The True Gentlemen of Great Expectations
In Victorian society, a gentleman was brought up from birth, molded and manipulated to act, dress, talk, and live as true gentility. Upon reaching adulthood, these gentlemen were expected to conduct themselves as society dictated. What happens, however, when a man of lower social stature wishes to become a gentleman, and suddenly finds himself in a position to do so? He now has the financial standing, but lacks the social etiquette that a "true" gentleman possesses. Whom can he turn to for a role model and guidance? This is exactly the situation Pip is faced with in the novel Great Expectations. When he first arrives in London, aspiring to be a gentleman, Matthew Pocket, Wemmick, and Herbert Pocket provide the best examples of true gentlemen.
Matthew Pocket displays the qualities of a gentleman as a hardworking tutor and a patient husband. Although he does not posses a great deal of wealth, Mr. Pocket houses well-to-do pupils, such as Startop and Drummle, and conducts himself in a gentlemanly manner. His passion for learning and knowledge is fervent, but his perseverance in Pip's education is even greater. Pip comments that, "...he was always so zealous and honorable in fulfilling his compact with me that he made me zealous and honorable in fulfilling my compact with him."(196). Although Pip learned to be hardworking in the forge, Matthew Pocket teaches him to work for the sake of others. Matthew's married life is quite a different story. His wife is so eccentric, adleheadded, and uneducated that he constantly lifts himself up by his hair. His patience with his wife, day in and day out, is extraordinary. For example, Mrs. Pocket doesn't greet Pip with ...
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In order to be able to live as a gentleman, Pip learns from the examples set by Matthew Pocket, Wemmick, and Herbert Pocket. Each contributes his own qualities to shed a different light on how a gentleman conducts himself. All contribute to help Pip become what he is at the end of the book, a true gentleman at last.
Works Cited and Consulted:
Dickens, Charles. Great Expectations. Ed. Edgar Rosenberg. New York: Norton, 1999.
French, A.L " Imprisonment: The Case of Great Expectations." Discussions of Charles Dickens, 82-92. William R. Clark, ed. Boston: D.C. Heath & Co., 1961.
Russell, Frazier. " 'When I Was A Child'- An Introduction to Great Expectations." Yahoo Homepage, 1. Penguin Reading Guides, 7 Nov. 2000. <www.penguinputnam.com/academic/classics/rguides/dickens/frame.html>.
As a young student, Duddy began his life by making friends and increasing his status. This can been seen when he demonstrates himself as a person who opposes authority. This gives him the look of a bold, daring individual; someone who should be looked up to and respected. Duddy's charisma also came from made up stories that were used to spark other people's interests in Duddy. This is evident when he refers to his brother "Bradley"; "He's going to take me to South America. We're going to get a yacht. I mean all he has to do once he's out is dig up that buried money and ". Duddy tells these stories as if they were real just as the way his father Max does at the local coffee shop on St. Urbain Street. Max on the other hand, tells stories of the infamous "Boy Wonder" Jerry Dingleman who is a local legend amongst the people living on St. Urbain Street. Despite these stories not being real, Duddy uses them to help him manipulate others into believing what he wants them too. This becomes an invaluable asset as Duddy leaves school and begins to set out on his own.
1.b. I do not think I'd like to live in this society because it does not allow free thinking, or anything else that makes humans the way they are. There was nothing to differentiate people, nothing to like or dislike about each other. The only thing that was good was that everyone was treated equal. In America, we say this, but there are obvious exceptions. Such is not the case in the world depicted in the novel.
The Awakening by Kate Chopin introduces the reader to the life of Edna Pontellier, a woman with an independent nature searching for her true identity in a patriarchal society that expects women to be nothing more than devoted wives and nurturing mothers.
Chopin mentions birds in a subtle way at many points in the plot and if looked at closely enough they are always linked back to Edna and her journey of her awakening. In the first pages of the novella, Chopin reveals Madame Lebrun's "green and yellow parrot, which hung in a cage" (Chopin 1). The caged bird at the beginning of the novella points out Edna's subconscious feeling of being entrapped as a woman in the ideal of a mother-woman in Creole society. The parrot "could speak a little Spanish, and also a language which nobody understood" (1). The parrot's lack of a way to communicate because of the unknown language depicts Edna's inability to speak her true feelings and thoughts. It is for this reason that nobody understands her and what she is going through. A little further into the story, Madame Reisz plays a ballad on the piano. The name of which "was something else, but [Edna] called it Solitude.' When she heard it there came before her imagination the figure of a man standing on a desolate rock on the seashore His attitude was one of hopeless resignation as he looked toward a distant bird winging its flight away from him" (25). The bird in the distance symbolizes Edna's desire of freedom and the man in the vision shows the longing for the freedom that is so far out of reach. At the end of the story, Chopin shows "a bird with a broken wing beating the air above, reeling, fluttering, circling disabled down, down to the water" while Edna is swimming in the ocean at the Grand Isle shortly before she drowns (115). The bird stands for the inability to stray from the norms of society and become independent without inevitably falling from being incapable of doing everything by herself. The different birds all have different meanings for Edna but they all show the progression of her awakening.
