounts her storming into the house after looking fervently for him: “My sister, Mrs. Joe, throwing the door wide open, and finding an obstruction behind it, immediately divined the cause, and applied Tickler to its further investigation. She concluded by throwing me” (Dickens 9). Mrs. Joe’s nasty and spiteful temper is cleverly revealed in the passage above. After looking for Pip “on the rampage”, she finally comes in and finds him hiding behind the front door. In her violent manner, Mrs. Joe utilizes Tickler, a device of punishment so feared it has a proper name. After beating Pip, she hurls him across the room in her wicked and clearly mean-intentioned attack. While also abusing Pip, Mrs. Joe testifies in the Christmas dinner scene to how many problems Pip has caused her: “‘Trouble?’ echoed my sister; ‘trouble?’ And then entered on a fearful catalogue of the illnesses I had been guilty of, and all the acts of sleeplessness I had committed, and all the ...

... middle of paper ...

...lked at hers, made a contrast I strongly felt” (Dickens 237). In Estella’s presence, Pip feels insignificant and lowly. Estella brings with her an aura that makes others feel less than they are. Dickens seemed to believe this quality made Estella even better and more romantic and it also shows her superior attitude and very self-confident character. In this Dickens tale, Estella is the clear choice for the role of romantic, shown through her perfect beauty and superior attitude.
In Dickens’ stories, there are generally three types of women, and in this novel the three women are: Mrs. Joe, Mrs. Pocket and Estella. In this Dickensian novel, Great Expectations, the female characters are portrayed as malevolent, comical or the author’s interpretation of a flawless lover. These three types of women shape and direct Dickens’ stories in a way that truly is his trademark.

Show More
Related

  • Differing Opinions of Bleak House

    1892 Words  | 4 Pages

    The character of Esther is widely criticized for her perfection as a character, both receiving positive acclaims and negative feedback. Esther’s reserved, quiet character illustrates the role of women during the Victorian period and what little impact on society women played. Critics of Bleak House generally praise the narration and Dickens’s use of Esther’s character, which gives direction to the novel.

    Read More

  • Great Expectations for All

    1822 Words  | 4 Pages

    Van Brunt, Alexa. "Subversion of Gender Identity in Great Expectations." The Victorian Web: An Overview. 16 Feb. 2004. Web. 17 Oct. 2011. .

    Read More

  • Gender Bias in Dickens

    455 Words  | 1 Pages

    “Charles Dickens preferred workers the way he preferred Victorian women: grateful for favors received, humble, patient, and passive.” (Scheckner) Charles Dickens entered this world on February 7, 1812; he was born in Lindsport, Portsmouth, England. The time period in which he lived and the location in which he dwelled are both important because they had a great effect on his writing. His works were very gender-biased, full of symbolism and irony, and reflected the social structure of his time/place he lived.

    Read More

  • Analysis: Great Expectations, by Charles Dickens

    945 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the present age, the more successful children usually come from well-structured families that are able to provide their children with a lots of care and a happy and loving childhood. Children growing up in this environment will describe their youth as a time of wonder and laughter; they will enjoy the experiences as a child. However, in the Victorian age, this is a completely different story as most children had to go through many hardships and sufferings, in order to satisfy the needs of their family. Great Expectations is set in the Victorian age and Charles Dickens portrays the years of childhood as at time of confusion, darkness and terror. Nevertheless, this unfavorable childhood helps Pip mature as a person in many different ways. Pip's experiences with multiple people when he was a child provides important stepping stones for his journey in becoming a successful gentleman. Specifically, the people that aid Pip in his journey are: his family, namely Mrs. Joe and Mr. Pumblechook, Estella and himself. In the novel, the author develops the idea that these unfortunate experiences in young Pip's life are important because they shape and mold Pip into becoming a successful gentleman.

    Read More

  • Analysis of Great Expectations

    1252 Words  | 3 Pages

    The protagonist of Great Expectations is Pip. At the beginning of the novel, Pip (whose real name is Phillip Pirrip) is young, shy, and timid. He lives with his sister and her husband, Joe. They live in Kent, England, in a small, marshy area. Pip falls in love with Estella, who is a young girl who is incredibly immoral and rude. Pip seems hard on himself, if he does something wrong, he has a hard time forgiving himself. He always tells himself that he needs to improve his behavior, because he sometimes treats his close friends coldly. There is not one antagonist in this novel. There are different characters at different times that caused some sort of grief towards Pip. Many characters change and some that seem bad at first, like Abel Magwitch, turn out to be good in the end. There are many other major characters in Great Expectations besides Pip. Joe Gargery is a gentle blacksmith and is a good friend of Pip. He is uneducated and embarrasses Pip at times. Joe was still kind and took care of Pip even after he was treated with ruthlessness. Herbert Pocket is introduced towards the beginning of Great Expectations...

    Read More

  • Great Expectations: Changes in the Character of Pip

    895 Words  | 2 Pages

    Great Expectations, by Charles Dickens is a fascinating tale of love and fortune. The main character, Pip, is a dynamic character who undergoes many changes through the course of the book. Throughout this analysis the character, Pip will be identified and his gradual change through the story will be surveyed.

    Read More

  • Charles Dickens' Great Expectations

    1146 Words  | 3 Pages

    Great Expectations’ main character, Phillip Pirrip- generally known as Pip- had a rough upbringing as a child. His sister, Mrs. Joe had “brought him up by hand”, after their parents and five brothers had all been laid to rest many years ago. Another character, Herbert Pocket experienced a bizarre childhood, though in a different manner. Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations develops through the novel following Pip, a young “common boy” who grew up in the countryside. As he matured so did his love for a girl of higher class, Estella. However, being a common boy, Pip was not good enough for his Estella, thus once he was given an opportunity to become a gentleman in London he seized it without much hesitation. Charles Dickens’ had his own style in the ways he portrayed his child characters’ upbringings, history, and the children’s emotions. Also in Great Expectations, Dickens creates his child characters in unique methods; Pip, Estella, and Herbert Pocket all have miserable backgrounds, however none of them is too similar.

