Great Expectations

Throughout the novel Great Expectations, the author Charles Dickens showed Pip's interactions with many different kinds of characters. Mrs. Havisham, an elderly wealthy woman, had a great effect on him because he saw the way the rich live. Living along with Mrs. Havisham was her adopted daughter, Estella, and through her harsh commentary towards Pip, also had a great impact upon him. The last character who was proven to have influenced Pip was his sister's husband, Joe Gargery. Through the influence of other characters in the novel Great Expectations, Charles Dickens showed the progression of Pip's growth toward becoming a gentleman.

After seeing the way that Mrs. Havisham lived and acted, Pip had a need to become a gentleman. Mrs. Havisham, although she was an old lady who never left her house, was treated with the utmost respect from all the people around her. Mrs. Havisham had a presence in a room that Pip could not understand or grasp. She ordered him, and others around, but was never questioned. After Pip's first visit he asked when he should return again and she said in response, "There, there! I know nothing of the days of the week; I know nothing of the weeks of they year. Come again after six days. You hear?"(Dickens 62). Pip was forced to answer with yes ma'am at all times, and that was a simple sign of respect that Pip aspired to achieve one day.

Another person who influenced Pip greatly was Estella, Mrs. Havisham's adopted daughter. Estella was a very beautiful young lady, who was also a little older than Pip was at the time he started visiting Mrs. Havisham. Mrs. Havisham taught Estella to be rude and condescending to Pip, and thus she would "break his heart" just like hers had been a long time ago. She often talked down to him like he was just a silly common boy. One day when Pip was leaving, Estella gave him permission to kiss her. After doing so, Pip thought he would feel very good but that was not the case. Pip, in his head, responded, "I kissed her cheek as she turned it to me. I think I would have gone through a great deal to kiss her cheek. But, I felt that the kiss was given to the course common boy as a piece of money might have been, and that is was worth nothing,"(Dickens 93). Since that kiss, Pip felt a strong need to become a gentleman to finally receive a kiss as an equal.

Not only did Mrs. Havisham and Estella spark Pip to have the desire to be a gentleman by example, but so did his sister's husband. He did this by example of what