The Awakening sheds light on the desire among many women to be independent. Throughout the novel Edna conducts herself in a way that was disavowed by many and comes to the realization that her gender prevented her from pursuing what she believed would be an enjoyable life. As the story progresses Edna continues to trade her family obligations for her own personal pleasures. This behavior would not have been accepted and many even criticize the novel for even speaking about such activities. Kate Chopin essentially wrote about everything a women couldn’t do. Moreover, it also highlights the point that a man is able to do everything Edna did, but without the same
Santiago thinks about his discussion with the old man. He is annoyed that the old man was right about his being on the verge of giving up just as he finds his destiny. Wandering around the city, he approaches a ticket seller, but he does not buy a ticket to Africa, where he knows the Egyptian pyramids are. He knows that he could buy a ticket with the money he could make from selling only one of his sheep. As he stands at the ticket window, he decides to go back to shepherding his flock. He muses that neither the old gypsy woman nor the old man understand what it means to have a flock of sheep depend on them.
Chopin, Kate. The Awakening. 2nd. New York, NY: W. W. Norton & Company, 1994. Print.
In Gordon M. Shedd’s “Knight in Tarnished Armour: The Meaning of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight”, he argues that Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is truly about the strength and weaknesses of human nature. One particularly interesting part of his argument asserts that Gawain’s humanity broke medieval romance tradition.
The conflict in the novel that most intrigued me was between Santiago and himself. Throughout the novel he almost gave up hope of ever finding his treasure. When he was robbed in the market place...
During the late nineteenth century, the time of protagonist Edna Pontellier, a woman's place in society was confined to worshipping her children and submitting to her husband. Kate Chopin's novel, The Awakening, encompasses the frustrations and the triumphs in a woman's life as she attempts to cope with these strict cultural demands. Defying the stereotype of a "mother-woman," Edna battles the pressures of 1899 that command her to be a subdued and devoted housewife. Although Edna's ultimate suicide is a waste of her struggles against an oppressive society, The Awakening supports and encourages feminism as a way for women to obtain sexual freedom, financial independence, and individual identity.
Santiago is a shepherd trying to pursue his personal legend. His personal legend is the recurring dream about the hidden treasure at the foot of the Egyptian pyramids. In his dream he starts playing in a field with his sheep, when a child appeared and began to play with the animals. This was strange to him because sheep are afraid of strangers, but the sheep and children play along just fine. Then a child grabbed his hands and took him to the foot of the Egyptian pyramids. He begins his journey locally trying to find answers from a gypsy and a man named
In the final scenes of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Gawain’s encounter with Sir Bertilak allows Gawain to perceive his own flaws, manifested in his acceptance of the Green Girdle. The court’s reaction to his personal guilt highlights the disconnect between him and the other knights of the Round Table. Gawain’s behavior throughout the poem has been most noteworthy; his understanding of his sin, one that many of us would dismiss since it was propelled by his love of life, enhances his stature as a paragon of chivalry.
In conclusion, Charles Dickens, a social critic of humble origins himself, has conveyed his conception of a true gentleman, which is such a good conception that it is commonly used in our society today. He shows that you can only be a true gentleman at heart and if you are not it will be revealed. Matthew Pocket’s metaphor that ‘No varnish can hide the grain of the wood; and that the more varnish you put on, the more the grain will express itself’ very successfully delivers and summarises Dickens’ message, that no matter how much you try to, your true identity will always be revealed. It also effectively reinforces Dickens’ treatment of the Victorian preconception of a gentleman as misconstrued and mistakenly engrossed with social status, wealth, birth, and apparel.
“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 by Charles Dickens, Pip's struggle and ultimate failure to become a gentleman was due to social pressure. Dickens comments the stratums of the Victorian social class system. The novel shows that money cannot buy love or guarantee happiness. Pip's perspective is used to expose the confusing personality of someone transcending social barriers. Dickens also shows a contrast between both class and characters.