    Read More

  • Charles Dickens' Great Expectations

    2217 Words  | 5 Pages

    The first visit to Miss Havisham's house is also the first encounter with Estella for Pip. He believes that she is much older than he is and is intimidated by her upon meeting. He observes her to be haughty, contemptuous and cold-hearted, yet beautiful. She constantly refers to him as "boy" which emphasizes Pip's inferiority to Estella. Estella instills in Pip a shame of himself and his commonness. During Pip's first meeting with Estella, they play cards and she states, "He calls the knaves, Jacks, this boy! And what coarse hands he has. And what thick boots (Dickens, 59)" to point out her observation of his common hands and boots. Pip reflects upon this insult with "I had never thought of being ashamed of my hands before; but I began to consider them a very different pair (Dickens, 59)", which accentuates the beginning of Pip's embarrassment of his home, Joe and his commonness and his greater expectations of himself. Pip starts to believe his life and his home to be coarse and common, as...

    Read More

  • Charles Dickens' Portrayal of His Female Characters in "Great Expectations"

    733 Words  | 2 Pages

    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...

    Read More

  • Great Expectations: Analyzed Through A Marxist Criticism

    1124 Words  | 3 Pages

    utterly lower class that would be to Estella. "I thought how Joe and my sister were then sitting in the kitchen and how Miss Havisham and Estella never sat in a kitchen, but were far above the level of such common things (Dickens 55)." This shows how the minimal differences between the two classes contribute to a greater variance in the attitudes of the two. Through his exposure to Estella and Miss Havisham, Pip discovers the realit...

    Read More

  • The Representation Of Women In Mrs Dickens Great Expectations

    1002 Words  | 3 Pages

    Dickens, unlike his literary colleagues, such as Anthony Trollope or George Eliot, has always been accused of not understanding women. Although the plight of a Victorian woman was a rather popular theme in the mid 1800’s it has been suggested that due to personal circumstances with women Dickens commonly, particularly in his later works, writes his female characters to play rather unappealing personalities. Following suit, the female characters in Great Expectations stray from the epitome of the ideal Victorian woman. Mrs Joe is physically abusive, Mrs Havisham is mentally abusive, and Estella is directly affected by this mistreatment and develops into a tormenter herself. The only likeable female character is Biddy, who is kind, kind and wholesome.

    Read More

  • Great Expectations: Use of Irony

    716 Words  | 2 Pages

    Many professors, analysts, and common readers believe that Great Expectations was possibly the best work of Charles Dickens. Perhaps it was because of the diverse themes displayed by Dickens, which modulate as the story progresses. A clear example of the measures taken by the author to create diversity, is the application of irony. Dickens uses Rony to create suspense and conflict in plot events related to Estella, Miss Havisham, the convict, Joe, and Mrs. Joe.

    Read More

  • The Social Aspects Of Charles Dickens Great Expectations

    1086 Words  | 3 Pages

    ... middle of paper ... ... Some of the many social aspects of his time that Dickens addresses in the novel can be observed in the ways the characters are presented, like the fact that “some critics have found an unusual opportunity for understanding the place of women in Victorian culture and their role in Victorian fiction by studying the women in this novel” (Markley). The sweet and gentle Biddy, who is able to guess the identity of Mrs. Joe's attacker, and who sees more clearly than anyone the painful effects of Pip's selfish expectations, and Molly, the mysterious woman who had been unwilling to suffer the humiliation of her husband Magwitch's infidelity without a fight.

    Read More

  • Stages of Pip Growing Up in the Novel "Great Expectations

    1006 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the first stage of Great Expectations, Pip begins as a contented boy, happy with his own way of life, but soon becomes humiliated by the ones he loves, and starts to morph into someone who is very status-conscious. At the start, Pip looks up to Joe, and even says, “Joe and I (were) fellow-sufferers…” showing that Pip regarded Joe as an equal (Dickens 7). At this stage in Pip’s life, he has not yet realized what social class is, and so he is perfectly happy being with Joe. Joe and Pip are good friends at this point, and Pip really appreciates him as a person. This all changes after Pip’s first visit with Estella, especially when he says, “Her contempt for me was so strong that it became infectious, and I caught it,” showing that he is beginning to take into account other people’s thoughts about himself (62). Although Estella looks down upon Pip for being ‘common’, there is irony in his statement, because Estella comes from an even lower class than him. Throughout the whole novel, Pip tries to impress her, thinking that she is well above him, when she is actually the daughter of a convict. Finally, Pip shows betrayal to Joe when he says, “I was truly ...

    Read More

  • The Influence of Women

    1236 Words  | 3 Pages

    Women are powerful. Though society has not always recognized and respected women as they deserve, members of the female gender have strongly influenced the world ever since the beginning of time when Eve ate of the forbidden fruit. Today, women continue to increasingly achieve power and status. Likewise, in Charles Dickens’s Great Expectations, women play an important role in influencing the protagonist, Pip, although both positively and negatively. Through their words and actions, women cause Pip to make significant lifestyle changes, either beneficial or adverse. He is continuously pushed to pursue different personae by Mrs. Joe, Miss Havisham, Estella, and Biddy, and he learns important lessons from each of them.

    Read More

More about Victorian Women: Dickens Take on their Crucial Roles

Open Document