Great Expectation

Great Expectations

        Great Expectations, written by Charles Dickens in his third period of creation (1849-1870), follows the development of Pip, an orphan living in Kent, situated in the England of the Victorian age. The novels from this period are known for placing the focus on the search of identity, as much as on the dichotomy tradition- innovation. In this novel, we have Pip, whose parents are deceased, therefore being raised “by hand” by his bigger sister, Mrs. Joe Gargery, and her husband, Joe Gargery. The story has, as a trigger, Pip’s primal desire to improve himself, to surpass his current condition, that being of a future blacksmith in Joe’s workshop. This desire of improvement is catalyzed by Estella, Miss Havisham’s adopted daughter, who makes him acknowledge his social inferiority, by remarking the “coarse hands” Pip has, a symbol of a lifestyle based on hard-working that is often associated with the lower classes. From here on, the novel follows Pip’s pursuit on becoming a gentleman, coincidentally made possible by a mysterious benefactor, who offers him a great fortune, a mandatory element in becoming a gentleman. Later on , by experiencing his social peak, followed by an irreversible collapse, Pip comes to realize the true values of life. This novel, therefore, depicts the growth from boyhood to manhoodof Pip in the context of a strict society, with a still solid barrier between the higher and the lower classes, which punishes any element that denies this established order, exactly what happens to Pip, who trespasses this barrier with the least effort and with no worthiness to justify this action, in contrast with characters like Miss Havisham, whose fortune was acquired by using the brewery from her manor.

       Pip’s ascension in the higher society was helped by various characters in the novel. First, we have Estella as an object of desire, being the main reason why Pip wants to become a gentleman. As a character, Estella, even if she is an instrument of Miss Havisham’s revenge over men, “created” to be cold-hearted, cynical and manipulative, she can be seen to be caring over Pip’s feelings, often telling him to be careful, as she “has no heart”; also, we can see her desire of power, by means of manipulation, wanting to control as many men as possible, in order to be independent. This state, however, was inhibited from women by the very construction of the society, thereforethey had no right to gain and have power, often being obedient to the masculne presence. This is the reason why, in the end of the novel, we can see Estella having changed “in a good way” under the heavy hand of Bentley Drummle, sghe by herself saying that “suffering was the biggest of the lessons”. Then, we have Miss Havisham, which is the main feminine force of the novel. She lives in the Satis
House, which is depicted as rotten, dark and dusty, generally “swallowed” by the same disease as Miss Havisham: the denial of time. She denies to get over the moment she was abandoned by her broombride, Compeysum, thatt being twenty minutes to nine, the hour at which all the clocks in the house were stopped. Also, she wears the wedding dress she was wearing at the moment, having only one shoe as well, and all the objects are being kept in the same spot they were back then. In order to revenge over men in general, she raises Estella to be the cynical cold-hearted lady she is, later on realising that all she did is making other people suffer in the way she did, especially Pip. As an act of redemption, Miss Havisham apologizes to Pip for her behaviour. Here is when the space, after the vanishing of the malevolent element that kept it from normaly passing in time, gets cleaned, symbolically, by fire,  as if the house needed to be cleansed of some negative elements. These finalities in presenting some of the strong feminine characters such as Miss Havisham, Estella and Mrs. Joe Gargery, the last one being punished for being the phallic element in Joe Gargery’s house, shows the attitude of the Victorian age upon women’s attempts to be independent.

        Another character that helps Pip in his ascension is his benefactor, abel Magwitch, also the convict in the beginning of the novel. In the beginning fearing him for being a convict, Pip comes to know the real Magwitch, the one who loves him paternally. This is the representation of the contrast between the law system and its shallow way of analysing individuals, and the real inner worth of individuals, Pip himself l3earning how to see beyond the tag society has put on a human. Also, we have Pip learning that social status and wealth are not connected with virtue whatsoever. Here we have Pip also reflecting upon the injustice of the social system, giving people like Joe and Magwitch as examples of great people who are stigmatised by society for belonging to a certain class. As an element of contrast, we have Bentley Drummle, a person deeply despised by Pip, who got an immense fortune, despite being coarse and cruel.